LONDON, England (CNN)—The youngest person to sail solo around the world returned homeThursday from his 30,000-mile, 282-day ocean journey.
Mike Perham, 17, sailed into Lizard Point in Cornwall, the southernmost point in Britain, at 9:47 a.m.,
his race team said.
"It feels absolutely brilliant," Mike told CNN by phone hours before crossing the finish line. "I"m
really, really excited to be going across the line at last. It doesn"t feel like long since I crossed it first."
Mike set off on his round-the-world trip on November 18, 2008. He has been sailing his yacht
single-handedly, though a support team has been sailing next to him along the way.
The teen has now achieved the title of Youngest Sailor to Circumnavigate the Globe Solo, according
to the Guinness World Records.
Mike learned how to sail when he was seven years old from his father, Peter and at age 14, he sailed
across the Atlantic alone.
The teenager"s school-which Mike describes as"highly supportive" of his trip-has redesigned his
coursework to fit in with his trip. It also gave him some coursework to do during"quiet moments,"
according to Mike"s Web site.
There haven"t been many of those quiet moments. Repeated autopilot failures forced him to stop for
repairs in Portugal, the Canary Islands, South Africa, and twice in Australia, according to his Web site.
Bad weather in the Southern Ocean-between Australia and Antarctica-forced Mike to battle 50ft waves
and 57 mph winds. He said at one point, a "freak wave" picked up the boat and turned it on its side.
"My feet were on the ceiling at the time," he told CNN. "That was a really hairy moment, and I was
certainly thinking, "Why am I here?" But we took the sails off and the day after I thought, "This is brilliant!""
Mike describes his father as his biggest hero, always supportive of what he wanted to achieve. Peter
Perham said he wasn"t too worried about his son facing dangerous situations at sea, as long as he knew
what to do and stayed safe.