Marsali Taylor grew up near Edinburgh. Her childhood was made magical by summers spent in a remote cottage in the West Highlands. She bought her first boat aged 17, a lightweight racing dinghy which she still takes out on calm days. Other ‘gap’ year experiences included being an au-pair for a French Countess and working in an old-fashioned department store. She read English at Dundee University. After teacher training college she moved to Shetland, to teach English, French and drama. There she aquired a house, garden, cats and ponies. She enjoys new experiences: she’s been ski-ing in the Italian Alps and paragliding in the French Pyrenees, came up from Greenock to Lerwick on a full-rigged Norwegian ship, and returned from Norway in a force 10 in a 100-year old fishing boat. She also acts – her favourite role was as the witch in Sleeping Beauty, when she was flown across the stage on a broomstick. She has just completed her first circumnavigation of Shetland in her own 8m yacht