New years eve stand by

Final preparations for Bullimore in Hobart

Tony Bullimore is in the final stages of his preparation in Hobart for his attempt on Ellen MacArthur’s 70-day record for a solo circumnavigation of the world.

He will go on standby on December 31 to await the weather pattern that will give him the optimum start, likely to be from Hobart’s Iron Pot lighthouse at the mouth of the Derwent River where it enters Storm Bay. However, it could be up to a week or more before he leaves.

Bullimore is sailing his 31m (102ft) catamaran Doha 2006 on a 21,719 nautical mile course from Hobart to Cape Horn, up the Atlantic to a waypoint north of Flores in the Azores, before turning south to the Cape of Good Hope and back to Hobart.

He stepped the mast on Doha 2006 at the Incat shipyard in Hobart yesterday before moving the boat back this morning to Bellerive Yacht Club.