The moment of truth is upon Bermudian sailor Alan Paris as he bids to become the first Islander to sail single-handed around the world.

Paris is taking part in the Around Alone race which begins in September next year but his preparations are already well underway.

The yacht, named BTC Velocity after its primary sponsor, has been built in Australia and Paris has travelled down under to test it on the water for the very first time.

In the past day or so Paris and the builder Jon Sayer - an accomplished shorthanded sailor and winner of the Double handed Melbourne to Osaka race in 1999 - planned to set sail for Sydney, a trip of approximately 450 nautical miles as a final test run.

The trip precedes a two week stint with David Adams, winner of Class II in the 1994-95 Around Alone race, and hired by Paris as his coach.

"In early October, I will sail solo back to Brisbane, where BTC Velocity will be 'packed' to get on a freighter for shipment to Philadelphia on October 15," said Paris from Australia.

"Shipping company Schenker Stinnes Logistics has generously agreed to ship BTC Velocity from Brisbane, Australia to Philadelphia to arrive in mid-November at no charge. This is an amazing sponsorship and will save me the three month delivery that was planned for January to late March 2002."

Testing and qualifying runs will be done between Newport, Rhode Island, Bermuda and the Azores between December and April.

Not everything has gone according to Paris' timetable.

"Some of the delay in launch has been the building of a custom cradle to be placed on top of a 20 foot shipping container that BTC Velocity will rest on during the journey from Australia to the US," said Paris. "This container will have a 'slit' in the middle so that the keel will lower into the body of the container and all stores and spares will be inside as well."

Paris said just getting to this stage had been quite a learning experience.

"Final stages of construction are quite hectic, with many people and a multitude of tasks to complete," he said. "It is has been very educational for me to be involved in final decision making and placement, as well as obtaining a 'how does that work?' feeling for many elements of the yacht.

"It has been hard to stay out of the way, but the Bermuda Registry of Shipping and the Ministry of Telecommunications has seen to it that I am running papers and forms from here to there ..... and back."

Paris said he was confident everything would be ready in time for the off.

"Things are a little messy right now and remind me of a hotel room under renovation, a complete mess, but it all comes together at the end just as the guest is walking to the room to check in," he said.