On a beach somewhere along the Florida coast, an orchestra is warming up to welcome Aleksander Doba as he draws ever-closer to becoming the first person to paddle a kayak alone across the Atlantic from Europe to North America.

Less than 300 miles separate the retired Polish engineer and the history books, and with good fortune finally on his side, Mr Doba appears to be enjoying the last leg of his epic seven-month journey.

“Haitian girls wanted to greet me with flowers,” he said in his last update. “ ... but I passed Haiti too fast.”

Friend and fellow adventure-kayaker Piotr Chmielinski said Mr Doba is approaching Florida at a much faster pace than anyone anticipated, forcing the local New Smyrna Beach Orchestra — which plan on greeting Mr Doba when he makes landfall — to resume rehearsals.

“After months of grappling with storms, hurricanes, and a broken rudder, Olek has finally caught the wind in his sails,” said Mr Chmielinski. “In less than two weeks he has paddled almost half of the remaining 700-mile route, and in the last four days he has covered nearly 250 miles.”

Mr Doba arrived in Bermuda on February 24 to repair a broken rudder, which came unhinged during five severe storms in January. The storms pushed him north, away from his originally intended course and towards Bermuda.

In order to restart his record bid, Mr Doba had to return to the point where he was blown off course, around 300 miles south of Bermuda, hopefully nullifying the assistance he received that might invalidate his attempt.

He and his 1,300lb kayak, named ‘OLO’ were given a lift to the remote spot in the ocean by the Spirit of Bermuda where the 67-year-old retired engineer resumed his solo journey, which began last year from Portugal.