Tim Taylor, round New Zealand kayaker, writer and kayak fishing guide is prepping for the 24-hour kayak record intending an attempt in March/April 2015.

He's planning to kayak from Auckland's Omaha Beach to Tauranga, a distance of about 220km during the time period. The current 24-hour record is 194km.

Tim paddling the surf ski in Pilot Bay.

He's departing from Omaha because it will give him more of a straight run across the Hauraki Gulf, and the trip is weather dependent.

'I want a bit of a northerly swell to be following me the whole way,” says Tim.

It means he'll hopefully have the same sea state right through, instead of having to punch into a northerly while paddling out of Auckland then have cross winds across the Firth of Thames.

'It's more of a straight run if you go across the Gulf and down the Bay of Plenty, it's a bit easier with the forecasts. Then you have also got tides and stuff which affect you if you're inside of the harbour.

'It's a nice stretch and Auckland-Tauranga happened to be about the right length; and it's quite cool to be able to paddle from Auckland to Tauranga as well.”

Tim was running round the Mount one day when the question popped into his head, ‘what is the world record for sea kayaking?'

Tim's no stranger to kayak records. He's the first person to attempt to paddle round NZ as a solo voyage.

He's only the second person to have kayaked round the country and Stewart Island; he's the youngest, and the quickest.

He set out from the Wairoa River for East Cape on November 27, 2010, and returned from Tairua on February 28, 2012.

'So I started looking into it, like there's records for everything. But the 24-hour one is the one I decided to attempt.”

After he decided on the attempt he then consulted on the best kayak, because there's no restriction on the type of kayak that can be used.

'Everybody just said surf ski, because it's the fastest thing you can get.”

Unlike the surf lifesaving skis with a flared bow, Tim's found a long-distance type with a pointed bow.

Well, it was found for him. When he put the word out, one of his paddling advisors contacted the Think brand sea kayaks importer, who got in touch with former kayaking Olympian Ian Ferguson, now director of Ferg's Kayaks.

'The guy who imports these kayaks wanted me in the Think brand, helped me getting on board with Ian,” says Tim. 'It was quite surprising, I didn't have much choice in the matter.

'It's worth $7000. It's not even my surf ski, I've got to give it back afterwards. A bit frustrating because I wanted to put a rod holder in it for while I'm training.

'I average a speed of about 12km/h in it, so it's incredibly fast.”

Dave Jaggs at Beyond Personal Training has Tim spending lots of time at the gym doing sprint work to build muscle before he starts doing the long distance training, says Tim.

During summer, while most people are kicking back and lying about, Tim will be paddling, taking people kayak fishing and going straight back after for distance training in the surf ski.

Tim's also the author of ‘A Complete Guide to New Zealand Kayak Fishing', the only kayak fishing book ever written for NZ conditions. It sold out.