Two brothers who set out in a tiny open fishing boat from the States to Bermuda to prove it could withstand high seas have made it safely home.

Ralph and Bob Brown arrived in New York Harbour on Friday afternoon after leaving St. George’s on Wednesday in their 21ft motor boat.

The pair had spent more than a week on the Island waiting for the right weather conditions after arriving here from North Carolina on May 2.

They believe they set a new world record for the longest unescorted oceanic crossing in a shallow vessel known as a flats boat on the 675 mile journey over. If so, they broke it on the 775 mile trip back to the US.

Father-of-three Ralph, 48, who designed and built the Intruder 1, spoke to The Royal Gazette>by telephone last night after driving home to Florida.

He said the boat encountered four to six foot high waves on the journey home across the Atlantic. “We thought we were going into five or nine foot seas but they were much smaller than that. We had no weather problems whatsoever other than it got very, very, very cold.”

Mr. Brown said the voyage was never about setting a world record but rather proving the model of boat he designed — which his company Dream Boats sells for between $20,000 and $35,000 — could handle six to eight foot seas.

“It handled flawlessly,” he said. “The boat did everything we thought it would do. We ran into six to eight foot seas without any problem. We wanted nothing bigger than 12 foot but we didn’t get near that.” The pair were warned against the trip by both the US Coast Guard and Bermuda Maritime Operations Centre but Mr. Brown said he believed in the boat so didn’t feel there was a risk. “We kept in contact with Bermuda Harbour Radio the entire way,” he said, adding that he and his brother did a victory lap in the boat around the Statue of Liberty on Friday.

“It was great. My daughter, who’s 11, was hanging onto me big time today. My son wished he could have done it.”

He paid tribute to the Bermudians he met while on the Island. “I have never been anywhere where I felt like the people were nicer,” he said. “They just bend over backwards to try to help you.”

To read more about the trip visit http://dreamboatsbermuda.blogspot.com/.