Crazy bid to sail 60 miles on bottle raft

A German student had to be fished out of the Thames twice as he tried to paddle 60 miles to Margate on a makeshift raft.

The art student - who had no means of communication, no torch, and only a paddle and a makeshift sail - was planning to go down the river and then catch a ferry to France with the last of his savings, before walking the rest of the way home to Berlin.

The Port of London Authority said he would have been "at the mercy of the weather" on his unstable vessel, which he had made from recycled plastic fizzy drink bottles, adhesive packing tape and plastic piping.

"It doesn't take the Brain of Britain to realise this was not a sensible idea. I doubt he would have got to Woolwich," a port authority spokesman said.

The 22-year-old German, who has not been named, was first seen paddling past the Millennium Dome at Greenwich towards the Thames Barrier last week. But his attempt was scuppered when rescue workers spotted his raft after dark.

Despite being warned of the dangers, the student was seen making a second attempt a day later as he paddled down the Thames past MI6 headquarters in Vauxhall.

Lifeboat helmsman Eamon French of the Royal National Lifeboat Institute said: "He had no form of propulsion other than a makeshift sail. All he had was a paddle that would have been about as much use as a dessertspoon.

"He had no money to get home but this wasn't the way to do it. There's a lot of river traffic and he could easily have been killed."

The student told rescue workers that he was desperate to get back to Germany but did not have the money to afford the travel expenses, and instead set himself the challenge of sailing to Margate and then going on to France by ferry.

The port authority spokesman said: "When he landed in France he planned to walk to Berlin, where I believe he hails from." The authority has confiscated the raft and the student is still believed to be in the UK.

Martin Garside of the port authority said: "We picked him up the first time near the Millennium Dome and warned him how dangerous it was to try to sail on this makeshift raft.

"We were astonished to find him in the river again near Vauxhall the following day. This time we told him off again and, after his raft had reached the shore, we took possession of it.

"I don't know if this was bravado, over-confidence or what. But you wouldn't have wanted to cross the river at Richmond in this."