Solo sailor Tony Bullimore, 67, plans to leave Hobart on Monday in his 23-year-old, 102 ft catamaran Team Daedalus in order to beat Ellen MacArthur’s 71 day 14 hour, non-stop circumnavigation.

Another 67-year-old, Sir Robin Knox-Johnston, sets sail from Bilbao on 22 October in Saga Insurance an Open 60 on the Velux 5 Ocean Race, a solo event in three legs: to Fremantle, Australia, then to Norfolk, USA and back to Bilbao.

His time to beat is 312 days: the time it it took him to sail Suhaili around the world, non-stop solo in 1969: the first time it had been done.