M17 #375 – SWEET PEA

For the past ten years I followed Roger Taylor’s adventures in his small and simple boats Mingming and Mingming II.  A bit about Roger –

Roger Taylor was born by the sea, of sea-faring stock, and has been sailing for well over fifty years. As a young seaman he was shipwrecked on a remote New Zealand shore aboard the square-rigger Endeavour II. He then built the 19′ Roc and twice crossed the Tasman Sea in her. He has forged a unique sailing partnership with his latest yacht Mingming, using her to develop his ideas on simple, harmonious voyaging. Taylor has now written three much-praised books covering eight of his many ocean voyages.

– Biography taken from Roger’s Amazon page

The Simple Sailing philosophy is a big part of why I like Roger –

Sailing is becoming a sport riddled with unnecessary complexity. This complexity is commercially driven. We are under severe marketing pressure to buy more and more gadgets, to buy ever bigger and more sophisticated yachts. The more we succumb to these pressures, the happier and more profitable the ‘marine industry’ becomes.

– Roger Taylor

His site isn’t modern nor are his YouTube videos fancy (Roger just uploads clips taken with his simple camera).  I find it all his writings, books and videos very enjoyable and informative.

Links –

• His www-site – THE SIMPLE SAILOR
• Roger’s books are available from Amazon
• YouTube channel – junkming

Here is his most recent video –

And here is a video by Yachting Monthly of Roger & Mimgming II –