Earlier this year, he was forced to abort his attempt to fly his balloon, Solo Spirit, around the world non-stop after 5,802 miles of flight. In the winter of '97, however, he accomplished the longest balloon flight in aviation history - 10,361 miles - flying solo from St. Louis to India.

Steve holds seven world's records in the realm of sailing. After buying Lakota from Florence Arthaud in the early '90s and modifying her, he broke the transpacific record from Japan to San Francisco in '95 with crew, then set the solo record on the same route the next year.

His obvious goal in entering the SSS TransPac is to smash the existing (uncorrected) multihull record of 8 days, 20 hours and 3 minutes set by Peter Hogg aboard Aotea in '94 - after several attempts. Unfortunately, Fossett will be in a race of his own, as Lakota is the sole multihull entry - not to mention the fact that she is expected to reach speeds five times faster than the typical monohull. (Lakota is the sistership to Primagaz which set the 24-hour distance record of 540 KM in 1994.)

An adventurer of the most 'driven' variety, Steve has also swum the English Channel, endured the Iditarod Dogsled Race, driven 24 hours in the LeMans auto race and finished the Ironman Triathalon. Being an enormously successful businessman allows him to finance such personal challenges. Although a native of the midwest, Fossett graduated from Stanford before earning his MBA from Washington University in St. Louis.

Navigation: 'The works'. Steering: autopilots supplied by solar panels.

See: "PlayStation" for The Race 105' catamaran!