The crew of the powerboat Spirit of Cardiff have abandoned hopes of completing a round-the-world trip on the final leg of the 25,000 mile journey.

The 10-metre vessel was due to begin the last phase of the record attempt to become the fastest powerboat in the under 50ft class to circumnavigate the globe on Sunday.

This time it really is over. We are all feeling very low

Skipper Alan Priddy

However, when the three man crew went to board the boat at Newfoundland in Canada, they found part of vessel submerged and the engine compartment full of water.

Skipper Alan Priddy and his crew were hoping to sail the �2m Spirit of Cardiff back in the Welsh capital on 28 September.

The team have suffered a number of set backs since leaving Cardiff's Oval Basin in March, ahead of the official start in Gibraltar in April.

The journey has been dogged by bad weather, illness and accidents.

Crew member Alan Carter, 48, from Penarth, left the expedition just over a month into the voyage when the boat reached Singapore.

Spirit of Cardiff's 2002 log

31 March: Boat leaves Cardiff 7 April: Crew sails from Gibraltar 3 May: Alan Carter pulls out Early summer: Steve Lloyd suffers heart problems 22 June: Crew fails to beat overall record 15 September: Boat due to leave Newfoundland 16 September: Boat flooded by water 28 September: Boat scheduled to reach Cardiff

Then a second team member, Steve Lloyd, 48, from Portsmouth, pulled out earlier this summer after suffering heart problems 350 miles offshore from Newfoundland.

A propeller was lost in the Malacca Strait about 40 miles from Singapore and the crews supplies were stolen in India.

In a final twist of fate it appears a crack may have developed in the hull which only became apparent when the boat was filled with fuel.

Mr Priddy said: "We've been hit by so many problems, but even after Steve's heart attack, we were looking to finish the trip and come back with the under 50ft class record for circumnavigating the world.

Alan Priddy: 'Very low'

"This time it really is over. We are all feeling very low."

By June, the boat had failed to break the 74 day record held by the Cable & Wireless Adventurer in 1998.

The crew also had to repair the hull twice, after damage was caused by an uncharted fish farm near Malta and from debris floating in the water near Singapore.

However, the pumps were unable to cope with the level of flooding which appeared in the boat on Sunday.

The alternator which charges the boat's batteries was destroyed, but the main problem was the damage to equipment on board.

Homeward bound

A new alternator has been fitted but the chances of the boat being able to finish the trip are extremely slim.

The crew, are now planning to fly home on Wednesday.

The record attempt was the final part of a three-year project by Offshore Expeditions, which has included setting racing records around Ireland, Britain and between New York and Cardiff.

In 2000, the crew circumnavigated the British Isles in a record five days, six hours and five minutes.

The Spirit of Cardiff also smashed more than an hour off the Cable and Wireless Adventurer's record for the Gibraltar-Monaco passage.

In 1997, the boat's crew was the first to cross the North Atlantic in an open inflatable boat.