Teenager Mike Perham and his Dad have reached Lanzarote on their solo transatlantic voyages
Mike Perham and his Dad Peter have reached Lanzarote despite some bad weather on their way down from Gibraltar. Mike, who is just 14, is trying to become the youngest person to sail solo across the Atlantic, and is being accompanied by his Dad in an identical Tide 28 trailer-sailer.
The two are at Rubicon Marina making some repairs, the most serious of which is to Peter’s rudder pintle. Due perhaps to this problem, he was beaten by his son on the first leg of the voyage. Not that it’s a race?
To the cynic, adventures such as this are stunts. Yet against the hubbub and urgency of professional ocean races and challenges, Mike Perham’s venture is something refreshingly different. His boyish excitement is intoxicatingly innocent — ‘Sailing was brilliant today? Saw some whales, they were about 12ft long with big tails’, he reported last week. Mike perfectly captures what it feels like to go out into a world brimming with newness and adventure.
He’s a lucky guy to have the opportunity to do something so intrepid at this age. Good luck, Mike — and Mike’s Dad.