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Race Against Time for Teens Battling it Out for YoungestRoundtheworld...

What was meant to be a straight-forward bid to become the youngest person to sail around the globe has turned into a race against the clock for British teenager Mike Perham.

Mike Perham of Potters Bar, England, is currently battling it out against US teen Zac Sunderland to claim the world record as the youngest person to sail around the world.

Mike will be stopping shortly in Auckland, New Zealand, halfway through what has become a trip rife with mechanical problems. He is now facing the reality that he may fail in his bid to beat rival Zac Sunderland as he makes his fifth stop in Auckland to repair the faulty steering system on his boat TotallyMoney.com with replacements being flown in from France.

Mike'ss journey has been plagued by trouble almost from the day he crossed the official starting line off the south coast of England on 18th November last year. He was forced to land in Portugal to repair problems with the auto-pilot in his 50 ft open racing yacht, TotallyMoney.com just six days later. He has since had to make lengthy stops in the Canary Islands, Cape Town, and Hobart, Australia for mechanical repairs.

The inexperience of Mike'ss team sparked controversy in the international sailing community last autumn, with critics calling the trip a 'spublicity stunt defined by its expiry date's, and tipping Zac as the more capable sailor.

Writing on her Yachting World blog, Elaine Bunting expressed concern at Team Perham'ss 'slack of preparation and apparent naivety's, after Mike set off without so much as a single day'ss solo experience in TotallyMoney.com; claiming that 'sthose us of us who have closely followed or been involved in round the world projects instinctively felt the Perhams didn'st know what they didn'st know.'s

There are also critics quick to point out that Mike, with 's163;150,000 corporate sponsorship behind him is at an unfair advantage over Zac, who is sailing a much slower boat that he refurbished with his father at minimal expense.

In their bids for the world record, at 17 years and 1 month old, Mike has a four month advantage over Zac, who turned 17 in November. As long as Mike is younger than Zac on the day they finish their respective trips, Mike will claim the record from current holder David Dicks, who completed a solo circumnavigation in 1996 at the age of 18.

But, with what was originally meant to be a four and a half month trip now stretching into an epic six month journey, Mike'ss optimism that he will beat Zac Sunderland into the record books is waning. It'ss a little frustrating because I am a little behind schedule, he said of his faltering confidence, and with the enormous Pacific Ocean still ahead of him he admits that It won'st be plain sailing.

On the Net: http://www.totallymoney.com/

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