Pair in third naked pedalo Atlantic crossing bid

Two men are planning a third attempt to cross the Atlantic on a home-made pedalo while naked. Kieran Sweeney, 26, and Callum MacDonald, 25, of Whitehaven, want to raise £50,000 for the Children's Heart Unit at Newcastle's Freeman Hospital. A broken drive system scuppered their first attempt at the 3,000-mile crossing in December, and food poisoning ended their second last week.

They are wearing no clothes to avoid chafing from salty, wet material. Mr Sweeney said the trip from Gran Canaria to Port St Charles in Barbados was daunting. He said: "What we see off our local shores, it's nothing compared to... once you get out there.



"The swells and the waves are a lot bigger than what we are, and you soon realise how small you are." Mr Sweeney said it took two months of research before he designed and built the boat himself. The 22ft pedalo has to carry everything they will need for a month at sea because they have no support vessel.

Mr Sweeney said: "We have a 100 days worth of food, we have 150 litres worth of water, but we also have a water maker that takes the sea water and gives us clean water." The pair are now recuperating and say they expect to set off for a third time soon. Mr Sweeney said: "It is scary but we're doing it for a good cause and you've got to have determination. We're just going to battle on and try and achieve our goals."

With video.