A Life Under Sail

Ewen Southby-Tailyour's lifetime involvement with small boats, both civilian and military, began with his unusual christening and lasted until he sold his final vessel on his 80th Birthday. In between these two landmarks he sailed extensively but not through 'warm water' cruising grounds rather than in colder, seldom-visited climates; most notably the Falkland Islands and among the un-surveyed fjords of north-west Iceland and northern Norway in winter.

His love of the sea was instilled in him when, just four, he was taken trawling under sail. Soon, he was crewing in the classic pilot-cutter Olga in which, over 30 years of family ownership, he sailed every Easter and summer holidays, all the while learning navigation, seamanship and ships' husbandry.

At the Nautical College Pangbourne he passed 'O' Level in celestial navigation, seamanship and signals then, despite being captain of sailing, he turned down an Olympic trial in preference for deep water cruising and exploring. He navigated, inter alia, six Fastnet Races and skippered six two-handed Round Britain races as well as a single-handed round Majorca and a two-handed Iceland race. During deployments abroad he took every opportunity to sail in and to understand local vessels such as Arabian dhows, Chinese junks, Kenyan out-riggers and square-riggers.

In the Falkland Islands he found that the charts had not altered since the 19th Century so he surveyed the coasts and beaches in his own time, a work that became the basis for the amphibious planning in 1982.

Clearly his sailing life has not been without drama: he fell overboard twice, once when alone. Bad weather is a function of seafaring and, in his case included being caught off an Icelandic lee shore in a Force 11: an episode of survival that merited a chapter in the seminal text book Heavy Weather Sailing.