Sydney  - Alex Bellini fell just 65 kilometres short of his bid to row the 18,000 kilometres of Pacific Ocean between Lima and Sydney.

After nine months at sea, and almost in sight of Australia's east coast, the Italian activated his EPIRB, or emergency beacon, in December and the rescue cavalry was called out.

It wasn't a difficult, dangerous or costly rescue, but it fed into a debate in Australia and New Zealand about curbing the limits of solo seafaring.

Satellite phones and EPIRBs, some argue, have made it all too easy for adventurers to factor in a taxpayer-funded rescue should they get into difficulties.

Some call for solo sailors like Bellini to post a bond that would see him pay for any required rescue. Others say a simple prohibition is the way to go.

The debate is coming to a head with the impending departure of Englishman Oliver Hicks, 27, on a solo row around the world. Hicks envisages 22 months of rowing through the iceberg-littered Southern Ocean.

The trip, admits Hicks, is "extraordinarily difficult ... the ultimate adventure, perhaps comparable to the quest to reach the summit of Everest over half a century ago."

Hicks intends to take off in January from the southernmost point in Tasmania and cover more than 50 kilometres a day for 500 consecutive days.

"We recommend a rethink because it's inherently dangerous," said Maritime Safety Tasmania spokesman Trevor Faust.

The concern, of course, is that Hicks will perish at sea. Tasmanians don't want to have it on their consciences that they played a part in facilitating a journey that ended in his death.

There are no provisions in Australian legislation that could be used to forbid Hicks from setting off on what many consider a madcap expedition. It's different in New Zealand, where authorities were successful in keeping him from his intent.

Lindsay Sturt, from Maritime New Zealand, refused Hicks permission to sail because the "risks inherent in Mr Hicks' plan posed an extreme risk to his safety and jeopardized those involved in any rescue attempt."

It was that prohibition that made Hicks switch to Tasmania for the launch of the Flying Carrot.

Questions posed on the virginglobalrow website query the Englishman's wisdom and ask whether he expect others to risk their lives rescuing him if has an accident or takes ill. They ask whether he has insurance and whether he ought to keep with the spirit of the early explorers - those who had no recourse to EPIRBs and satellite phones. (dpa)