I could probably rant for hours about everything that annoyed me, but it won’t make much difference so here are a few of the major points:

• £1million to sail the world. Yes, if you want to buy yourself two boats and all the gear so you can go boating afterwards as well. In fact, the whole sponsorship thing in general; It can allow you to do things you wouldn’t otherwise do, but it doesn’t give you licence to take these people for a ride. Spend the money responsibly as if it were your own. In fact, budget the whole trip in that way. Use a cheap but seaworthy yacht and be sensible with your supplies.
• Experience. Clearly he didn’t have enough, not in sailing per-say (though the scene as he was leaving England and trying to put the sails up made me cringe) but just in fixing the boat. Leaking window? Fix it for God’s sake… don’t sit there getting everything wet!
• Choice of boat. An Open 50? Really? Sure, it’ll get you round fast and look flash, but racing boats are developed with the narrowest of margins at the best of times, let alone when they’ve seen 12 years of service. If you’ve got to refit a boat, you really can’t expect it to be problem free when you get on it… Again, why was there no prolonged testing of the boat? Would have been sensible to say “Right, let’s start the thing in Portugal and use the trip down there as a shakedown” from the word go. Guess it doesn’t look so good for the cameras on Portsmouth dock then.
• Being prepared. I’ve no doubt it’s difficult, but with a weather man advising you of your route the whole way so all you have to do is look out the window, it shouldn’t be too hard to avoid being knocked flat. It’s an Open 50, chances are you’ll have to stick a big reef in a lot earlier than you would have on some tubby cruiser!
• Disappointing or not, don’t have a strop when you leave port to find a load of water on the boat. Count your lucky stars you checked it when you did and kick yourself for not checking it before you left.

There was of course the inevitable race with Zac Sunderland who seemed to have a much more sensible yacht, much more sensible route and much more sensible expectations in general. Also, I’ve got to say, broken autopilots do seem to be a common theme in sailing. Do they ever work?

I guess the bottom line is, Mike’s sailed around the world and I haven’t, but I do wonder if he could have been a little more responsible about it in many ways.

Le bateau est au maximum de la jauge en ce qui concerne la largeur (50′), le trimaran pèse 2,8 tonnes soit 10% de moins que le précédent trimaran aux couleurs de Wahou, les appendices ont aussi bénéficié d’un travail approfondi, le trimaran adopte une configuration en “X” avec le rail d’écoute de grand voile circulaire sur un bras arrière.

©Wahou

A lire l’interview de Franck yves Escoffier, skipper du trimaran sur Voiles et Voiliers.

La première sortie officielle du trimaran se fera au Trophée Malo, qui réunira 11 multicoques de la classe Multi50′ du 20 au 23 août à Saint Malo, Actual d’Yves le Blévec devrait aussi tirer ses premiers bords lors de ce rendez vous.

 Mike from Potters Bar, Hertfordshire, first hit the headlines two years ago when he became the youngest person ever to sail across the Atlantic single-handed at the age of just fourteen – a record recognised by the Guinness Book of Records.

Michael Perham abroad his Open 50 yacht Totallymoney.com during his record attempt to become the youngest person to circumnavigate the world alone.

 During Mike’s circumnavigation, he has overcome everything nature can throw at him including storm force winds and 50ft seas. He has also had to overcome major problems with his yacht’s self-steering system, rudder bearings and electrics. Stopping for repairs added months to the voyage and led to Mike missing the seasonal weather window for rounding Cape Horn. Continued bad weather in the Southern Ocean, surfing down waves at crazy speeds up to 28knots, eventually forced the teenager to sail much further north than he had intended and sensibly, he re routed his return to the Atlantic via the Panama Canal.

Mike’s daily blogs and videos have been an inspiration to thousands who read and watch them each day. Mixing picturesque sunsets with ferocious seas, he describes with remarkable insight, his encounters with whales and dolphins, – and contrasting rubbish that litter the sea.

Mike said today: ‘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.’

Mike has many sponsors, including Tek-Tanks. For more information please visit Mike’s website.