Sailors recreate epic Bligh voyage
16 Jun 10
A four-man crew has succeeded in its attempt to recreate the epic 4,000-mile open boat voyage through the Pacific by Captain William Bligh after the mutiny on the HMS Bounty.
The team, which included gap year student Chris Wilde, 18, from Warwick, set sail off the coast of Tonga on April 29 in a 25ft-long Talisker Bounty Boat at the same location where Bligh and his sailors - refugees from the mutiny - started some 221 years ago.
After almost seven weeks at sea, the team, which also included Don McIntyre, 53, sailor Dave Pryce and 48-year-old David Wilkinson - an Englishman who has lived in Hong Kong for the past 17 years - landed in Kupang, west Timor.
Mr McIntyre said: "Whilst we were all incredibly excited to get close to Captain Bligh and his crew, everyone on board the Talisker Bounty Boat was still aware that the experience would push us to the limit of endurance and survival.
"That said, it is one thing anticipating what the journey will bring and quite another going through it for seven weeks. Even with my experience, this has undoubtedly been one of the hardest but best things I have ever done."
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http://www.bountyboat.com/ (Talisker Bounty Boat expedition)
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