As adventures go, the Talisker Bounty Boat expedition is a tough one.

Australian adventurer, Don McIntyre, who finished the 1990 BOC around alone sailing challenge and spent a year living in Antarctica in a 2.4m X 3.6m box with his wife Margie, has decided to recreate the voyage of Captain Bligh and his 18 Castaways that followed Fletcher Christian’s mutiny on the Bounty in 1789.

But before even setting off, two crew members have had to discount themselves for health reasons and one of their replacements has no
experience at sea at all.

McIntyre’s intended crew of four included the world’s youngest solo circumnavigator, Mike Perham and a 53 year old businessman from Minnesota in the US, Peter Stier.

Perham had his appendix removed and failed to recover sufficiently to set off on the gruelling journey.

The Bounty Boat website states: “American Pete Steir, after careful consideration, thinks the Talisker Bounty Boat voyage is not for him and today signed himself off the crew.”

A CNN website story states Stier suffered badly during food and sleep deprivation training in February.

The two new crew members are David Pryce, a naval architect and experienced yachtsman, plus 18-year-old Chris Wilde from Warwickshire who has little experience of sailing.

The reenactment, following the journey across the Pacific from Tonga to Timor, will launch on the same day (April 28th), at the same time and in the same place 221 years after the original mutiny journey.

McIntyre and his 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.

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 sailing 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:

Talisker Bounty Boat will set off with the same weight of food and water that Bligh had when he was cast adrift from the Bounty.

Talisker 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

To follow the expedition and donate to this cause, visit www.taliskerbountyboat.com .