British sailor Michael Perham, 17, and American sailor Zac Sunderland, also 17, find themselves in a race to become the youngest sailor to sail around the world alone. Sunderland is slightly older, but Perham has the greater distance to travel.
From Yachting Monthly:
Zac is sailing the slower boat, a 36 ft Islander, Intrepid, but has by far the shorter distance to go – around 3,000 miles. So long as he does not run into too much trouble with the hurricane season, he should arrive home late June and claim the title. However, as Mike is about 100 days younger than Zac, the American may well find that his stardom is short-lived. Mike has to sail his much faster Open 50, Totallymoney.com, either around Cape Horn and back to Falmouth, UK, or via the Panama Canal – distances in excess of 11,000 nautical miles – in less than 100 days.
