A TEAM of soldiers saw their fundraising efforts swept away on Saturday.

Their vessel – a floating Batman bouncy castle – was involved in a failed paddle challenge from Hurst Castle in the New Forest to the Isle of Wight, which was scuppered by the tide.

Despite having to be rescued, the team of three soldiers on board the bouncy castle told spectators they would be using it for a different challenge that would not involve currents.

The 8ft bouncy castle, named HMS Implausible, was crewed by Capt Andy Ellis, Capt Terry Williams and Maj Matt Smith.

They had aimed to complete the one-mile challenge in just over an hour in aid of forces charity Help for Heroes.

But the tide saw them swept towards the Needles and the open sea and they had to be towed back to the safety of the beach by their support boat.

The craft was kept inflated using two leaf blowers and had undergone extensive testing in the swimming pool and a canal in Minehead, but this was its first sea voyage.

But it encountered trouble early on when the team decided to put it in the water to tow it to the start point rather than carry it.

It was then hit by a wave which flipped the leaf blowers off into the sea and, because they stopped working, the boat deflated.

So then the team had to carry the contraption along the spit to the start, which meant the start time was delayed.

After setting off, the boat had got about halfway across when it started veering away in the direction of the Needles.

Capt Williams, from Gloucestershire, said: “Once we knew we’d missed the tide we knew we wouldn’t succeed, but thought we’d see what we could learn from the experience.

“We learned quite a lot. It took the waves incredibly well.

“We think it is achievable with minor changes so we’re quite buoyed up from what happened.”

“It was incredibly good fun and we raised some money for charity.” He said any future attempt would once again be done in consultation with the coastguard and with a safety boat.

Capt Williams had earlier told how the group came up with the idea on a flight back from South America, where they had toured through Peru and Paraguay.

He said: “We initially wanted to cross the channel, but we thought that would be too much so we decided to go to the Isle of Wight.”