Overcoming the waves of adversity

"Ah, he has a heart as big as Galway Bay," Betty Stewart said as her partner Matt Browne posed with a jet ski and his artificial leg held high over his head, in Howth Harbour yesterday.

Matt, from Clane, Co Kildare, who lost his left leg due to diabetes complications six years ago, set out from the harbour at lunchtime on a challenge to circumnavigate Ireland on a jet ski - and raise €100,000 for Rehab.

First though there were well-wishers to be greeted: yesterday was Matt's 55th birthday and friends and family, his support crew in a rigid inflatable boat, the Coast Guard, sponsors and a goodly proportion of Howth Yacht Club as well as the plain curious, came to wave him off.

Asked about the difficult parts of the marathon 1,448km (900 miles) journey, Matt said: "When I get down to the Saltee Islands, when I turn along the south coast past Rosslare, then it gets rough. Then there is the west coast, I think from the Saltees to Ballycastle [ on the Antrim coast], that's the difficult bit."

While the aim is to be the first to circumnavigate Ireland on a jet ski, if successful Matt will have a double record as the first amputee.

"Most people are able to bend their legs and absorb the impact of the waves but I take the impact in the small of my back generally, so I am wearing a back support," he explained.

Over the past decade Matt and his team have developed a reputation for a somewhat unique approach to fundraising. Last year he rode a jet ski from Britain across the Irish Sea to Dublin, raising more than €30,000 for Rehab.

Before Matt lost his leg, he was involved with fundraising for the Irish Wheelchair Association. "He didn't know he was going to lose the leg - we said it must have been contagious," Betty joked.

Matt, a former lorry driver, said his jet ski challenge, which is expected to take three weeks, was probably his toughest yet.

"When the weather gets bad every wave is like a fence in the Grand National and you really do have to hang on to the jet ski tight. So to keep going for three weeks is going to be very physically demanding. But I have trained hard. I never back down from a challenge."

Matt was due at his first stop in Courtown, Co Wexford last night.