Mike Perham was just 16 when he set off to circumnavigate the globe. He celebrated his 17th
birthday alone in the Indian Ocean on his 50-foot (15 m) racing yacht.
A birthday party for one might not sound like much fun to the average teen. Other less enjoyable
parts of the trip included numerous stops to repair the yacht’s rudder and autopilot, accidentally
falling overboard into the water and terrible storms in open sea. One of the most tedious aspects of
the trip was having to put up with a diet of ‘icky’ freeze-dried food.
Against these odds British teenager, Mike completed his 28 000 mile (45 000 km) sea voyage in 9
months and became the youngest person to sail solo around the world in August 2009.
Many people say that 16 is too young to sail around the world alone. But Mike’s father was
confident that his son had the physical strength, mental capacity and technical ability necessary for
the trip.