ABOUT THE CREW

Taylor Grieger, 28, and Stephen O’shea, 29, met while on the swim team at A&M Consolidated High School in College Station, Texas. After graduating the pair went in very different directions and lost touch for six years. Taylor joined the US Navy as a rescue swimmer. He learnt to sail in 2011-12 while stationed in San Diego. Stephen (www. stephenjoshea.com) went into academia, completing a PHD in Creative Writing from the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow. They reconnected in Guam, where Taylor had been stationed. Stephen had also just finished From the Land of Genesis, a collection of short stories based on interviews with American soldiers who had fought in Iraq and Afghanistan, which will be published in October 2020. Taylor currently works with Sailing Angels, a non-profit charitable organisation which offers sailing trips for veterans. He also runs Cape Horn Tequila to raise funds for the American Odysseus Sailing Foundation, which provides sailing expeditions for veterans and first responders living with PTSD (www.amodsailing.org) The first draft of their documentary about their Cape Horn voyage, Hell or High Seas (www.hellorhighseas.com) has now been finished and a distributor is being sought.