On Tuesday afternoon yesterday, the 14-year-old Briton reached Nelson’s Dockyard on Antigua after a total of 38 days at sea. The teenager was accompanied during the trip by his father, who also sailed one-handed on an identical boat.
The Perhams set out with two identical trailerable Tide 28 sailing boats to break the three-year-old record of their compatriot Seb Clover (the YACHT reported). The then 15-year-old was also accompanied by his father on another yacht.
The trip of the Perhams, however, took a little longer than planned. On November 18th they had set sail in Gibraltar. However, they did not sail non-stop to Antigua from there. Due to some technical problems, they made stopovers on both Lanzarote (Canary Islands) and Sao Vincente (Cape Verde). However, this venture was not about record times. It's all about getting the youngest one-handed Atlantic crosser. The family from Potters Bar / Hertfordshire achieved this goal.
The performance of Perham is meanwhile appreciated by the whole Empire. Even Prime Minister Tony Blair's representative, John Prescott, spoke up. "Michael has shown himself to be another successful sailor in the UK's maritime tradition," he said after the youngster's arrival in the Caribbean.