Mike Perham, the British teenager who is part-way through an attempt to become the youngest person to circumnavigate the globe under sail, yesterday met up with a Japanese man aiming to become the oldest.

Perham, who stopped in Cape Town to repair damage to his rudders, met Minoru Saito, who is partway through his eighth circumnavigation. American teenager Zac Sunderland, who is also aiming for the ‘youngest circumnavigator’ title was also there. Mike writes: ‘I find it so amazing a coincidence that we’ve all crossed paths at the same place at the same time!’

He continues: “Seventy-five-year-old Minoru Saito is the oldest man to have sailed round the world; he’s currently on his eighth solo circumnavigation, and this time he’s going the “wrong way round”. He’s sailed almost half a millon km, almost the distance from the earth to the moon! Zac and I had lunch with him, which was a real honour.”

Perham hopes to get his Open 50, Totallymoney.com, back in the water on Tuesday. Keep up with his efforts on his blog