A 'Captain Calamity' sailor who tried to cross a busy stretch of sea on a ramshackle raft made from household items is lucky to be alive after his creation promptly broke up and sank.

The 33-year-old put to sea on the makeshift Robinson Crusoe-style vessel he had built using a wooden door, a broom, a clothes airer and three polystyrene body boards tied together with a clothes line.

• The homemade Solent raft - in pictures >>

The madcap mariner had attempted to use a parasol as a temporary sail and had brought along a lantern and a bag of tea lights to use as a navigational aid.

Onboard the raft he had taken a beach wind break, a tent, an umbrella stand, a hand net and a football.

The boater was trying to sail three miles across the Solent from Milford-on-Sea to Alum Bay on the Isle of Wight but the raft disintegrated within a few hundred feet of the beach.

The man, who was wearing only a T-shirt and shorts, and had no lifejacket, flares or radio, was left clinging to the wreckage.

A beach-goer dialled 999 after hearing his cries for help and a local coastguard rescue team and lifeboat crew were scrambled.

By the time they reached the man, he had been in the sea for 40 minutes and was struggling to keep his head above water.

Rescuers plucked him from the water and took him back to Milford-on-Sea beach, where waiting paramedics treated him for shock and hypothermia.

Coastguards said that he would not have survived much longer in the sea, which is around 13°C.

They said the man was not intoxicated and honestly believed he had been well-prepared for his voyage.

After being given the all-clear by paramedics the man got a talking to from coastguards before being allowed to go home.

Colin Tabor, from Lymington Coastguard, said: "We were called after a walker at Milford beach had heard cries for help and spotted a man clinging to objects about 600ft out to sea.

"When we arrived on scene along with Mudeford lifeboat it emerged the man had been trying to sail from Milford to the Isle of Wight on a raft he had made from household items.

"Unsurprisingly the raft had broken up within minutes of him setting off and he was left clinging to whatever wreckage he could find.

"When we got to him the man was exhausted. He had been treading water and clinging to the wreckage of his raft for a long time.

"He is a very lucky to be alive - he would not have lasted much longer.

"Our message is that anyone going out on the sea must be prepared - wear the appropriate protective clothing and a lifejacket, take flares for use in an emergency and always carry a radio."