WORLD SAILING
On 18th November 2008, I set out to become the youngest person to sail around the world single-handed on my yacht, TotallyMoney.com. My adventure certainly lived up to all expectations as my yacht was knocked over, battered and damaged. Originally I had planned the trip to be a four month, non-stop circumnavigation but this soon became a 9 month trip full of technical and navigational challenges.
Repeated autopilot failures forced me to stop for repairs in Portugal, Gran Canaria and Cape Town. After finally overcoming these problems, I crossed the Southern Indian Ocean in March, celebrating my 17th birthday enroute which was amazing. I had to stop again in Tasmania and then Aukland after serious rudder problems emerged.
For me, the best part of the trip was the Southern Ocean as I was able to surf down 50 foot waves in 50 knot winds at speeds of up to 28 knots. TotallyMoney.com was knocked down by a freak wave, damaged and I had to make emergency repairs up the mast which pushed me further mentally than I could have ever imagined.
I headed up northeast across the Pacific as it was too late in the season to go around Cape Horn and I transited through the Panama Canal. I skirted along the coast of America and made the most of the Gulf stream as I headed north into the Atlantic. It was no easy last week at sea as I was hit by a tropical storm just two days before arriving home.
I crossed the finish line on the 27th August 2009 with a huge grin on my face and I'll certainly remember that day for the rest of my life.
Below are the highlights of my World Trip. If you click on the GREEN links, it will take you to the blog of that day.
09.09.08 - Southampton Mike’s Open 50 sailing yacht officially named TotallyMoney.com at the Southampton Boat Show
15.11.08 - Portsmouth Set out on solo circumnavigation from Gunwharf Quay, Portsmouth
18.11.08 - Falmouth Mike Perham crosses line between Ushant, Northern France, and Lizard Point, Southern England, the traditional start and finish line for circumnavigations.
21.11.08 - First problems with auto-pilot The Auto-pilot keeps resetting itself. Twice today. I've been lucky in that I've been wide awake and ready to jump straight to the helm before she goes into a nasty gybe.
24.11.08 - Divert to Casais, Portugal Repairs to autopilot expected to take less than a day.
29.03.09 - Southern Ocean Mike forced to climb the mast to fix the lazy jackstays that had snapped during the last knock down.
03.04.09 - Hobart, Tasmania 1.30am Local time: Pull in to Hobart to repair rudders.
09.04.09 - Leave Hobart Leave Tasmania, but leak in rudder bearings force Mike to turn back. 'Psychologically, this was a pretty hard thing to do; I never thought I'd be sailing back up this river again.'
19.04.09 - Unexpected Flight Mike flies to Mooloolab near Brisbane to meet Jessica Watson, who is setting off later in the year to also sail around the world solo. Check out her website www.youngestround.com.
09.05.09: Depart Hobart After waiting a month for new rudder bearings to arrive, Mike sets sail to go above New Zealand.
11.05.09 - Pacific Ocean. 20knots+ - 'I was sitting in the cuddy, watching the world go by, when a strong gust of 38knots picked us up and we shot off down a wave at over 20knots. The bow started to dig in, we lost a bit of speed and next thing I know I’m watching the water rushing up the deck towards the cockpit and it filled it right up! I lifted my boots in the air to keep them dry, as I was sitting on the bean-bag and two seconds later the cockpit was empty once more. Our surfing resumed as if nothing had happened.'
16.05.09 - Auckland, New Zealand Further problems with the autopilot, force another stop to make repairs
27.05.09 - Leave Auckland Autopilot now repaired once more
01.06.09 - Zoom, Zoom, Zoom! Mike reports: '24knots! This is what happens... The surf begins, Totallymoney.com edges forward at 14knots as we begin our descent down a wave. I feel the boat accelerateon the face of this huge, roaring wave of pure power.. I feel Totallymoney.com lift up onto an incredible plane with only the back third of the boat in the water. Speed increases, 15,16,17knots. It's dark and I wonder what's going to happen when we hit the bottom of the wave travelling so fast. The speed climbs faster and faster, 19, 21, 24knots! I see the wave ahead approaching and brace myself for the deceleration. But Totallymoney.com just ploughs straight into this wall of water, sending waves and spray cascading across the deck and over the coach-roof 20ft in the air. I grab on to the handholds to prevent myself being washed backwards and…then this whole excilarating experience starts again!' It's hard to believe just how fast I’m actually going and have to remind myself sometimes that I’m sailing the equivalent of a surfboard down some rather large waves.
02.06.09 - Crossing the Int. Dateline I've now passed over the dateline so goodbye tomorrow and hello today! It doesn't make much difference here but from from now on, the time difference is going to get easier and easier to cope with. It’s often a pain being twelve hours away from those back home!
09.06.09 - Capsize in Southern Ocean Mike reports: I was asleep. When I woke the boat was leaning right over on it's side, pinned right down to the water. My first thought was that this really is an odd angle, one I've never quite experienced before - not for more than a few seconds anyway. The boat was, quite literally right over on her side with the first set of spreaders about 1ft off the water.
13.06.09 - Cape Horn or Panama Canal? MIke reports: 'I've decided to go for Panama Canal instead of Cape Horn. There’s quite a few reasons why I've made this decision. First of all, it is now winter in the Southern Ocean and with the reduced daylight hours and fiercer storms it doesn't look sensible. Yes, the weather is more predictable but I've been watching the weather around the area and there's been a good few depressions which I'm glad I haven't had to sail through. Secondly, I’ve come much further north than I originally expected to avoid a large depression after leaving New Zealand – So it now makes sense to continue on North and not drop all the way back down into the South.' So long as MIke continues to sail across every meridian of longitude, crosses the equator and returns to his starting point, he should become the youngest person to sail around the world single-handed (assisted - because he has stopped and accepted help) and therefore, also the youngest circumnavigator.
15.06.09 - An unexpected swim! The spinnaker sheet (control line) became jammed between the skeg and rudder, forcing Mike to swim down and cut it free. He wrote: 'I could see it was being pinched by the rudder and so I wasn't surprised that my earlier attempts had been useless. I took a few deep breaths before diving underneath Totallymoney.com and spent thirty seconds at a time trying to cut the rope away. Finally the lines were free. My lovely nice sheet with it's special anti chafe cover was now in pieces and totally useless, but hey, at last I had the steering back!'
20.06.09 - Sails rip apart! Mike wrote: 'I was furling the genoa when I noticed this tiny 2inch hole 2feet from the foot of the sail. I immediately bore away to get the genoa as sheltered as possible behind the mainsail. But then I heard a ripping noise - in just two seconds, a rip had run from the foot almost all the way up to the head. My heart was in my mouth. I could barely utter the words "Oh bummer," seeing this once beautiful sail, that had taken me so far, now in shreds.'
25.06.09 - Across the Equator Mike wrote: 'I toasted Neptune with a bottle of champagne. My gift to him was my day’s ration of chocolate. I also gave him some champagne provided by Pick & Pay in Cape Town. The next bottle is set aside for my arrival home!'
27.06.09 - Sighting of a ship since New Zealand Mike wrote: 'I haven't seen a single boat since leaving Auckland. I haven't even had one up on my AIS since then and that's got a serious range, picking up ships 100miles away before.'
07.07.09 - Rubbish Mike observed: 'I've just sailed passed a few lumps of wood with lone birds sitting on them, watching the world go by. The amount of debris and junk has steadily increased as I near Panama. It’s really disappointing to see loads of plastic rubbish floating about. The ocean really is full of junk in places. Apart from several mooring buoys I’ve also had a close encounter with a huge 10inch towing rope stretching further than I could see, in the middle of the Southern Ocean, thousands of miles from anywhere. I've seen countless random plastic bottles and small bits of rubbish just floating about in all sorts of places around the world.'
08.07.09 - Panama 14:30 UTC: Totalmoney.com reaches Panama and is escorted in by members of the Panama Sailing School.
16.07.09 - Congratulations Zac! Zac Sunderland completes his solo circumnavigation. Mike Perham sends his congratulations.
24.07.09 - traverse Panama Canal Disaster - After waiting a week for a tow through the Canal, Totalmoney.com became caught up in the bows of a tug ripping off guard wire and some of the stanchions. Another delay for more repair work!
28.07.09 - Cristobal, Panama Mike sets sail on final Atlantic leg home to UK! Mike wrote: 'I'm finally on the last leg and it feels just great. I only have about 5,000 miles to go, so I am hoping to be home inside four weeks. I really can't wait, but I won't push the boat too hard, as I would not want anything to happen that might have been preventable.'
27.08.09 - Finish Line Mike Perham crosses the finish line to become the youngest person to sail around the world.
30.08.09 - Hero’s welcome Mike returns to a hero’s welcome, Portsmouth, UK
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