Nine months, some 50,000km and several euphemistic “Oh crikey!” moments after leaving Portsmouth on the English south coast, British teenager Mike Perham, 17, on Thursday became the youngest person to sail solo around the globe.
The college student from land-locked Hertfordshire near London crossed the finishing line between Lizard Point and Ushant in France at 9:47am after braving 15m waves, gale-force winds and a couple of hair-raising “knockdowns” during his voyage into the record books.
“I am absolutely ecstatic. It feels amazing,” he said from his Open 50 racing yacht, Totallymoney.com. “I am really looking forward to seeing my family and friends, getting back to my own house and especially getting into my own bed at last.”
He will have to wait for that luxury, as well as the steak and chips he dreamt about during his odyssey. He must first continue to Gunwharf Quay in Portsmouth where he will be met today by crowds and a welcome home party.
Setting off as a 16-year-old, equipped with an iPod, “icky” freeze-dried food supplies and a couple of robust laptops from which to blog, Mike’s intention was to complete his circumnavigation nonstop in under five months.
But those hairy moments, which saw his auto-pilot then his rudder fail, winds that shredded his sail and towering waves, forced him to pull in for repairs. Stops in Portugal, Gran Canaria, Cape Town, Tasmania and New Zealand threw him behind schedule and forced him through the Panama Canal rather than round Cape Horn. It also meant he had to abandon his attempt at a nonstop, non-assisted circumnavigation.
“It was a bit of a disappointment. But I always knew there was a chance of stopping,” he said.
Horrendous weather in the Southern Ocean saw 15m waves in 50-knot winds and necessitated mast repairs after two knockdowns. Another drama found him cutting ropes tangled on the rudder by diving under the boat in 30-second dives for 40 minutes in the Pacific.
“There are lows, but the ongoing low is that you are on your own, totally,” he said by satellite phone. “That’s not nice, but it is part of the challenge. I never thought about giving up. Though sometimes you do ask yourself, Why on earth am I doing it?
“There were so many experiences I will never forget. Seeing hundreds of dolphins at once, or seeing whales next to you. There were some incredible sunsets and some beautifully clear days,” he said.
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