Google Bob Shepton and you will quickly find a video set to music of an octagenarian firing a rifle into the air with a backing band of young climbers. Bob, a former Royal Marine Commando, ordained minister of the Church of England, and legendary high-latitude sailor, realised early in life the access a yacht offers to the otherwise inaccessible ashore.

Bringing his Westerly 33 Discus alongside vertical rock faces he has acted as a guide and facilitator for professional climbers for decades, after spending many years climbing himself. His autobiography, Addicted to Adventure, is a barely believable yarn of big, bold, human adventures, to which sailing opened a whole new dimension.

Shepton has a wiry climber’s frame and a modest turn of phrase that leaves the reader itchy to wring more out of the sponge of life, treading lightly across the earth whilst doing it.

When Shepton had an accident with the gas on board his Discus, blowing himself and the boat skyward, he trekked to an innuit village, caught a plane home, made an insurance claim, bought an identical boat, and came back out to carry on. When, as a school teacher, he couldn’t find crew for a long passage, he got his students to form a rotational crew, giving many children from the school he taught at the chance to sail across open oceans. Bob finds ways over and around obstacles.

Some great photos of one of Bob’s expeditions can be found on professional photographer Ben Ditto’s website.