Roger Taylor - Ming Ming - the enigma

dylanwinter

dylanwinter

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www.keepturningleft.co.uk
I have followed Roger Taylor's adventures with much interest

I have even read at least one of the books

which was a jolly good read

what he has achieved with a small boat is amazing

he is probably one of the best small boat sailors this Nation has ever produced

but I just don't get it

he gets into his boat, he stays below for 65 days

sails to where the weather is generally horrid

keeps going until his GPS tells him that he has passed a number on the screen

say 80N

blasts his horn in celebration

and then comes home

Why?

 
dylanwinter said:
I have followed Roger Taylor's adventures with much interest

I have even read at least one of the books

which was a jolly good read

what he has achieved with a small boat is amazing

he is probably one of the best small boat sailors this Nation has ever produced

but I just don't get it

he gets into his boat, he stays below for 65 days

sails to where the weather is generally horrid

keeps going until his GPS tells him that he has passed a number on the screen

say 80N

blasts his horn in celebration

and then comes home

Why?

Click to expand...

:D Because he can :D
 
Last year Roger came and gave an illustrated talk at my club (Glasson S.C.). All I can say in answer to Dylan's question is that when we were listening to the man I don't think it occurred to any of us to wonder why he did it. Certainly nobody asked, and he did welcome questions. His enthusiasm and obvious love for sailing the frozen wastes made it seem, for the time, almost a natural thing to do.
 
dylanwinter said:
but I just don't get it

he gets into his boat, he stays below for 65 days

sails to where the weather is generally horrid

keeps going until his GPS tells him that he has passed a number on the screen

say 80N

blasts his horn in celebration

and then comes home

Why?
Click to expand...

Different people like different things, I suppose.

You probably don't get what makes Roger Taylor tick, in the same way as I don't get your desire to sail ever shallower puddles and creeks.
 
neither does Jill

OR4751 said:
Different people like different things, I suppose.

You probably don't get what makes Roger Taylor tick, in the same way as I don't get your desire to sail ever shallower puddles and creeks.
Click to expand...

my own charming wife thinks I am barking going for a sail on a cold day to place that is normally a grass field

not sure I understand it myself

but....

it was a cheap thrill

doing something you have never done before is always worth while on a day when I would normally be eating yet more food and drinking yet more wine

got me out of the house

it meant that I could sail without driving for three hours there and three hours back

the excercise was good for me

and I was forced to do a few ab crunches

and laughed at the canoeists who realised that there was some-one who could sail a bot where it was too shallow for them to go

...................................

I am still not sure why Roger does what he does though
 
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Why?Because he can and he believes that doing it will make him happier than the alternative use of his time.Same reason people take drugs or climb to be CEO of British Telecom.I am much more interested in the 'how he does it'.Junk rig, positive buoyancy, water tight cabin,staying in the safety of the cabin,self righting,bilge keels,good insulation.
 
As he says in his books he sails “to be at sea” not to get to a destination. He looks at the detail of the sea, smiler to preraphalite painters. You get the beauty of the whole in the detail. You need to re read the book or read the others, if you did not get it. You may not agree, but you should understand.

but I suspect you know this.....
 
Mr D, imagine sailing out of some wee west of England creek..in your fine vessel...and keeping going . I can't think of a suitable acrynym that really works but sommat like KTL keep truckin longitudinally. Then when you come to Europe's littoral marshes, the lagoons and banks of the Caribbean islands and archipelagos, the vast shallow flats of the US keys banks and waterways... Well I did that in my wee boat some 15 yrs ago and I dunno why he you or I do what we do but it's huge fun innit.. A quiet. Gentle freedom free of fanfare, high tech , hurry or self promotion with its own pressures.
I don't get golf either .
I would love to hear Roger Taylor chat and tho we had sister ships I'm afraid he would see me as the milk run, warm water fearful one . Hey ho:)
 
Blue5 said:
He also has a nice style of writing about it.............
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I agree - I found his books very enjoyable...still reading them in fact.

I used to do a lot of hill walking and looking back now I realise that there was nothing in it but a huge sense of achievement.

Blisters, soreness and tiredness were my only other reward.

I'm older and more sensible now thankfully...I'd rather sail somewhere than walk... :D
 
dylanwinter said:
he gets into his boat, he stays below for 65 days

sails to where the weather is generally horrid

keeps going until his GPS tells him that he has passed a number on the screen

say 80N

blasts his horn in celebration

and then comes home

Why?
Click to expand...

The great solo sailors like their own company and feel happiest when they are on their own - I suspect (not having met him, or read his books) he is the same - he likes his own company and long distance solo voyages are a way of fulfilling that requirement.... Add in a heavy dose of problem solving/organisation etc. (also involved in long distance solo sailing) and you probably get a picture of what kind of guy he is..... Self reliant, well organised, happy with his own company... :o
 
It's the journey, not the arrival. The true traveller. "Journeys without maps" and other scripts of people who just like the getting there, rather than the 'there'.
DW
 
Roger came to our club to give a talk on what he has done. Excellent talk. Fascinating stuff. His description of a shipwreck (a long chain of events, started off by someone else's error of judgement) was - well, when you consider what it must have been like, was ... bloody terrifying.

His type of sailing isn't for me, but I am starting to understand why he does it.
 
I agree... however

DownWest said:
It's the journey, not the arrival. The true traveller. "Journeys without maps" and other scripts of people who just like the getting there, rather than the 'there'.
DW
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I agree that maps can be a distraction

but Roger goes to a blip on a GPS

sounds his horn and comes home

I am fascinated by the bits where the land meets the sea and how that has an impact on the human and natural history

to try to understand the feelings and experiences of those who sailed these waters before me

but to understand them you have to want to see where they came from and where they were going to

and that is, I confess, my form of insanity

I have nothing but admiration for his ability, skill, diligence, bravery

I myself am an utter coward who sails in six inche deep puddle

but to go all the way to spitsbergen and not get out and have a look around....

don't get it

and

I fear I never will

Dylan
 
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dylanwinter said:
I agree that maps can be a distraction

but Roger goes to a blip on a GPS

sounds his horn and comes home

I am fascinated by the bits where the land meets the sea and how that has an impact on the human and natural history

and that is my form of insanity

I have nothing but admiration for his ability, skill, diligence, bravery

but to go all the way to spitsbergen and not get out and have a look around....

don't get it.

Me neither. If I bothered to get there I would look around for a few minutes. But , then, the journey is what matters to him. Other less so, except they don't do it.

To add: The world would be a far lesser place without people like him. + plus a few others like the 'ice man' and Nick Skeats.
Click to expand...
 
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DownWest said:
To add: The world would be a far lesser place without people like him. + plus a few others like the 'ice man' and Nick Skeats.
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True. David Lewis to. Ice Bird is one of my faves.

I've read both Roger's books, and been utterly glued to each. I never quite got around to buying this one though, perhaps as it wasn't on Amazon, but thanks to this thread I've been reminded, so Roger is £9.99 better off, and I've got what I'm sure is yet another classic to read.

I must round up my other copies... and stop lending books. All my best ones keep going missing.
 
you are dead right

nathanlee said:
True. David Lewis to. Ice Bird is one of my faves.

I've read both Roger's books, and been utterly glued to each. I never quite got around to buying this one though, perhaps as it wasn't on Amazon, but thanks to this thread I've been reminded, so Roger is £9.99 better off, and I've got what I'm sure is yet another classic to read.

I must round up my other copies... and stop lending books. All my best ones keep going missing.
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the man can really write

and all good sailors appreciate good writing

however, if at the end of 80,000 words I still did not understand why he sails all the way there.... and all the way back without being curious enough to see what is there

I love the purity of the endeavour....

I love the skill,

I love the words

but to sail to a blip and then turn for home.....

beleive me I have tried to undersdtand....

hence the OP

the man is an enigma to me

Dylan

and as a real bonus he does not go around saying that he is doing it to raise money for charidee
 
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I listened to a podcast interview with him where, as I recall, he said he did it because he liked the sound of water burbling under the keel.

It is very engaging.
 
DownWest said:
It's the journey, not the arrival. The true traveller. "Journeys without maps" and other scripts of people who just like the getting there, rather than the 'there'.
DW
Click to expand...

The main difference between the wife and myself.
For her it's all about the destinations.
I don't mind as long as she accepts we'll be getting there by boat.
 
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