Sailing Around The World With Darroch Tait

Darroch Tait – or Daz – is a former schoolteacher who sails around the world. Seriously. His latest voyage takes him from the Spanish city of Las Palmas all the way to Brisbane, Australia, in around nine months. Looking forward to his journey and exactly why he does it, here he reveals just what drives him.

The Journey

I fly to Las Palmas, then set sail down to the Cape Verde islands and across to St Lucia to Colombia through Panama Canal to Galapagos, South Pacific, Tahiti, Fiji, Vanuatu and finish that leg in Australia. That takes me to September.

As I don’t have a boat at the moment, I’m crewing on someone else’s yacht because I have a lot of sailing experience (When I’ve got $100,000 I’ll go and buy a boat!) Skippers advertise on websites for what kind of crew and experience level they’re looking for, and then you send a message and say, “Hi, this is Daz. If you’re still interested, let me know.” Wonders of modern technology!

Atlantic Rally For Cruisers is an organised event; a lot of boats set off together, which is quite nice because you have a community spirit, and when you arrive somewhere there’s a party – you get to St Lucia and some guy arrives with a bottle of rum and a bag of fruit!

Why He Does It

I could work for the next 30 years of my life and not really experience anything, or I can go and hit it while I can. When I was buying boats, there were so many people in their 60s, literally crying down the phone telling me to go, telling me they’ve spent the last 15 years getting a boat ready, and their wife’s just had a stroke, so they can’t go. You have a limited time on earth and you have to choose what you do with it.

I love meeting new people. Everywhere I go I try to chat to people and you never know what experiences you’re gonna get. As they saying goes: birds of a feather flock together – a lot of people that travel are of a similar mindset.

But the most excited I am is three days before we’re about to hit land, because you’ve done the transatlantic crossing that takes three weeks and you’re a bit sick of seeing blue and eating the same fish!

Beauty Of The World

I left South Africa on my own when I was 18 to move to England. I’ve been travelling ever since. The four-and-a-half months I did in New Zealand – I’m in love with that country. It’s so spectacular. Every 50 miles is totally different scenery. When you see the Yellow-Eyed Penguins – the rarest penguin in the world – and 400kg sea lions sitting on the beach and you go surfing and they chase you out of the water – those kind of experiences you’ll never forget.

I’ve always loved the ocean. Half the adventure is getting there, so the experience of acknowledging the distances you’re travelling to get somewhere. You can get to places that other tourists can’t get to. It’s a much more wholesome experience because you’re making an effort to get there – not just jumping on a plane.

Words and images by Darroch Tait