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PERHAM ON FINAL LEG

Mike Perham has left Panama on the final stretch of his bid to become the youngest ever person to circumnavigate single handed. The potter’s Bar teenager set sail on 15th November last year and hope’s to sail the last 5000miles without any similar set backs to the ones he has already confronted despite a bit of a dodgy ‘off’ from Panama.

The young enthusiast had this to say, 'As I was putting the reef in. One of the lazy jacks snapped and managed to wrap itself around one of the cars attached to the mainsail. This meant I couldn't lower the sail, so a mast climb needed to be done, and soon!.. As with any mast climb, I phoned up my Dad to tell him I was going up and to not expect to hear from me in the next hour or so. Going up wasn't so bad once I had got into the swing of things but getting around the first spreader was really tough and I got battered so many times. With too much canvas up due to not being able to drop the main, I was really being bucked around!

'I started to feel really sick while I was up there and got lightheaded. I lost count of the number of times I was smacked against the rig as I made my way down - it's much harder than going up and took me twice as long. If it wasn't for my body padding, I'd currently be covered in bruises and probably have a couple of cracked ribs for good measure!.. As I felt my leg touch the boom, I unclipped my climbing gear and laid down on the deck, completely knackered. I hadn't had any sleep, nor eaten well and was feeling thoroughly seasick in the lumpy swell. Not a great start to my last leg. But oh well, sod it, I'm heading home now and despite the exhaustion I'm still wearing that grin on my face!'

Fingers crossed he’ll be home safe soon.

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