11:04 PM Sun 21 Dec 2008 GMT
 | | 'Mike with the troublesome yacht'
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Two teenaged adventurers who are both trying to circumnavigate the world solo are so different that maybe the only thing they have in common at the moment is the fact that they are both in African waters.
Michael Perham,16, in a chartered high-tech 50 ft Open racing yacht called TotallyMoney, is sitting at the dock in Gran Canaria with a problem that has stumped the experts - his autopilot has an intermittent fault. The problem has dogged him since he left England just weeks ago. His journey has hardly started.
 | Zac off Durban - .. . |
Zac Sunderland, just turned 17, in a 36ft boat, Intrepid, that he bought with his own savings, is sitting in Durban, South Africa, doing repairs and enjoying some time out, while he prepares for his next leg to Capetown. His journey is more than half way finished.
Michael is trying to be the youngest sailor to sail alone and unassisted and non-stoparound the world. This means that when he starts out again from the Canaries, that will also be his finish point. Zac, on the other hand is trying to be merely the youngestto complete a round the world passage. So Mike's is a much harsher challenge, and there won't be any help for him in the Southern Ocean, so he knows that he must have the technical problems sorted out before he leaves.
Both these records are currently held by young Australians, Jesse Martin and David Dicks respectively.
Michael was originally intending, with his much faster boat and non-stop route, to finish his journey by May next year. Zac has been recently estimating June for his finish. Now that Michael has been held up for the last few weeks, it could be a neck and neck finish. As Michael is 108 days younger than Zac, Zac might merely end up as the youngest American to sail round the world.
Michael has now been moored in Gran Canaria for ten days while experts attempt to fix the mystery problem.
Michael said: "It is incredibly frustrating. It has now been three weeks since I started and we are still at square one.
"We always knew there was a chance of stopping - only about a third or quarter of attempts ever make it - but we were hopeful we could do it. It's still on the cards if I sail from here with no more stops and finish in Gran Canaria, so fingers crossed we can do that."
Even if he is forced to stop again, Michael will still be the youngest person to sail around the world - if he successfully makes it back to Portsmouth next year, 107 days before Zac.
To help his chances he has flown out a top autopilot expert from Spain in a final attempt to locate the fault. "The problem with the system is that there seems to be no problem," he said.
"It works absolutely perfectly, every connection is perfect, every part is perfect. But then when we sail it just cuts out for no reason. A lot of different experts have looked at it, but can't find anything."
Zac, on the other hand, has no major problems with the boat, which he is having checked out for integrity during his stay in Durban. 'I've been in I've been doing a bit of work on the boat - getting some sail work done, pulling off my starter motor and cleaning up and restowing stuff. I've also been having a lot of fun.... I am looking forward to my next leg (with some trepidation) and heading over to Cape Town which I have heard so many great things about. '
For more information about Michael's trip visit www.totallymoney.com/sailmike/, and for more infomation about Zac's trip, visit www.zacsunderland.com
by Rebecca Lowe, Times/Sail-World Cruising
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Hamilton Island, QLD
