Having sailed the Atlantic at the age of 14, Michael Perham is faced with a flood of lucrative book, film and sponsorship offers — and the onerous task of slipping back into school life.

As the teenager relaxed yesterday in Antigua, film-makers made offers to his publicist in London, on top of the approaches made by more than half a dozen publishing companies. The deals are believed to involve six-figure sums.

Skechers, the footwear company, is scrambling to sign up the GCSE pupil for a sponsorship contract before rivals slip in. The trainer manufacturer provided the bulk of the sponsorship for the record-breaking Atlantic crossing.

The documentary film- makers are keen to use footage taken by Michael on the six-week voyage, during which he contended with shark-infested waters and giant waves.

The Perhams enlisted Kizzi Nkwocha, a publicist who has represented the sporting heavyweights Chris Eubank and Wasim Akram, to deal with the interest. “We’ve got a number of offers, which will hopefully come to some fruition in the next couple of weeks,” Mr Nkwocha said. “They’ve come from as far away as South America, Japan and Italy. They’re substantial offers.”

The journey by the pupil from Hatfield, Hertfordshire, has attracted commercial interest to rival that which followed Ellen MacArthur’s round-the-world effort, but Michael’s mother, Heather, is more concerned with getting him fed and back to school. She said that she was looking forward to getting both Michael and his father, Peter, back, “though I don’t even know when they’ll arrive as they have yet to organise flights. Whether he goes straight back to school depends on what day they get back. We’ll have to see how he settles back in.”

Stuart Phillips, Michael’s headmaster at Chancellor’s Secondary School, said that teachers had initially planned to give him work by e-mail, but were not able to because battery time on the yacht would be scarce. So will Michael return to a hero’s welcome or double mathematics? “Probably a bit of both,” Mr Phillips said. “Michael himself may want to slip back in without too much fuss, but we will certainly mark it in some way, whether it’s a plaque on the wall or an award for him.”

He added that many of Michael’s friends did not know that he was going to embark on the 3,500-mile (5,600km) journey.

“He’s just an ordinary 14-year-old boy to us — and obviously a good sailor who is very proficient at what he does. To his friends, he’ll just be a mate who’s sailed around the world,” he said.

“It shows a huge amount about him as a character.”

Mr Phillips said that sailing across the Atlantic singlehandedly was one of the more unusual excuses for absence that he had come across.

“It was such a once in a lifetime chance, and an opportunity to learn so much,” he said.

The idea to sail the Atlantic came to Michael when he was watching footage of Sebastian Clover, who achieved the feat aged 15. He told his father, who accompanied him on the voyage: “It would be great if I could do that, Dad.”

Peter Youell, Skechers’ manager in Britain, said: “We congratulate Mike on breaking the world record. It’s a fantastic achievement and we’re proud to be associated and to have helped. Skechers would certainly consider further involvement in Mike’s future sailing ambitions.”

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