Pilot, sailing instructor, Peninsula High swimmer: Meet 17-year-old Taggart Messersmith
Growing up, Taggart Messersmith dreamt of a life on the water. He wanted a boat — a big yacht, in fact, and his sailing experience could get him there.
Realistically, it was a once-I’m-grown-up-and-retired type of dream. The 17-year-old, now a level one U.S. Sailing instructor, realized his goal would require a successful career to pay the bills. No large vessel like the one he aspires to own carries a small price tag.
Then Taggart’s mother opened a magazine two years ago that read as follows: “Good sailors make great pilots.”
Taggart had never considered flying for a career, but he shared a moment of revelation with his mother.
“Okay, screw it,” Taggart claims his mother said, and she bought her son an introductory flight at the local airport for his 16th birthday. The pandemic pushed back his flight until Summer 2020, but it took just one day before an idea became a career path.
“I got up for the first time, and I just fell in love with it,” Taggart said. “It was just amazing. That was the moment ... this is it. (My family) thought about it over the summer, and then right around when school started, I was like, you know, I really want to pursue this.
Many 16-year-olds are excited to get a driver license. That wasn’t enough for Taggart. He wanted to fly. To do that, he needed his private pilot license.
SAILING, FOR STARTERS
As a child, Taggart spent summers at his grandparent’s Wollochet Bay home, and watched summer sailing camps at the neighboring Tacoma Yacht Club. It wasn’t long before he wanted to be on the water himself, and he signed up for his first camp in fifth grade.
His classes weren’t exactly love at first sight. Taggart contemplated ditching classes two years in, but a friend persuaded him to stick with it. Within that week, everything clicked.
“I fell in love with it,” Taggart told The Gateway.
A month later, he was recruited to compete at his future high school’s varsity events, despite being in middle school.
Now, Taggart’s a certified sailing instructor. It wasn’t easy, considering the intensive, 40-plus hour course that culminates in a swim test in the frigid, winter waters of Gig Harbor.
“I had a dry suit, thank the Lord,” Taggart said with a laugh. “But there were people in gym shorts. … I can’t even comprehend that. So that was definitely a challenge. I put a lot of time and effort into that, because I really wanted to do it.”
Taggart’s successful plunge last February earned a Level 1 certification from U.S. Sailing, and he passed his swim test amid his finals at Bellarmine Preparatory School.
FROM BLUE WATERS TO BLUE SKIES
Aside from the connection to his grandparent’s Wollochet Bay home where Taggart spent summers, there was no family history behind his sailing interests. Not so with aviation: His great uncle served two tours in Vietnam flying Chinook helicopters, and went on to pilot commercially for U.S. Airways.
Taggart met his 84-year-old great-uncle for the first time at Thanksgiving last month, but it was easy for the two to get along, said Tim Messersmith, Taggart’s father. The retired pilot grabbed a white board and demonstrated holding patterns at the dinner table, and walked his great-nephew through the hiring process of his former employer.
“You know, my uncle’s almost 85 years old, and it was almost like he was a little kid again,” Tim Messersmith said. “(He’s) super excited that there’s gonna be another pilot in the family.”
Taggart passed his six-hour flight exam and earned his license in October, though it took him over a year of tri-weekly sessions. He’s already logged over 100 hours in the air, and there’s a long list of family members waiting their turn to join him on a flight.
When high winds prevent him from taking to the skies, he turns to the water.
“It’s funny, because bad flying weather is good sailing weather,” Taggart said. “So, it works.”
Last week, Taggart flew his father for the first time.
“We’re just super proud,” Tim Messersmith said. “I mean, (becoming an) instructor for sailing and (earning his) private pilot before he’s 18 … not a lot of people can do that. And that is going to set him up for just a huge amount of success for college and beyond.
“There’s nothing he can’t do.”
Don’t just take Dad’s word: Samuel Aown instructed Taggart last summer at the Tacoma Narrows Airport. In Aown’s words, Taggart was a student you’d want to see on your daily schedule. And he was someone that worked hard to get what he wanted, something his flight instructor clearly admired.
“We still talk,” Aown said. “We still go on flights, now and then. I would say, it’s transitioned from more of a student-teacher role to ... I would say, we’re friends, you know? He’s a guy I could talk to.
“It really takes a special person to be able to do ... sailing to the point where you can teach kids to sail, have good academic grades, and also excel at flying. I think that means a lot.”
And that yacht Taggart eventually wants? You could say he’s on the right track, because earlier this year, he received two scholarship offers from aeronautical schools: Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Daytona Beach, Florida, and St. Louis University in Missouri.
“It’s so crazy to me that two years ago, I had no vision of flying at all,” Taggart said. “And now I already have my license, and I can take my dad up whenever I want. It’s crazy.”
SWIMMING WITH SEAHAWKS
Of Taggart’s passions, swimming beats sailing and aviation in longevity.
He’s an honor student at Bellarmine Prep, but competes for the Peninsula High School swim team, and already qualified for the district tournament in the 100 backstroke.
Taggart took up sailing in middle school and began flying some years later, but swam as early as third grade. Both parents (and his sister) swam, and when Taggart’s local karate school closed nearly a decade ago, transitioning to the pool was an easy decision.
Are there really enough hours in the day?
“(With Taggart) being the child of two educators, we have taught our kids how to prioritize, organize their time, and he understands the relationship that you are a student-athlete. ‘Student’ always comes first,” said Tim Messersmith, who coaches the swim team and teaches history classes at Peninsula. “But ... we try to find that balance between school, and also what they’re passionate about.
Taggart punched his district tournament ticket in the 100-meter backstroke, but came only a tenth of a second shy of qualifying in the 100-meter butterfly recently. He’s confident he’ll shave that time down before the season ends, and mark the third season he’s qualified in both events. If not for the pandemic shutting down district tournaments last season, Taggart may have earned qualification for a fourth year.
“Every day, I take it one piece at a time and I kind of just think of like: ‘What’s the priority today?’” Taggart said. “Do I want to push really hard in swimming, or do I need to lay back a little bit and really focus on school? That kind of thing. I just prioritize.”
What surprises Tim Messersmith, most about Taggart, as both Dad and Coach, is his humility. Despite his accomplishments, he’s quiet when discussing accolades.
That’s Tim’s job.
“I like to brag about him,” Tim Messersmith said. “You know, a lot of my kids in my classes know more about him than anybody else. I’m like: ‘Well, Taggart got this today and he’s been doing this today.’ We’re just so darn proud of him. I couldn’t have raised a better kid.”
“That’s all Mom,” Tim said with a grin.
This story was originally published December 26, 2021 at 5:00 AM.
