A Potters Bar teenager may have to give up his dream of becoming the youngest person to sail non-stop around the world due to technical problems.

Michael Perham, 16, from Oakroyd Avenue, has been forced to make a series of stops in Portugal and Gran Canaria because his autopilot system keeps cutting out.

He hoped to beat Australian Jesse Martin's record as the youngest non-stop circumnavigator, who completed the trip on October 31, 1999, aged 18.

But he 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.

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.”

But the young sailor, who two years ago became the youngest person to sail single-handed across the Atlantic, remained confident the trip would be a success.

“Every else is completely fine. I’m dead happy. I’m just not dead happy about being stuck in Gran Canaria.”

For more information about Michael’s trip visit totallymoney.com/sailmike/