A DAREDEVIL is set to become the first person to windsurf around Great Britain without support as he was set to complete his 2,200-mile (3,540-km) journey over the weekend.

    Jono Dunnett set off from Clacton Pier in Essex on June 7 and is now on the home stretch as he stopped over in Suffolk on Friday night.

    He is the fourth person to windsurf around Britain, but the first to do so without a water-based support team.

    The 41-year-old has dodged ferries and whirlpools, slept in a makeshift tent made of his sail and relied on the kindness of strangers as he took on his epic journey.

    He said, “It has been a fantastic experience and something I have always wanted to do.

    “It’s strange to think it’s coming to an end and it may be difficult to adjust to normal life for a little while.’’

    The windsurfer had been determined to take on the challenge since reading of the achievements of Tim Batstone who became the first person to complete the feat with a support boat in 1984.

    He is raising money for the Pancreatic Cancer Research Fund and Suffolk-based charity Supporting Tanzanian Orphans and Widows (Stow) that educates children orphaned by AIDS.

    The longest distance he has covered in one day is 100 miles while traveling past the south coast.

    He crossed the Irish Sea — despite telling his family he would not take on such tricky waters — and experienced difficulties navigating a large swell off Land’s End.

    Dunnett has fished for his own food and at night he has often been put up by members of the public who got in touch with him through his blog or took pity on him pitching his tent in cold and wet conditions.

    “It’s been incredible how supportive people have been,’’ Dunnett said.

    “I particularly found people were keen to help me out in some of the more remote spots like the north of Scotland.

    “There are parts of the journey, like Land’s End, I would never do again.

    “But I’ve got to see places I have never seen before and got to see this island I call home in a unique way.’’

    Dunnett has stopped briefly at his mother’s home in Kelsale, Suffolk, before returning to the seas to complete the final miles of the journey.(SD-Agencies)