While I was in the cockpit pumping the water out, the sea became rough enough to tip me overboard. A re-entry procedure involved my having to pull myself up by reaching over the side of the cockpit and hauling myself in. This happened twice. The sea was now coming in faster than I could pump it out. I had to make a decision that I was not happy with, but there was nothing else I could do. I got into my life raft, after activating the canister to inflate it. Because of the rough sea conditions, the life raft was thrown against the kayak, ripping a hole in the bottom. I spent the next 32 hours in sea temperatures of 3 degrees C above zero, pumping water out of the raft every few minutes. I survived the ordeal by planning next year's trip. A Newfoundland Coast Guard ship, the Cowley, eventually picked me up.

Before I left the kayak, I attached a 30-inch sea anchor/drogue made of nylon onto her, yet when she was picked up later by the Cowley, she had a 12-inch silk drogue on. This led us to believe that the kayak was found by a vessel that claimed salvage and stripped her of all our equipment. There was no other explanation for the loss of my kit.

It took over four months for me to regain feeling in my feet and to learn to walk again. At the same time I had to find another builder and get all the equipment together. Kirton Kayak of Crediton in Devon built the new boat with the help of a yacht designer. She was made with the state-of-the-art materials that made her lighter but tougher. We used the same hull mould but changed everything inside (including the layout of the cabin). There was an electric pump alongside foot and hand pumps. A yacht hatch was used for the door.

Most of the equipment sponsors stayed on board and some even insisted, "You must try again," before I told them that I was planning to. The foot-and-mouth epidemic put me out of work as an outdoor pursuits instructor; therefore, I had more time to help with the construction and did some of it myself.We were able to use Nigel Dennis' kayaking centre in North Wales as a base, to enable us to carry out sea trials with help from the RNLI (Royal National Lifeboat Institute).

Our main sponsor had pulled out and even though we had a company filming footage of the challenge, from the building of the kayak to the trials, we could not get another main sponsor. We managed to get on TV, into the papers, and on the radio, but still nobody was interested. I had to make a decision; wait until we got a main sponsor (some of the equipment sponsors could not wait), or go forward with the expedition and hope for the best. Without a financial sponsor I had to borrow the money, knowing the only way to pay it back (if still no sponsor came on board) was to sell my house. I am a doer and not a talker, so I decided the first week in June to send the crated kayak to Newfoundland, regardless of the financial situation.