| Digby Taylor | |
| Full Name: | Digby Fergusson Taylor |
| Birth Date: | 1941 10, df=yes |
| Birth Place: | Auckland, New Zealand |
| Death Place: | Rotorua, New Zealand |
| Country: | New Zealand |
| Sport: | Sailing |
| Event: | Whitbread Round the World Sydney to Hobart Whangarei to Noumea Melbourne to Osaka |
Digby Fergusson Taylor (24 October 1941 – 18 April 2017) was a New Zealand sailor who skippered yachts in both the 1981–82 and 1985–86 Whitbread Round the World Races.
Taylor built and skippered the 51-foot sloop Outward Bound, designed by Laurie Davidson, which competed in the 1981–82 Whitbread Round the World Race.[1] [2] In that race, Outward Bound won the trophy for best small yacht, and finished fifth overall.[3]
In 1982, Taylor sailed in the Whangarei to Nouméa yacht race, winning handicap honours.[3]
Taylor was awarded the Blue Water Medal for outstanding seamanship by the Royal Akarana Yacht Club in 1982.[4] In the 1983 New Year Honours, he was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire, for services to ocean yacht racing.
For the 1985–86 Whitbread, Taylor built and skippered the 80-foot, Bruce Farr-designed, maxi yacht, NZI Enterprise (originally called Enterprise New Zealand). After finishing fourth and second on the first two legs, NZI Enterprise lost her mast 380 nautical miles south-east of the Chatham Islands, and had to withdraw from the race.[1] Taylor later skippered the renamed Castaway Enterprise in the 1986 Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race.[5]
Taylor skippered the 52-foot Castaway Fiji in the inaugural two-handed Melbourne to Osaka yacht race in 1987, with crewman Colin Akhurst. Taylor and Akhurst were both thrown overboard when their yacht hit a submerged object, lost her keel and overturned. Akhurst drowned, but Taylor was rescued 18 hours later, 750 nautical miles north-east of Sydney.[6] [7]
Taylor died in Rotorua on 18 April 2017.[8]