Mike Perham on Ch4 tomorrow

Having watched it now - it started out being a trip for the Dad .... he was going to follow Mike around in an identical boat ... they were going to buy 2 boats ...
Quite where he thought he'd get the sponsorship to shadow his Son around the globe I'm not quite sure - but I'm glad Mike got to go by himself - you could see the gradual change as he learnt to cope with different aspects of the boat ...

I wonder what the outcome would've been had he (Mike) attacked the whole project differently, got sea time on a suitable vessel and gained much of the learning prior to setting off - I rather think we could've been looking at a tricky to beat world record holder - as it is, anyone (well - any one of suitable age and substance) can have a good crack at the 'record' and it should be fairly easy to beat (sort out a suitable boat first!).

I see his next adventure is going to be a 4000Nm journey called Bounty Boat ... sailng with 3 others this time... I wonder if he's aiming to stay in sailing or turn into the next Ben Fogle?
 
How predictable

.
Slag the dad who just about bankrupted himself so his kid could do it. Slag the kid because he didn't always clip on. The guy sailed 30,000 miles at an age when most of you were still sucking the teat.

How many people on here have done anything remotely challenging or brave on their boats? Damn few of you Solent cowboys. Most of you have no right to criticise at all. It always winds me up when puddlejumpers slag real sailors off on here.

And now Jessica Watson is going to take it all away from him. Oh well, it's been a little more than 5 minutes.

- W
 
Good for him, a great experience and hey ho after a few stops for jollies and considered route changes he has gone around the world in a boat.

But

People have been doing this sort of thing for years, they just didn't have the media coverage, knowledge of sponsorship etc and I suspect the motives were different (he pretty much couldn't pack in after all the hype and with dad waiting)

With the back up and support it wasn't so much a record breaking attempt as a gap year adventure.
 
Times change though. If you want to do this sort of thing and don't have half a million quid in the bank you need sponsorship and that was dad's job to help Mike fulfil his dream. If you get people to put up the money you have to deliver something and that drove not just dad (as has been suggested) but Mike as well. It was a team effort and it's time some of you stopped finding fault when you wouldn't have tried it yourselves. A great effort by both and a facinating presentation that they managed to produce about the trip.
 
Black_jack said:
With the back up and support it wasn't so much a record breaking attempt as a gap year adventure.
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You can't knock what he did because he had back up support. Have a look at the support teams for the Volvo ocean race, and most of the boats for the Vendee, and the Velux. Sat phones and shore teams are an accepted part of round the world racing and record attempts and are used gladly by sailors far more experienced and capable than Mike.
 
Wasn't knocking the achievement, I'm all for young people getting out and doing stuff that doesn't involve a controller and a TV / PC screen. I feel sure that MP will have grown from the experience and as sailing seems to be a feature of his achievements it would be good to see him do more.

I do believe that it is much more achievable today as assistance is only an email or satphone call away and huge advice is available with the necessary spares and technical support organised and flown to the next port.

Not wrong, just a different experience IMO. It is (on a somewhat larger scale) like a lot of the things that anyone can now do that were only for the brave or foolhardy years ago, thinking about bungy jumping, climbing walls, forced water canoe slaloms, gorge jumping (canyoning), jet boat rapids rides, wing walking etc etc. all of which are more do-able now because of the technology and support available. Not to mention the commercial drivers which no doubt played a part in this event too.
 
Interesting aspect of this thread is the two opinions.


A): Some people read the bullet points and seem to applaud the whole endevour as teamwork and dream fulfilment.

B): Some people look at the back-story and see a forceful dad vicariously living out his own thwarted ambitions from his childhood.


Which is the more accurate?
 
oldvarnish said:
Let only those who have done better cricitize him.
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Sorry, I can't agree with that...Where would we be if we could only criticise those we have bettered?

So no one, with the exception of Tony Blair, John Major, Thatcher can criticise Gordon Brown? And a cabby, or a bloke in the pub can't criticise the England manager? What a sad world that would be :)

Anyway, after following Mike's blog for most of the way, and meeting him, a few times...and driving him to college with him not knowing where his college was, I did have my doubts that he'd do it, after all if you don't know your way to college...How the hell are you going to make it around the world?

He didn't do what he set out to achieve (single-handed non stop via the capes), so in that respect Mark Turner, Rod Carr and all his other critics were correct.

However, he has achieved more than a lot of people (myself included) thought he would, and has shown everyone what he's capable of. He had a hell of a steep learning curve, and he sprinted up it, after sailing with 2 reefs in what looked like 10-15 knots at the start under main alone, to knocking up some good miles in the pacific, it was good to see how far he had come.

While not scoffing away on humble pie, I've had a bite or two, and after seeing properly what he actually went through, I now have a lot more respect for him. Before all I'd seen was his Fast Show like video clips during the trip, and reading his blogs (about his various trips up table top mountain and penguin visits in cape town, mountain biking in Taz, flying to Australia etc.) none of which warmed him to me.

He's now achieved something his Dad hasn't, and for that he must be really proud
 
Just watched the programme, it seemed to me he almost started off as a reluctant participant trying to live dads dream. Did seem a very risky strategy not to have had at least one sail singlehanded on the boat before he started off however by the end he actually seemed to be enjoying it.

Clearly the hasty preparation and lack of testing contributed to the problems he encountered but have to admire his determination to complete the trip.
 
For me it was striking how similar the programme looked to that excellent film, Deep Water, about Donald Crowhurst. Inadequate resources and time for preparation, pressure to get off . . .

I'm just so pleased that nothing dreadful happened to the bloke. No accidents and he didn't go nuts.
 
It was a great achievement, an absolutely brilliant achievement but not quite the voyage of solitude faced by others in the past. In fact, would a voyage of solitude ever be completed again in the age of the sat-phone?

Clipping-on, by the way, would be commonsense I'd have thought. Taking an unintended trip into the briney would have ended a few things.
 
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