Jim Hook's 'Titanic Challenge' fared no better than its namesake after it had to be called off when his rowing partner fell overboard just 30 miles into the 3,000 miles Transatlantic endurance test.

Andrew Lothian had to be plucked from the sea after falling overboard during a toilet break when a safety harness to tie him to the vessel was not attached properly.

His partner, Belfast IT project manager Hook, fought against the currents to recover his partner - who suffered hypothermia - from the ocean after being woken by his cries for help.

It was four hours later before a rescue vessel reached the pair and helped return them to dry land.

Outdoor pursuits fanatic Hook was devastated that the race - which had involved 18 months of preparation and training - had ended "in the blink of an eye".

He told Sunday Life: "I'm gutted that so much planning, energy and time could go into it, and it all be over so quickly.

"It's been a life ambition and I'm no closer to achieving it, so it's very, very disappointing. But the main thing is that everyone is okay."

Hook, who had planned to spend Christmas and New Year on the high seas, was last night back in Belfast where he told of his frantic battle to get his rowing partner back on board.

"I could only see him while I was on top of the crest of a wave. With his life jacket on he wasn't going to drown, but the longer he was in the water, the shorter the odds of him surviving the cold. We had been making fairly slow progress so I worried that I would not be able to reach him, but somehow managed it and got his dragged back on board."

Hook was Northern Ireland's first entrant in the Woodvale Transatlantic Rowing Race which sees about 20 crews battle each other and the elements in home-made plywood canoes for three months to make it from the Canary Islands to Antigua.

He had been taking part to raise money for the Children's Kidney Fund - inspired by his wife Gloria who works as a renal nurse at the Musgrave Ward at the Royal Hospital for Sick Children.

He added: "I feel deeply sorry that we could not have been as resilient as the children who undergo the organ transplant surgery and associated medical care on a day to day basis.

"Our small foray into the unknown pales into insignificance compared to what they constantly deal with and I had hoped that we might have been able to give them a distraction, if only a couple of months."