Roger Taylor's Mingming & the Art of Minimal Ocean Sailing

[skylark]

I received Roger's most recent book today, I had preordered the book so I assume it was just recently released. 

I checked the Jester Challenge 2010 entry list, and apparently Roger is the only sailor still out there, all the others have arrived or retired.

http://www.jesterinfo.org/jc2010entrylist.html

I read the first part today, and will report back when I have worked through the rest of the book.

[skylark]

Mingming & the Art of Minimal Ocean Sailing is a tale of three voyages in a small boat: from Great Britain to the Azores, to the south of Iceland, and to Jan Mayen, the ice field of the Arctic Ocean and along the coast of Greenland.  Except for the Azores, there is no landfall in any of the voyages, they are each one long offshore voyage, with some views of the coast along the way.  Roger uses his annual 6 week summer vacation from work to explore the oceans.

There are moments of ecstasy, such as meeting large pods of whales, some of whom seem to think that the 22 foot bilge keeled boat is some kind of sea creature.  There are moments of agony, such as sailing in to anchor in a bay on the northern coast of Iceland, and having the wind die, and floating around in a rough chop for hours near a rocky shore with currents pushing the boat dangerously close to its rocky end.

In part, minimalism in sailing is the small boat in which Roger sails.  But wait, Roger filled the v-berth with foam so the interior of the boat is even smaller than a normal 22 footer.  And the entire area under the cockpit is full of foam, except for the quarterberths used for storage.  Roger's living area is a small, well insulated cubical with barely enough length to lie down. Roger rarely exits the cabin.  The cockpit is half filled with a foam filled locker, leaving just enough room for the pilot to sit and steer if needed. The boat has enough flotation that it will not sink, even if holed and flooded.

The rig is minimalist.  The junk rig is managed from the hatch. It is easy to reef and add sail as needed.  Roger has a seat in the hatchway which allows him to pilot the boat from a protected position.  The hatch itself is a waterproof hatch, not a sliding hatch, that can be closed up completely to protect his cubical from entry of water.

The steering system is usually under the control of a windvane, although for those periods when the captain must hand steer, a whipstaff is used inside the cabin.  The whipstaff control lines lead from the rudder to the cabin through the single port on the aft bulkhead of the cabin.   The windvane can be adjusted by lines which are managed while standing in the hatchway.  Under most conditions, there is no need to leave the cabin or the hatchway seat under a small dodger.

Roger claims to use less than a liter of water a day, on average.  In addition to this he typically uses the water/broth from canned vegetables to cook.  The reason for the low amount of water used is based on the low level of exposure to wind and sun.

A typical meal would be a large can of vegetables, rice or pasta cooked in the vegetable broth, mixed with tuna or other canned fish.  This would serve for the evening meal, a midnight snack, and leftovers would be eaten for breakfast.  Food is cooked over an alcohol stove with the amount of alcohol carefully measured to match the necessary burn time.  Instant rice and quick cooking pasta are used to minimize cooking time.  For lunch, a long life bread such as packaged sunflower seed bread or rye bread are eaten with cheese and jam.  

Everything Roger carries with him is carefully thought out and minimized.  There is no dinghy, nor motor.  There are clothes, rain gear, water, food, stove fuel, navigation equipment, drogue, a camera, binoculars, vhf and ... maybe a few tools.  Thats it.  Roger takes a gps fix each day at noon, using a battery operated handheld gps.

Roger is a strong proponent of the Jordan Series Drogue.  Due to its smooth and low stress effect on the boat, it makes heavy weather much easier on the pilot and according to Roger, the JSD is essential cruising cruising equipment for the offshore small boat sailor.  Roger used the JSD for about a half a day in conditions when he felt he could no longer forereach (heave to with a junk rig) safely, due to steep waves which might roll, pitchpole and dismast the yacht.

The price that Roger pays for a minimalist boat and simple rig is that passages take a long time, and contrary winds can hold him outside of an anchorage for days, as he tries to beat his way into the weather.  It may be that Roger prefers being offshore, but the fact that there were no landfalls on two of his voyages may be attributed to the danger of approaching a coast with no motor, a slow, short boat and a rig that is not optimized to claw away from a lee shore.  But Roger seems to prefer the solitude and remoteness of an offshore passage, in part his goal seems to be to find beauty in the vastness and isolation of the northern seas.

Roger has accomplished arctic sailing expeditions in a small, inexpensive sailboat.  He has found a way to make a trailerable sailboat into an offshore capable sailboat with full flotation.  The pilot can stay warm and dry inside the cabin while tending the boats steering and rig adjustments.  The Art of Minimal Sailing can reward anyone interested in exploring and crossing oceans.

I recommend this book. Roger takes his wordsmithing very seriously, you can tell that he has taken a great amount of time and effort to say things exactly the way he means to say them.  He is a splendid writer.

[Tim]

After listening to his interview on "Furled Sails" I am intrigued enough to order his new book as soon as I get back to the states. For me it wouldn't be fun anymore if I had to go to that much preparation though. I do realize that his obsession (yes I do think it is that) with being in complete control is born out of the experience of floundering and almost drowning because of someone else being in charge and a boat that was not as seaworthy as he would like. Anyway there is much to be learned from someone like him.

[skylark]

Apparently Roger arrived back in the UK three days ago.  The voyage was cut short due to a broken rib.  His website shows a track between Greenland and Labrador, not necessarily the best route for a Jester Challenge ending in Newport.  I'm sure there is a story behind this.

http://thesimplesailor.com/voyages.html
http://www.jesterinfo.org/jc2010entrylist.html