Intrepid adventurers embark on epic voyage
This morning (April 9th), all eyes were on four brave, adrenalin-fuelled adventurers at the official launch of the Talisker Bounty Boat expedition in Sydney, Australia.
The four-man international crew, bound for remote Tonga, where the voyage begins bid farewell to family and friends as they prepared to set sail on the first ever authentic recreation of one of the greatest open boat voyages ever undertaken.
The Captain of the Talisker Bounty Boat is veteran adventurer and Australian Don McIntyre who has carefully selected his crew from countries around the world to embark on one of the most extraordinary stories of survival and sheer determination Captain William Bligh’s 4,000 mile open boat ‘Mutiny on the Bounty’ voyage.
The courageous crew includes young Brit Chris Wilde who won a global competition to search for a successor following the unexpected withdrawal of Mike Perham. With less than a week’s notice, Chris has left his friends, family and creature comforts to undertake an almighty yet exciting challenge on the open seas.
The re-enactment of one of the most iconic expeditions in nautical history, following the journey across the Pacific from Tonga to Timor, will start on the same day (April 28th), at the same time and in the same location 221 years after the original mutiny journey. The crew will leave Sydney today to travel to the starting point to begin the Expedition.
The seven week Expedition aboard the Talisker Bounty Boat – a 25ft long, 7ft wide, open wooden vessel – will see the crew facing the same deprivations as the original crew that were cast adrift in the middle of the Pacific, including: no navigation charts; only two weeks of water; hardly any food; and a lack of everyday luxuries such as a torch or even toilet paper.
Alongside Don McIntyre and Chris Wilde the international crew also includes Australian Dave Pryce and experienced English sailor, David Wilkinson.
Not content with just taking on this huge challenge, McIntyre and the crew are also attempting to raise over $250,000 for The Sheffield Institute Foundation for Motor Neurone Disease (SIF), which is building the world’s first research Institute into Motor Neurone Disease (MND), Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s.
McIntyre does not underestimate the challenge ahead: “We’re incredibly excited to launch the Expedition today, leaving the city and our loved ones bound for the starting point. We will be getting close to the experience of Captain Bligh and his crew; however everyone aboard the Talisker Bounty Boat will be pushed to the limit of endurance and survival, forever hungry and unsure of everything, except their own desire to fight through this.”
The voyage is sponsored by Talisker Single Malt Scotch Whisky, the only single malt whisky from the Isle of Skye which is also the origin of Don McIntyre’s ancestry. His grandparents emigrated to Australia from Skye shortly after their marriage in 1901.
To follow the expedition, visit: taliskerbountyboat.com