AN Isle of Wight yachtsman has set off on a solo round the world race today hoping to land a British win for the first time in more than 40 years.

Chris Stanmore-Major from Cowes is one of five skippers taking part in the Velux 5 Oceans race, due to start from La Rochelle in France.

He will compete in the 29,000 mile five-leg race aboard his 60ft boat named Spartan – so called because it reflects the state of his bank account, the sailor joked.

He is the only Briton in the small field, which has been hit by a lack of sponsorship in the sport since the recession and other competitions.

Chris is an experienced sailor who took part in last year's Clipper Round The Round Race, but this is his first solo effort.

He is hoping to end a hoodoo for British sailing with a solo win. No Briton has managed it around the world since Sir Robin Knox-Johnston came first in the Golden Globe in 1969.

Chris said: “I'm very confident. The primary objective is to win and getting around the world is part of the winning.

“The objective is for a Briton to win a solo round the world race. It's interesting that for such a strong maritime country we have not won a solo race for so long.

“The pressure is not that though, it's the weather, the winds and waves and what's going on in the boat.

“It's going to be a game of attrition out there. If people disappear out of sight in the first five minutes, I will let them go.”

Chris, known as CSM, had a private backer to get his 12-year-old boat to the start line, but he has no sponsor for the race.

A marine engineer who grew up in Lancashire and Devon, will firstly sail to Cape Town in South Africa. The race then stops in Wellington in New Zealand, Salvado in Brazil and Charleston in the US before returning to La Rochelle in June 2011.

When at sea, the sailors will be unable to sleep more than 20 minutes at a time and have to eat freeze-dried food.

The four other skippers taking part are: American Brad Van Liew, Belgian Christophe Bullen, Canadian Derek Hatfield, Australian Garry Golding and Zbigniew Gutkowski from Poland.

The race is British organised by Sir Robin Knox-Johnston's Clipper Ventures company.

The last race in 2006 was incident-packed with a storm forcing the fleet into port soon after the start from Bilbao, Spain. Mike Golding also saved fellow Hampshire sailor Alex Thomson as his boat was sinking in the Southern Ocean.

There is a £450,000 prize pot for the sailors shared around for winning the race and individual legs.

Sailing single-handed around the world is still a challenge with only about 180 people ever achieving it. In comparison 2,700 have scaled Everest and 500 have been into space.