UPDATED 7.30am: Tim Taylor stopped paddling somewhere off Papamoa Beach at around 7am this morning, with the 24-hour solo kayak world record firmly in hand.

Since leaving Pilot Bay at 8am on Thursday, Tim has paddled to Cathedral Cove and back, a distance of approximately 214km – knocking over the previous world record of 194.1km.

Tauranga paddler Tim Taylor back on dry land this morning after breaking the 29-year-old solo kayak world record. Photo: Tracy Hardy.

Tim is now aboard the support boat and heading back to Salisbury wharf where he started out yesterday.

Keep checking SunLive throughout the morning for more updates.

Earlier:

Tauranga paddler Tim Taylor is being described as 'a machine” and is well ontrack to break a 29-year-old solo kayak record.

Tim is ahead of schedule and reached Cathedral Cove in the Coromandel shortly after 5.30pm, cracking the 100km mark after 9hrs and 15mins on the water.

Speaking from the water, support boat crew member John Martin says Tim is looking really good at the moment.

'He got to Cathedral Cove – which is about 100km – in under 10 hours,” says John. 'To break the record he's got to do 194km in 24 hours, so he's got a couple of hours up his sleeve.

'Tim's physically and mentally doing really good, he's got a few blisters and had one fall out of the kayak this afternoon, but it didn't look to affect him at all and he just cracked straight back into it.

'He's looking confident at the moment and in really good spirits. Tim's happy with the way he's paddling and looks like he's relaxing into it on his way home.”

John adds that the challenge now was for Tim to get through the night, but conditions were playing ball with the wind dropping out a bit and the sea calming down.

Tim is aiming to break the record for longest distance paddled in 24 hours - which currently stands at 194.1km and was set by Randy Fine in 1986 - and John believes he will 'easily break it”.

'I'm sure he's gonna break that record. Tim himself was hoping to paddle about 220km and he's definitely on schedule for that if he keeps paddling the way he is.

'It's just unbelievable seeing this guy paddle, he's just a machine.”

Tim set off from Mount Maunganui's Pilot Bay at 8am this morning for a return trip to Coromandel's Opito Bay in an intended 220km solo mission.

Speaking to SunLive from Pilot Bay earlier today, Tim said he was feeling pretty excited, and a little bit nervous.

'I got a real good sleep," said Tim. "I ate tonnes yesterday so all I wanted to do was zone out at night.”

There was a late change of start line for the solo kayak attempt due to a spate of variable weather, with south-westerly and westerly winds replacing his preferred north-easterlies.

Tim's revised plan was to paddle as far as Opito Bay on the Coromandel, then turn around and paddle back to the Mount. The original plan was to paddle from Omaha Beach in Auckland to Pilot Bay.

By heading north, he hopes to take advantage the south-west winds that are forecast, paddling through the night and hopefully returning to Tauranga 24-hours later.

He will be followed by support boat the ‘Klingon' - a 13.2 metre charter boat based in Tauranga that will shepherd Tim for the entire journey to ensure he is well fed and kept safe during the night.

There will be eight supporters and witnesses on board, including his mother and sister, and their job is to accurately record Tim's progress and share it on Facebook, via: www.facebook.com/24hrkayak

You can also follow Tim's progress during the attempt via the SPOT tracker on his kayak. It links to a Google map and sends a signal roughly every 20 minutes.

SunLive will update this story once more information comes to hand.