Sailing schoolboy latest

Sailing schoolboy Mike Perham, 17, has passed Raoul Island in the Pacific Ocean and is heading north-east to avoid the stronger winds further south.

His latest log exlains: ‘I only came within five miles of Raoul Island and no closer as I wanted to be clear of the rocks and also the slight wind shadow it was generating. I thought of my dad and just imagined what he’d be saying if he was with me today, probably something like “Yep, another lump of rock,” in his laid back joking way, which made me grin.

‘These random islands are the peaks of the Kermadec Ridge. I’m now heading out over the Kermadec Trench, which is almost 10,000 metres deep. That’s got to be one of the deepest places in the world! It’s certainly the deepest water I’ve ever sailed over.

‘I’m still heading up north-east to about 26 degrees north to avoid the worst of this secondary low that is storming along towards us at the moment. The front is due to pass through at around 08:00 so I’ll keep Totallymoney.com surfing along, keeping up speeds to match the wind. The forecast is for gusts over 50knots at times so it should be a wet and wild ride for Totallymoney.com and I. I wouldn’t want to be much more south as then we’d have much more wind up to 70knots – which would be no fun at all.

‘Once the low pressure system passes I’m set for a couple of days of good southerly winds which will enable me to make good progress east, which I’m looking forward to very much.

‘At the moment the wind is pretty much all over the place, anything between eight and 28knots on a regular basis, making it hard to relax. Tonight’s going to be busy, busy with a few sail changes needed, to adapt to the ever increasing wind strength.’

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