Next Wednesday a young bloke is scheduled to set off from Hobart in an attempt to break the Australian solo RTW time record. The present record is 180 days.

He is 25 year old Tobias Fahey and is having a go in his 50foot second hand yacht which he has extensively refitted so he can sail it solo. It appears he has done most of the refitting himself.

The vessel was originally designed and built for a RTW race which did not take place.

For those interested, his venture and blog can be found at

http://tobiasfahey.com.au/category/blog/

Looks like there are still some adventurers around. Apparently he is a builder by trade, so he should be a practical bloke and good with his hands, which I see as and advantage. His experience includes a couple of Sydney-Hobart events as crew.

His route will be SE under NZ and Cape Horn, then N to round an island off Portugal, then S under Africa and home to Tassie. Sounds simple enough! If you say it quick and don't think about it.

I wish him good luck, fair weather and a speedy return. Its a hellava challenge

Sorry for the typo in the tittle. Missed that before posting.

My fat fingers I guess. Bit of a change from the usual stuff.

Banjo thanks I will drop in and have a look.
No way at any age I would try it love the sea but not that much.

My son's lifelong hero is Robin Lee Graham, who as a 16 year old in the late 60s started his journey around the world in a tiny 24 foot sailing boat. Not done as a "sport", but as a life experience. He spent 5 years sailing solo around the world, and had more excitement and adventures than those who now do it for "sport" (with all their modern technology to help them). Robin had an old second hand boat, a sextant and a desire for adventure. Those were the days of "real" sailing.

DP,
Robins RTW 5 year trip would certainly be a 'life experience'. Laura Dekker did much the same recently. Many stopovers would be very interesting.

The solo non stop RTW sailors do it as personal challenge, much like climbing a mountain. Matt Rutherford recently completed a round the Americas voyage, solo, non stop, which was a first. Through the North West Passage around Alaska and then down around Cape Horn and back up to home. Jessica Watson is the youngest to do RTW, non stop and unassisted, time was not a factor but safety was. It took her 210 days.

I am no sailor but I see the difference with the effort of Tobias Fahey is that he is racing the clock, so will be more intense than Jessica's voyage, and he may have to take more risks than others. I also think that anything designed for speed must sacrifice some strength to achieve that, which in turn makes it more risky.

Anyway I will log in from time to time to check how he is going and I wish him well. He certainly has put a lot into the attempt.

Well, Tobias set off about 2.30pm today after an emotional farewell, as you would expect, from family and friends.

Not much interest from media, apart from the Hobart Mercury who is a sponsor. That is understandable as no contraversy this time about age and gender.

For anyone that may be interested, here is the tracker that shows his position each 3 hours.

http://oceantracker.net/mx7.html?event=seaquest

My first post shows his blog and other details.

Here is a news item and interview done yesterday.

http://www.themercury.com.au/article/2012/11/21/366496_tasmania-news.html