On September 26 1993, 61-year-old Hugo Vihlen and his homemade 5ft 4″ boatFather’s Daycompleted an 105-day-voyage from Newfoundland to Falmouth, setting the record for the smallest boat to have crossed the Atlantic

NowFather’s Dayhas returned to the Cornish coast, 13 years to the day after she first sailed into the record books. Vihlen has donated his micro-yacht to Falmouth’s Maritime Museum, and she is to be the focus of an exhibition early next year.

The boat is the size of a coffee table and has been likened to a space shuttle. Made with super-strong, mouldable, lightweight building materials, fibreglass and Airex, she was fitted with GPS, a water-maker, VHF radio and SSB/Ham radio.

 When Vihlen made the crossing in 1993, he had no back-up. His greatest concerns were whales and ships, but it was food – or lack of it – that was his biggest problem during the voyage. Vihlen rationed food for only 85 days, but had to stretch his supplies – 65 ready meals, two gallons of M&Ms, a gallon of dry fruit, 100 cans of Hawaiian Punch and 34 gallons of water – to last four months.