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We intend to keep these pages live for the foreseeable future to record Mike's adventure for posterity.

From all the team at TotallyMoney.com

This will be my last blog on this site as I am undertaking a new adventure next April.

I just want to say a huge thank you to everyone who has placed comments on this site. They really helped keep me going.

I hope you will be able to keep in touch with me on my new site www.challengemike.com

I am sorry there has been a delay in communicating my new site, but you know what it is like, builders often take longer than you think! Anyway, I am hoping all will be fully functional very shortly, so please bear with the 'builders'. The blog page is not working just yet, but I am told will not be long.

It would be great to meet you. I will be at the Southampton Boat Show first Friday 11th, second Friday 18th, Saturday 19th and Sunday 20th. I will be spending most of my time on the Bounty Boat stand (next to Guinness stand), so how about we meet there at 1pm on Saturday 19th September.

You have been very generous to the charities I have adopted. If you have not yet made a donation, please consider doing so now. We have already raised over £5,000. BIG thanks.

You have also been very good at clicking the adverts. This has raised over £1,000. BIG thanks also.

See you at www.challengemike.com

Best wishes

Mike

[Editor's note - please find below the official press release for Mike's New adventure

LONDON: Australian adventurer and solo round the world sailor, Don McIntyre announced today that Mike Perham, the world's youngest solo circumnavigator, has signed up as Second-in-command for the 2010 Bounty Boat Expedition. This is a 4,000-mile re-enactment 221 years after Capt William Bligh and his supporting crew were forced into an open-boat by the mutineering crew on HMS Bounty and successfully sailed from Tonga to Timor in the Pacific.

McIntyre and Perham will face the same deprivations, with little food, no charts or toilet paper and only the limited navigation implements that were available to Bligh.

The search is now on for two extra crew to join this expedition, which has a serious scientific purpose, as well as raise money for MND research. This opportunity of a lifetime to re-create history will cost each individual £10,000 to participate. Only those with an extreme sense of adventure need apply.

The Route

McIntyre and Perham: will follow in the footsteps of Capt. William Bligh when cast adrift from HMS Bounty in the Pacific on April 28, 1789. This McIntyre and his 3-man crew will board their 25ft ‘Bounty Boat’ in the same position exactly 221 years to the day of the Bounty Mutiny and follow in the footsteps of Bligh. They will first sail to Tonga to find extra food and water, before heading westwards across the top of Fiji and the Vanuatu Island groups, bound for the Queensland Coast, Australia to land, like Bligh, on Restoration Island. They will then sail north inside the Great Barrier Reef to Thursday Island, and then through the Torres Strait to Kupang and Timor.
If successful, this will be the first time that anyone has sailed the same course in the same way that Bligh did. Previous attempts in 1983 and 1990 both used almanacs and charts for navigation, torches, modern timepieces, and also made unscheduled stopovers, did not follow the same route or were escorted part of the way. McIntyre and Perham will have no charts, no almanacs, modern timepieces or navigation equipment, torches, or toilet paper.

A GPS tracking system: locked away from the crew, will track McIntyre and Perham’s every 2 hours for the outside world to follow. The only other concession to the 21st Century will be a liferaft and other essential safety equipment, together with a satellite computer link for the 4-man crew to send daily blogs, photos and audio clips to tell their story and for psychologists and oceanographic scientists to monitor their progress and findings.

The gear that McIntyre and crew will rely on

Navigation equipment
18th century octant and sextant, two 18th century pocket watches, nautical tables, boat compass, telescope, rope knot meter, lead line, ink pens and ink, note books, log book, magnifying glass. No charts allowed, no modern watches, no nautical almanac, and no compass light.

Clothing and personal kit - each crew
Sun hat, warm hat, expedition shirt, expedition long pants, tough shorts, thermal top, thermal pants, waterproof shoes, Gore-tex weather jacket and pants, sheep skin, inflatable life-jacket/ safety harness with knife torch and strobe, 406-GPS POB.

No torches, no iPod no books
Bounty Boat will set off with the same weight of food and water that Bligh had when he was cast adrift from the Bounty.

Bounty Boat details
Construction: Traditional lap strake/clinker
Length overall: 25ft (7.62m)
Beam 6.3ft (1.92m)
Load displacement with 4 crew: 1.6 Tonnes

Visit the Bounty Boat at the Southampton Boat Show
The Bounty Boat will be a special feature at the Southampton Boat Show (September 11-20). Don McIntyre and the Bounty Boat team will be on hand to answer all your questions - Why not pop down and visit us.]

Fiona Perham, Heather Perham, Mike Perham, Peter Perham

It's been an exciting last 2 days after arriving back into Portsmouth that's for sure. I was totally knackered the first night and was very grateful for my nice warm, stable and quiet bed and an early night.  I hit the sack at 10 in the evening after the neighbours came in to celebrate me coming home.

As I drove back from Portsmouth with a few friends and we were driving up my road we saw in the distance that the neighbours had totally decorated the whole circle that I live on with loads of flags, banners and bunting. A real warm feeling bubbled up inside me when I saw this and then saw my house, the last one on the whole road.

Yesterday it was nice to have a good chance to see some friends and do some catching up. It's certainly been a long time so in the evening I went out to a great restaurant with some of them.

Things are getting a little more back to normal now what with a nice messy bedroom, clothes littered about everywhere needing washing and the kitchen piled up with stuff to go in the dishwasher! The whole house does look a bit like I have taken over.

A lot of the house has now taken on a real 'boat' smell now and even some of my clothes smell rather strange which is funny. I keep getting odd looks.

BIG thanks to all the friends that offered their boot space in Portsmouth to get all my stuff back home. It now totals 15 loads and there are still a couple more to come.

This afternoon I was in good old Tesco's doing a shop up with Mum and it was funny to see a few people recognise me from the TV and papers. Most people I've met say I've barely changed. Sure I've grown and matured a little but I'm still that fun loving 17 year old with a mental age of 8 who loves having fun and loads of laughs.

Thank you to everyone for all the lovely emails that have been coming in from all over the world. It really makes me smile seeing them and I feel a sense of pride for everyone that has made this trip happen.

Also, thank you to everyone who has been donating to the charities. The two are really close to my heart and also hopefully later this year I'll be able to do some sailing with the Tall Ships Youth Trust which I'm looking forward to.

I'm off now to go and draw a raffle at the 'big summer event' here where I live, so I better dash. I'll update later.

Oh and just to tease you all..... I hope to be announcing my next adventure on the 8th September!!!

Mike

©MikePerham2009

Heather and I just wanted to say, what a pleasure, encouragement, entertainment and how informing it has been to read everyone's comments each day.  Team Mike started off as the Perham family, but now we feel it has grown to everyone who has contributed to Mikes voyage.  Where ever he stopped, he was helped, when ever he had problems he was helped and throughout the trip he was encouraged.

Mike had to overcome many hurdles and I would often say, 'Give yourself a pat on the back'.  His voyage is now complete and as you played such an important role, please give yourselves a 'pat on the back' for all the effort you put into making us laugh and smile.

BIG thanks to everyone who has contributed to Mike's charities.  When I looked today, you have now raised over £4,000.

BIG thanks also to everyone who has clicked on the adverts.  This has raised over £900.

Mike is often asked, 'What next?' On 8th September he hopes to announce something.

We feel it would be great to get all the regular bloggers together sometime, so we hope to be able to invite you to a gathering in the not too distant future.

Mike will be maintaining his blogs.  However, today Mike has had a lovely 'normal' day and says he will post tomorrow.

Cherio for now

Peter

I was careful not to do too much shouting off the boat this time, I didn't want to lose my voice like I did on Thursday when I crossed the line, not good for the waiting TV crews now – it would have been like a silent movie!

I feel so very honoured by my reception, the flotilla of boats in the Solent with crews shouting messages of congratulations, as well as the thousands of people waiting at Gunwharf. Not to mention the army of photographers - I don't think I've ever seen so many cameras in one place! I really do feel a sense of pride, and not just for me, but also for everyone who has really made this happen for me and made it such a special adventure. Without my mini-army of sponsors, especially, Totallymoney.com, Vocalink, Skechers, Kemp Sails, Mastervolt, Hill Dickinson, Underwriting Risk Services, and the High Group but to mention a few, none of this would have ever happened, full credit to them for believing in me and my family. They believed in our adventure and it's thanks to their passion that we've got to the finish. Because it's not just me doing this trip, it's WE. The big team behind everything numbering hundreds of people and they’ve become more like family than just sponsors.

Huge thanks also to all my friends and family who’ve been so supportive throughout the whole trip. They've always been happy to take a call via satellite phone and have a good chat and it's meant a lot to me being able to do that. On another note, but still a note of thanks, I'd like to thank everyone who has commented on my blog or sent an encouraging email through to me. These comments always made me smile and never, ever failed to lift my spirits - they have genuinely made a big difference, especially in the tougher moments of the trip. I read every single one that comes through and I've always felt very touched by your warm messages, so thank you!

I picked two charities close to my heart that I wanted to support and raise money for on this trip and thank you to everyone who has donated to them; it really does make a big difference. If you haven’t already noticed the link on the bottom left of the website, click on it and have a look. The Tall Ships Youth Trust tries to get as many people out on the water sailing and it's always a fantastic feeling, to see a child’s face light up when they feel the water move beneath them for the first time. As for Save the Children, well they do what it says on the tin! They’re out there doing fantastic work, saving the children!

Anyhow, I'm very much looking forward to sleeping in my very own bed tonight which won't be rocking about all the time and making strange noises and whooshing sounds like running water. It's been an incredible day and one I'll never, ever forget that's for sure.

©MikePerham2009

It's been wet, windy and pretty choppy all of the night and today as a good old gale decided to grace us with it's beautiful presence! No rest for the wicked. So after sailing around the first headland, which was I have to say, only after a lovely tour of the bay (killing time there), we headed out into the Channel, gybed round before we hit the separation zones (basically the M25 of shipping) and sailed back into Lyme Bay to try and seek a little shelter in the lee of the land there.

With loads of time to get to Portsmouth we've spent the last 18hours or so sailing up and down and up and down and... If you check out the tracker you'll see what I mean. It was great to be in the lee of the land and we only had about 30knots of breeze instead of the 38 offshore. So that's what we've been doing all day really, getting dizzy sailing up and down the same bit of water killing time and telling bad jokes. Oh and eating STEAK!!!!

Tonight I finally made the call to turn our bow out into the channel once more and we're now heading to our gybe point where we will be able to turn and really point straight for the Needles and the Isle of White. It will be so fantastic to see them again. It's been quite a while!

Yikes, I'm really getting excited for tomorrow now though, the big homecoming! For me, this really is the finish as it's actually where I step ashore onto dry land and the boat actually stops. The line is the official point but personally, it's seeing my friends and family which will really make it for me. Only 11hours until I dock into Gunwharf Quays today, Saturday at 11am!

Nothing’s changed on board as I still always do my emails late at night. Old habits die hard. Well it's certainly going to be great to see everyone tomorrow and I'm just so so excited! It's my turn on 'watch' now so I better go look out for some ships, but really my eyes will be straying to the night sky, there's no clouds about, it's crystal clear and I'm sure there's going to be some shooting stars out soon.

©MikePerham2009

I just wanted to let everyone know the sequence of events for tomorrow as Mike sails along the south coast on the final stretch of his journey -  we're really looking forward to seeing everyone who's planning to come to Gunwharf Quays tomorrow at 11am to welcome Mike home!

6am Mike will pass the Needles

8am Yarmouth

9am Cowes

10.30am Mike will enter Portsmouth harbour

11am Arrival at Gunwharf Quays

11.01am Let the celebrations begin!