While Alan Paris dreamed as a child of one day sailing around the world, turning dream into reality has taken years of painstaking preparation.

The Peter Brombys, Penny Simmons, Paula Lewins and Malcolm Smiths of Bermuda sailing may have hogged the headlines, but if Paris' accomplishments weren't as high profile, they were certainly as demanding.

Crossing the finish line at the end of yachting's ultimate challenge, the Around Alone, marked the culmination of an ocean adventure which began as a nine-year-old when Paris attempted his first solo voyage - around the harbour in a 12-foot Cadet during summer camp. Thereafter, his fascination with the sea and his determination to explore new horizons rarely wavered.

Before setting off from Newport on his 28,000 mile circumnavigation last September, the 38-year-old former Ariel Sands boss had previously completed 11 solo ocean passages. Single-handed sailing was already a way of life. He'd travelled more than 10,000 miles at sea alone and raced either solo or with crew over an estimated 20,000 miles.

His first offshore sail was completed in 1990, between St. Augustine, Florida and St. George's in Bermuda - a distance of 925 miles. A year later while delivering a yacht for the Marion to Bermuda Race, the sport's inherent risks became all too evident when he was caught in a developing tropical storm while in the Gulf Stream.

Racing during the mid `90s he competed domestically in J-24s, on one occasion sailing alone around Bermuda on a trip that took him 12 hours. Taking the helm of a J 105, he competed in the Key West and Antigua Race Week regattas and in 1995 snared Class Two honours in the Bermuda One-Two race - a biennial event which combines a a solo race from Newport to Bermuda and double-handed race back to Newport.

On his modifield J 105, Paris clocked 15,000 miles of which 10,200 were solo, and he currently holds the longest distance sailed in 24 hours and longest ocean passage distance records for the J 105 class.

His competitive spirit took him to the Big Boat Series in San Francisco in 1998 and Heineken Regatta in 1999, after which his sights became firmly set on the grandaddy of them all, the Around Alone.

A simple wave from his 40ft BTC Velocity, the smallest boat in the fleet, as he passed the finish line yesterday afternoon might have marked the end of an epic journey. But given Paris' affinity with the ocean, it's unlikely to be his last.