To put it simply, yacht captain James Burwick prefers to live life on the edge. Look up the word adventurer in the dictionary and you might stumble on his name.

Mr. Burwick, 53, sailed into Bermuda on Monday on sailboat Anasazi Girl, completing the final leg of his solo circumnavigation of the world, which began in Bermuda in 2005. He was trying to set a new world speed record.

With his pregnant girlfriend at his side and a baby on the way, the Chicago native is focused on relaxing in Bermuda as he ponders his next adventure.

Although he did not set any records in the end, he is full of fascinating stories of his travel through treacherous seas and dangerous weather conditions.

"What I wanted to do is break world speed sailing records from port to port and I was looking at breaking the record from Cape Town, South Africa to Tauranga New Zealand," he said.

"The record was for 38 days. But I did a sea trial before my voyage to prepare the boat... so once the boat was set my first shake-down before attempting to break the record was going from Bermuda to Cape Town non-stop.

"I left Bermuda around February 2006 and 43 days later I rolled into Cape Town... the first 20 days of sea are miserable — like when you go for a run — the first ten minutes are tough but then you get used to it."

However he ended up spending nine months in Cape Town after he sustained an injury to his right bicep while rock climbing there. "I had surgery... rock climbing is really good in Africa," he humorously noted of his injury.

Once better, he set out for New Zealand. "On the way, after 21 days at sea, I broke my mast and because I was 1,200 miles south of Australia, I diverted there for repairs.

"It took me nine days to get to Australia and I had four storm systems I went through on the way. I was there for three months and then I left Australia and I sailed to New Zealand."

But New Zealand's wintery conditions prevented him from immediately setting out to complete his journey. His girlfriend Somira, 31, who's now pregnant with their daughter flew to each port he stopped at along the way.

Six months later Spring had arrived and it was December 2007.

"So I decided that I was going to go from Auckland New Zealand, past Cape Horn, South America, back to Cape Town South Africa.

"And usually no one does that. They go from New Zealand to Cape Horn and they go back to the Atlantic and then they're finished but I kept going — 9,000 miles and that's my most impressive voyage.

"On the way the weather forecasters stopped me because there was a nearby low pressure system that they called a 'major leaguer' and they told me that I wouldn't survive."

Soon he arrived on the island of St. Helena in the South Atlantic Ocean before making the 25-day voyage to Bermuda — some 5,000 miles.

However, around 3,500 miles south of Bermuda he hit a whale. "It tore my rudder off," he explained of the encounter.

"I thought I had hit a container because the boat was going along 12 to 15 knots... the boat stopped, it didn't stop completely it slowed down to six knots that there was this gigantic bang.

"And the rear end of the boat lifted up about one meter and I turned around and all I could see was orange in the water and I thought it was a sea container.

"Then while I was looking forward and trying to adjust the sails and see if I had taken on any damage I saw a baby whale and its mother surface and there was this big pool of blood.

"I hate damaging wild creatures but I just kind of went into the mood of being a sailor. I went below to make sure I wasn't taking on any water and fortunately I wasn't."

Mr. Burwick funded his two-year expedition mostly out of his own pocket. "I had a lot of technical and psychological assistance and being in the Southern Ocean with a broken mast, 1,200 miles from shore, having four different gale situations is a little bit over the top psychologically."

Prior to his days as a sailor Mr. Burwick worked as a professional mountain climber. Anasazi Girl is a 40-feet long vessel, with a 13-foot beam and a mast extending 19 metres.

She is capable of reaching top speeds of 27 knots.

l Mr. Burwick has also set up an extensive website which has daily journal entries for each day of his journey and numerous photos and videos posted. The website address is www.anasaziracing.com.