On June 14, Robert 'Bobby' Doe set out to travel to Newport and back in his home-made 18 foot dinghy, the Huckleberry.

Now, back safely at home, his journey has made international news, and may have earned him a world record.

Mr. Doe's journey began with a false start. He left St. Georges harbour at 2:30 p.m., only to realise that he had forgotten his chart. After a quick u-turn, Mr. Doe left the harbour again an hour later.

He set his boat north, battling the choppy seas, which bounced him around the boats small cabin. Around 120 miles away from the Island, he passed a cruise ship on its way to Bermuda. It was to be the last boat he saw until he was 20 miles off the Rhode Island coast.

Travelling alone, Mr. Doe was unable to sleep for long for safety reasons. Instead, he resorted to taking short naps, with an egg timer next to his head to ensure he didn't rest too long.

While moving through the choppy waters near the Island was rough, the Gulf Stream proved to be even more trying.

"Seas were between 18 and 22 feet and every other one or so breaking in a welter of foam," Mr. Doe said. "My craft is 18 ft in length and when attacking those seas on the nose, even at a much reduced speed, my stern had cleared the bottom of the wave before breaking through the crest of the next.

"I was jolted so hard I thought I had a concussion, causing me to hold my head tightly in both hands and cry out in pain, resulting in another slam just after because I was holding on to my head instead of the boat.

"I was worried that I was getting a brain clot. It felt like my head exploded."

Despite worrying how long he could suffer the beating of the waves, he slowly pushed forward through the violent waters.

Several rough hours later, Mr. Doe was rewarded with a calmer ocean, and with the US coast only 120 miles away, the seas eased to almost calm.

Mr. Doe picked up speed in the calm waters, and found company in a pod of bottle nosed dolphins, who escorted the Huckleberry.

With only 20 miles to go, the Huckleberry's four-stroke engine stopped.

At some point during the battle with the Gulf Stream, the boat's fuel sight tube had broken loose, and the rear two barb fittings on the main fuel tank had loosened, both leaking fuel.

Because of the ship's ventilation system, Mr. Doe had no idea that he had lost around 10 gallons of fuel.

Stranded, Mr. Doe tried to use his handheld VHF to call for assistance, only to discover it lacked the range to reach the mainland.

By sheer luck, a large swordfish liner, the White Water Two, had noticed the Huckleberry, and out of curiosity decided to investigate.

"I asked them if they had any gasoline of any kind. They answered sorry, we are all diesel equipped. No gas," said Mr. Doe.

While the fishermen couldn't offer Mr. Doe fuel, they were able to radio for assistance.

While the Coast Guard refused to help unless it was a life-or-death situation, they were able to contact a commercial rescue service to deliver the fuel, quite possibly the most expensive fuel stop of Mr. Doe's life.

"$800 to deliver, plus $40 for five gallons of fuel. My debit card didn't have enough to cover it," he said.

That evening, Mr. Doe pulled into Newport, only to be greeted by a family in a Boston Whaler who already knew about Mr. Doe from the local news website.

While they were the first to recognise him, they weren't the last. Just before dark, he was approached by an NBC news van, who interviewed him for nationwide television.

"The 6'3" anchorman managed to wiggle his way into the 'cabin' to take a shot," Mr. Doe said. "I'm 5'11". He had my admiration."

The interview was followed up by two more live broadcasts from the Newport Yacht Club, before Mr. Doe was finally allowed to rest.

In three days and six hours, Mr. Doe had travelled alone from Bermuda to Newport. At this point, all that was left was the return trip.