CRUISE THE WORLD... WITHOUT A BOAT

ELAINE BUNTING GETS TIPS FROM CREW ON HOW TO HITCH-HIKE YOUR WAY AROUND THE OCEANS, AND FROM SKIPPERS ON HOW TO TAKE ON EXTRA HANDS

- ELAINE BUNTING

As a boy, Darroch Tait always had his head in a book. He was fascinated by adventures and the discovery of new lands. In his early 30s he decided to quit his job as a teacher, buy a boat with his best friend and go sailing for a few years. He set off in his 35ft Trident Warrior Hitrapia in 2013 and cruised the Med, before Hitrapia dragged her anchor one night and was wrecked near Sagres.

Tait didn’t want to abandon his plan. So he decided to walk the dock and find a skipper who would take him on as crew. It led to him being crew for a transatlantic crossing and then sailing round the world in 2016. Today, over two years of sailing and three different yachts later, he has completed the circumnavigation, and written three books about his travels.

It has given him adventures to rival the most vivid of those childhood books. “Active volcanoes, catching a 100kg marlin, surfing monster waves, freediving with whale sharks, sailing through the midst of the humpback migration off the east coast of Brazil… these are just a few of the many highlights,” he says.

JOINING THE VILLAGE