In 2008 I wrote a short review on his first book, Voyages of a Simple sailor, and what a review it was. Roger has the most addictive writing style, and I found myself glued to it’s pages until I was finally left disappointed that I’d ran out of new ones.

The new book, Mingming & the Art of Minimal Ocean Sailing: More Voyages of a Simple Sailor, will hopefully deliver more of that great writing, and knowing what he’s been doing in Mingming over the last few years, I have no doubt he’s got one hell of a story to tell.

Just on the slim chance that you don’t already know about Mingming, she’s a junk rigged Corribee, fitted out specifically for single handed ocean going. Roger has covered many thousands of miles in that little boat, which is essentially Kudu with a different rig. I honestly can’t wait to read this!

The book is currently on pre-order at Amazon, but I will post a full review when I get my copy.

Click here to pre order it.

Having read Sir Robin’s classic, A World of My Own, his account of the first ever journey solo nonstop around the world, I simply couldn’t wait to read another of his books, and this, his second, leaves me with the same opinion.

When Robin first sailed around the world he was in his twenties, in a wooden boat, and it had never been done before. Things were very different then to the satellite guided, shore supported, carbon fibre powered races of today. He was also a few year older, at 69.

The essence of the story is the same as any other documentation of a modern global race in an Open 60. From the token introduction, to the struggle for sponsorship. If you’ve read any of the modern Vendee accounts, then this will be familiar territory, but it’s not quite the same.

Robin’s writing style seems to have, almost surprisingly, not changed since the late 60’s, and that is certainly no bad thing. The man is capable of holding your attention throughout, while avoiding too much emotion. This book is about what, in my opinion, sailing is about; a love of the sea.

There’s no tales of despair, or emotional diatribe, just pure unadulterated passion for what he’s doing. He does encounter problems, serious problems, but like the true seaman he proved himself to be in the Golden Globe, he just get’s on with it then celebrates with a whiskey and a smoke.

In the 40 years since his original venture around the globe, Sir Robin Knox-Johnston has lost not one ounce of his mettle, and this book proves it.

Buy it here for £6.99

Voyages of a Simple Sailor click the image to buy now at Amazon.com

Who is Roger Taylor? I had no idea when I stumbled accross this book. The Queen drummer? Well sure yeah, that’s one Roger Taylor, but this Roger – Roger D Taylor – is somebody far, far more interesting.

I have to be honest here, I was expecting ‘Voyages Of A Simple Sailor’ to be mediocre account of some amatuer sailor with a half interesting story. I only bought the book because part of it is about his Corribee, and since I’d just bought one was interested to read about them.

It turns out I could not have been more wrong. After a couple of pages I felt I was in the company of a great writer. His style is absolutely captivating, so completely absorbing that you could be forgiven for wearing a life jacket whilst reading it in bed.

The book is split into four parts, each a story of it’s own, the first is about how Roger began his sailing career and how he found himself in New Zealand, it’s easy reading and makes a good warm up and gentle segway in to the most fascinating roller coaster of a tale that I’ve read for a long time.

The second part is about the Endevour 2, a square rigger that Roger went sailing on in his early twenties, in fact just a touch younger than I am now. It’s the most gripping of the three stories and he does stunning job of portraying the situation. I don’t want to give any of it away, but you’ll just have to trust me on this, it’s one hell of a good story.

The third part is about his little self built 19 foot Ferro Cement boat ‘Roc’, and how he sailed her across the Tasman sea from New Zealand to Australia in some absolutely horrific conditions. In fact, it was on that trip that he died – you’ll have to read it to undertand that bit

The final part is the reason I bought the book in the first place, the story of mingming, his 21ft Junk Rigged Corribee. This final part of the book is by no means poorly written, but I don’t think it’s quite as elegant as the former two parts. This is perhaps down to the fact that the story being told is not quite so full of peril and near loss of life, but nevertheless it’s by no means a chore to read.

Overall this book as been one of my favorite reads this year and I really do encourage anybody with that faint flame of adventure in their hearts to buy a copy and read in awe, or envy at what’s possible if you just put your mind into it (and of course, your backside on the line

Click here to buy ‘Voyages Of A Simple Sailor’ at Amazon.com