Eight years later he was inducted into the Museum of Yachting's Hall of Fame, based in Newport, Rhode Island, for his many single-handed expeditions.

The museum also has one of Yrvind's boats on permanent display -- a six meter yacht he built in his mother's basement and sailed from Sweden to Newport in 1983.

In 1989 Yrvind also built and sailed a 4.5 meter boat from France to Newfoundland, now on display at the Swedish National Maritime Museum in Stockholm.

And the sprightly septuagenarian is no closer to slowing down -- last year sailing a tiny 4.5 meter-long boat from Ireland to the Caribbean.

Yrvind, who is also on the look-out for sponsorship, hopes his boat will not simply break the record books, but pave the way for a new environmentally-friendly design for living.

"We are on Earth living beyond our resources -- oil is running out, fossil fuels are running out, water is running out," he said.

"If I can show I can live on a boat 10 foot-long for more than a year, with all the food I need with me, I think it might benefit mankind."

For a man who "loves all things small," should he accomplish the feat it would be a huge achievement in the history of sailing.