Man sails globe by throw of dice

Mr Clark says he will present the dice with some 'difficult options'

A Hampshire yachtsman is to sail around the globe single-handedly - with his route dictated by the throw of a dice.

Rob Clark, from Liphook, said he was inspired by the novel The Dice Man, by Luke Rhinehart, to undertake the voyage in his 42ft (13m) Grand Soleit yacht.

In the book, a psychiatrist allows a dice to decide many aspects of his life from having affairs to what he eats.

Mr Clark said the dice would determine day-to-day movements but big decisions would be made by voting on his website.

One decision the public will make is which direction around the world the 36-year-old will sail.

Mr Clark, who runs a conference production company based in Bristol, said he decided to undertake the Where to Next? adventure because he wanted to do something new with his life.

"I got restless," he said.

I will be meeting people on route and I will sail with people, eccentrics, who want to come on board Rob Clark

"It's not a good time to run a business at the moment and I realised I was never going to be Richard Branson, never going to be a millionaire and thought it was a good time to take a sailing trip.

"This came at the same time as I was reading The Dice Man and the two things combined and evolved and I realised I could do something a bit crazy.

"The journey is literally going to be down to the dice.

"I hope it's going to be an adventurous trip and I am going to give the dice some difficult options such as going against the current and destinations which do not have ports or harbours."

Mr Clark, who is currently living on his boat at Portchester, Hampshire, intends to set sail on 21 September.

He added: "I will throw the dice for the first time on the day before and it will decide where my first port of call will be, so I can't make any plans until the dice have been thrown."