On June 14, Robert 'Bobby' Doe set out to travel from Bermuda to Newport solo in an 18-foot Dinghy that he built and designed.

Three days of rough travel later, he was safely in Rhode Island, but he still faced the challenge of the return trip.

After three days of rest to allow himself to catch up on the sleep he lost on the voyage, Mr. Doe prepared to leave for Bermuda on the morning of June 20, only a few hours before the scheduled start of the Newport Bermuda Race.

In the end, Mr. Doe — making the voyage to raise the profile of a local charity which helped him through a health crisis last year — ended up besting all the Newport racers to the Island, and having had a few interesting moments along the way.

The trip began slowly, with calm winds allowing Mr. Doe and his boat, the Huckleberry, to stay at a steady ten knots.

As the sun began to set on the first day, Mr. Doe noticed a group of large black dorsal fins, the largest fin reaching four to five feet, breaking the surface of the water.

Much to his horror, the fins turned to move toward him.

"My first thought was that it was a group of killer whales and I was to be their new play toy," said Mr. Doe. "I was wondering how much more speed I could coax out of my engine."

After more thought, he realised that the fins didn't belong to a family of Orca, but instead to the massive but peaceful whale shark.

"These fins were perfectly straight triangles," he said. "By comparison the Orca fin is curved with a backward trailing edge.

"The distance between the dorsal and tail fin was approximately two-and-a-half times the length of the boat, so 45 feet between the fins."

Mr. Doe pushed on through the Gulf Stream, which had caused him great trouble on the trip to Newport, with much less difficulty than the first time. While the weather was choppy, there were few problems.

Once through the Gulf Stream, he encountered another problem.

""I had to stop a dozen times or so each day for the next day and a half in order to clear the seaweed.

"My speed wasn't enough to keep the weed from catching on the fin."

Roughly 180 miles out of Bermuda, Mr. Doe was surprised to see even more wildlife as an 'avian horde' of over 200 Shearwaters bombarded his boat.

"Shearwaters migrate North this time of year, and having many thousands of open ocean, any craft or debris on the ocean signals a potential for food, and they will investigate en masse."

Outside Bermuda, Mr. Doe was greeted by clear skies and calm waters, cruising easily into port with the dawn.

Three hours after he arrived, the Maxi boat winner Speedboat arrived on the Island, meaning that Mr. Doe had kept the same speed as the racing boats.

"OK, so I had an engine, but he was 100 feet long and had a million plus budget," said Mr. Doe.

As part of his trip, Mr. Doe had hoped to set a world record, but so far both the Guinness Book of World Records and the World Academy of Records have snubbed him because they do not have an appropriate category.

Despite this, he has decided that he will claim the record, and leave it to the record organisations to refute him.

"I'm 99 percent sure the record will stand," he said.

Even if it doesn't, it's not the idea of celebrity that motivated Mr. Doe's journey, only the desire to bring attention to the charity Lady Cubitt Compassionate Association, who helped him pay for an emergency air ambulance and surgery after he suffered a heart attack in November.

"If it wasn't for the LCCA, even you wouldn't know about this," he said.

Already, Mr. Doe is amazed at the amount of attention he has received, both from people on the Island and from those abroad who learned about his trip on NBC News.

"Its crazy. So many people stop me in the street.

"For them, it was like a boot up. Even I am completely surprised by the response."

"This was not a spur of the moment thing.

"I spent almost eight months planning it, studying weather patterns, preparing the boat, doing sea trials and fuel consumption tests," he said. "But I did it, because I can."

To send donations to the LCCA, you can contact them at 292-1132.