The trek has been postponed until late next year

Devon-born Goss was due to set off on the Antarctic adventure with Somerset-based Alan Chambers in November 2003.

The pair had wanted to become the first team to walk to the South Pole and back using Captain Robert Falcon Scott's planned 1912route.

But they have been forced to postpone the project because of lack of funds.

The money.... would have gone into fulfilling a personal ambition, which did not fit right Pete Goss

The costs of the expedition are estimated at about �360,000, but only �100,000 has been raised so far.

The trek has been put back by 12 months, and the men are now hoping to set off for the South Pole in November 2004.

The expedition is aiming to raise money for the HopeHIV charity, which helps children in Africa who have been orphaned by Aids.

"If we had gone down there this winter, then all the money that we have raised would have gone into fulfilling a personal ambition, which did not fit right," said Goss, who lives in Cornwall.

"By delaying the challenge for a year, it gives the project the chance to mature and bring in the additional funds for the cause."

As part of their preparations the two former Royal Marines have already undergone training at the North Pole, and they recently completed a 17-day expedition across Greenland.

Goss, who is 41, is best known for his bid to sail the Devon-built �4m carbon-fibre catamaran Team Philips in The Race, a no-rules round-the-world sailing event in December 2000.

Goss and his six-strong crew had to be rescued by a German container ship when Team Philips started to break up in huge seas in the Atlantic.