ST. LOUIS — American balloonist Steve Fossett cleared the coast of South Africa on Sunday and cruised over the Indian Ocean, gaining speed in his sixth attempt to circle the globe.

The 58-year-old Chicago millionaire had travelled more than 23,815 kilometres since his June 18 launch from Australia. He had about 180 kilometres to go before breaking his own record, set in 1998, for longest distance flown by a solo balloon pilot. Fossett's silvery balloon, the Spirit of Freedom, was sailing Sunday morning at 8,715 metres - the highest altitude of the trip so far - at a speed of about 120 km/h.

Fossett was on track to pick up a strong jet stream south of Madagascar later Sunday, and the strong wind could boost his speed to 215 km/h by Monday, according to his support team at Washington University in St. Louis.

At that rate, he could land in Australia on Tuesday if everything goes well, the support team said.

Last August, Fossett set a solo balloonist duration record, flying for 12 days, 12 hours and 57 minutes before ditching on a cattle ranch in Brazil.

No balloonist yet has successfully made the around-the-world trip alone, although Swiss pilot Bertrand Piccard and English co-pilot Brian Jones did it as a team in March 1999 in the Northern Hemisphere.

Fossett holds world records in ballooning, sailing and flying airplanes. He also swam the English Channel in 1985, placed 47th in the Iditarod dog sled race in 1992 and participated in the 24 Hours of Le Mans car race in 1996.