Mike Perham is 3 days from record finish

Dateline: Tuesday 24th August 2009 - Day 156
Position: 08:00 UTC - 50° 50°N, 17° 10 W - 280 miles WSW of Ireland
Speed: 10 kts
Distance to Ushant/Falmouth finish line: 460 miles

17 year-old British sailor Mike Perham is now within 3 days of becoming the world's youngest solo circumnavigator. He now expects his 50ft yacht Totallymoney.com to reach the Lizard line marking the start and finish point of his 30,000 mile record-setting odyssey this Thursday - two months inside the current record.

He is not yet quite home and dry. Behind him, the tail end of Hurricane Bill is expected to overtake Mike early on Wednesday to provide one last test of endurance for this teenager from Potters Bar, Hertfordshire. If his yacht Totallymoney.com survives that trial, then Guinness World Records is standing by at the at Lizard Point, Cornwall, to ratify his record.

Over the weekend, Mike survived a collision, crash gybe and 40ft swells. He wrote in his blog today: "I was standing on deck gazing out across the sea when suddenly WHACK! We hit something. I jumped in the stern and saw that the autopilot ram had been partially torn away and could hear that not-so-lovely noise of cracking fiberglass.! I looked over the back but couldn't see anything amiss.

I knocked out the pin connecting the autopilot and the boat went into a nasty crash gybe. The mainsail whacked across and we rounded up into a stiff 30knot breeze. We started sailing backwards, just as I had hoped, and I suddenly felt the tiller go 'free'. So whatever it was, fell off!

But the fun wasn't over! When we gybed, one of the attachments holding the full length sail battens had snapped. Not good! Now I was faced with an hour long struggle to get the mainsail down to replace it. Then came the really hard bit - getting the main up the mast again. It was blowing 30knots and because the head of the sail is so large, it was forever catching on the lazy jacks and took an hour and a half to finally get the main back up to the first reef mark.

Now I am bracing myself for Hurricane Bill. I've currently got 35knots of wind and some serious seas. A rough 40foot swell too! The sea has picked up so much because this Big Bad Low has had a long way to really build up. I expect to be saying "hi" to Hurricane Bill in the early hours of Wednesday."

Statement from Guinness World Records

Guinness World Records™ on standby to ratify Mike Perham as the youngest person to sail solo around the world.

Guinness World Records will be on hand to ratify 17-year-old Mike Perham's astonishing achievement of becoming the youngest person to sail solo around the world, when the British sailor returns to Gunwharf Quay, Portsmouth on Saturday August 29.

This will not be the first time that Mike Perham from Potters Bar, Hertfordshire has been credited by Guinness World Records. Back in January 2007, he became the youngest person to sail solo across the Atlantic at the age of 14.

Craig Glenday, Editor-in-Chief of Guinness World Records, said: "This is another incredible achievement, and it marks Mike as the consummate record-breaker - someone who's continually prepared to set themselves new and more challenging goals. Even the most experienced of sailors would be tested by the mental and physical stamina required to achieve a record of this magnitude. The fact that Mike achieved it at such a young age is a testament to his courage and unparalleled sense of adventure."

Mike set out on his latest solo adventure from Gunwharf Quay on 15th November 2008 and crossed the traditional Ushant/Lizard line for marking the start (and finish) of sailing circumnavigations from the Western Approaches, on the 18th November 2008 aboard his 50ft yacht TotallyMoney.com at the age of 16 years 247 days.

His 30,000-mile circumnavigation has taken him via Cascais (Portugal), Las Palmas, (Canaries) Cape Town (South Africa), Hobart (Australia), Auckland (New Zealand) and Panama. Barring any last minute problems, he is due to re-cross the Ushant/Lizard line some time on 27th August 2009 and be greeted back by family, friends and well-wishers to Gunwharf Quay, Portsmouth at 11:00am on Saturday 29th August, having spent 158 days at sea.