Sir Robin Knox-Johnston on solo Transatlantic race: I'm not ready for slippers, pipe and television There are bound to be questions about my age. They ask what I think of doing this at 75 and I say I am still 45. That is how I feel. I think I am 45 and that is where I stay. I feel no different to when I last raced. I am pretty fit. I lead an active life. I think of myself as young and that is it. I treat myself as young and I am just not ready for the slippers, pipe and television. That is not coming in a hurry. Sir Robin, who was born in Putney, south west London, and now lives in Portsmouth, will race in his Open 60 yacht Grey Power. To save on weight, he will use a bucket as a lavatory and will eat mainly freeze-dried food, which he can defrost using water from an on-board camping stove. The pensioner, who is the oldest participant to have entered so far, last competed in the 3,500-mile race from to the Guadeloupe in the Caribbean in 1982 in his 70ft catamaran Olympus. And this is his first solo race since his Velux 5 Oceans circumnavigation in 2006-7. However, forecasters predicted a difficult first night for the sailor. Two cold fronts with winds of 30 knots and gusts of 40 to 45 knots were expected to arrive on Sunday evening, contributing to an "agitated" sea state. Speaking on board his boat, Sir Robin said: "The first couple of days are going to be sleepless, getting past Ushant and the Bay of Biscay with the shipping and fishing boats." But he added: "I feel exactly the same as when I last did the Route du Rhum in 1982. I worked very hard... last year and it's time for my holidays now. The sea is where I feel most at home. I am just not ready to stop racing yet, and why should I? When Sir Robin set his record in 1969, the other seven competitors dropped out at various stages leaving Sir Robin as the victor as he sailed into Falmouth aboard his 32ft boat Suhaili, 312 days after he left the Cornish port.