Record-breaking teenager Michael Perham is to be welcomed home to Portsmouth eight months after he left the city on 15 November 2008. Perham crossed the finish line of his record attempt off the Lizard at 0947 this morning to become the youngest person to circumnavigate the world solo under sail.

He is expected into Gunwharf Quays at 11am this Saturday, 29th August, in his Open 50, Totallymoney.com.

His father told the BBC: “The enormity and scale of what he has achieved is amazing. It’s been pretty tough for him and us back home too.’

Mike has broken the record held for a short time by American teenager Zac Sunderland, who was a few months older than Mike when he finished his attempt. Meanwhile, social workers in the Netherlands have taken legal action to try to stop 13-year-old Laura Dekker from setting off to break the same record.

They want to make her a ward of court to prevent her parents from allowing her to undertake the challenge, which would involve missing up to two years of school.