A British teenager has become the youngest person ever to sail round the world after reaching the coast of Cornwall yesterday.
17 year old Mike Perham arrived at the finish in Cornwall, southern England, after completing 45.000 kilometers on seas and oceans. His fifty foot yacht took him via Portugal, the Canaries, South-Africa, Australia, New Zealand and Panama back to England.
Perham, originally from Hertfordshire, already holds the record for being the youngest person to sail across the Atlantic at just 14, when his father sailed next to him in a seperate boat. He needed to be home by the end of October to beat American rival Zac Sunderland's round-the-world record. The teenager has tackled 50 foot waves and gale force winds during his 45.000 km voyage. Earlier this year on March 16, he celebrated his 17th birthday in the South Indian Ocean.
He told Sky News: "There have been scary moments. You do ask yourself why on Earth you're doing it because you get put in these dangerous situations. But when you get out of them you think 'wow, incredible'. "I'm at one with nature and it's just me thousands of miles away from any help."
