The three young lads set sail on the plywood canoe at 11pm from Ardamine beach, Courtown, County Wexford. To help them make the 85 mile /140km crossing, the boys brought supplies with them which consisted of three bottles of lemonade, nine bottles of water and four packets of biscuits! They also brought a radio and compass but the wake of a passing ship swamped their canoe shortly after leaving the beach and destroyed their radio, so they had no contact with land and could not receive the weather forecast. The journey across the Irish Sea took over 24 hours. Throughout that time the stern of the boat was submerged because it was only a 2 seater canoe, one person had to sit astride it, swapping seats every hour. The three hardy sailors even found a leak in the canoe shortly after leaving Ireland, but refused to turn back.

The danger didn’t end there, as they got closer to the Pembrokeshire shore, they encountered strong currents, rocks and swells that threatened to overturn the boat and resulted in the men spending six hours paddling the last two miles to shore. Once they had landed in a small cove near Stumble Head, they spent a further three hours trying to scale a 150ft cliff in darkness. When they finally reached the top of the cliff they made their way to the nearby coastguard’s house. He had been looking out for the three men because their disappearance caused a huge air and sea search on both sides of the Irish Sea. The police were called and the boys were promptly arrested because they had entered the country illegally. They were told that the last time someone had unexpectedly landed in that cove it was the French, about to invade!