Yesterday was the one-year anniversary of Alan Paris? circumnavigation but the occasion he really gets excited about passed two months ago.

It was March 6 last year that he came face-to-face with what he called ?the ocean sailor?s Everest? and lived to tell the tale ? Cape Horn.

While there were other compelling and unforgettable moments in the nine-month odyssey that cemented the Bermudian?s place among ocean sailing?s elite, none quite matched rounding the feared tip of South America.

?The one date I will celebrate for years to come won?t be crossing the finish line but rather the rounding of Cape Horn which was March 6 at 8.27 p.m. Bermuda time,? said Paris reflecting on his participation in the Around Alone Race.

?Cape Horn still sticks very solidly in my memory as being an achievement. It?s a place that?s angry and incredible at the same time. There were three storms in four days ? of tropical-storm force and better.?

Other highlights of his once-in-a-lifetime journey were completing his mission in Newport, Rhode Island, a year ago yesterday and breaking two ribs off the coast of Brazil when he collided with two whales on the race?s fifth and final leg.

?That was the only time I felt fearful because it was a medical situation and there was some unknown.?

Now firmly back on dry land ? with his prized and trusted vessel on show outside his workplace, the Bermuda Underwater Exploration Institute (BUEI) ? Paris acknowledged time has changed his perspective on the landmark event.

?If you had spoken to me a day after the race it?s true it hadn?t really soaked in but, as time goes on, you remember different things about it or someone asks you a question and that will bring a memory fresher into your mind.

?So you have a different perspective as time goes on but you?re equally happy to have it done and have it behind you.

?I think you become more analytical and some of the emotion drains away. You?re left with the feeling of ?Oh, wow I?m glad it?s done?.?

What remains constant is the 39-year-old?s view that he was successful because he broke his journey down into ?a series of short achievements? and they added up to ?one big goal?.

There is still an immense level of pride when people, especially schoolchildren, stop him to ask questions about the five-leg voyage.

Paris, who had been itching to tackle the world?s great oceans for a long time, is thankful he was able to start and complete his long-time ambition, noting that while he will continue to seek adventure occasionally he has scratched his itch.

?It would have been difficult to return home if I had not finished it,? he conceded frankly.

Mission accomplished, he is thrilled to have resumed normal living with his wife Becky and three-year-old son Tucker.

?It was very difficult balancing family and personal life with something that?s so single-minded as trying to sail around the world alone.?

Life has been altered a little by his exploits, he noted, saying he and Becky are socially busier than before due to their involvement in certain organisations. Additionally, there are also the niceties which accompany such a feat.

?Today I got an invitation to the Queen?s Birthday bash at Government House. I never used to get those before.

?In the last year we?ve had Sir John and Lady Vereker to our house for dinner. That kind of thing would not have happened before.?

What has not changed is his love for the ocean though his sailing is now ?comfortably limited? to Wednesday nights in Hamilton Harbour.

?It?s an hour-and-a-half of sailing followed by three hours of talking about it. It?s relaxing, low-impact and non-competitive. That?s good enough.?