ANTIGUANICE YACHTING INSIDER NEWSLETTER

A five-man crew hoping to row 3,000 miles across the Atlantic Ocean in December were raising money in Epsom last week.

Mark Alderman, Tom Hyland, Terry Munson and skippers Bastien Leclair and Neil Marsh will set off from the Canary Islands, on December 2 and hope to reach Antigua in the Caribbean by the middle of January.

The team want to raise £200,000 for Great Ormond Street Hospital, Tall Ships Youth Trust, the British Heart Foundation and the Macular Society.

Mr Marsh, the skipper, said: "They’ll be two people rowing at any given time. We’ll be doing it in 2-hour shifts. We’ll be in Mission Atlantic - nickname Missy - a 29ft rowing boat."

The ocean yacht master-trained crew will have to survive exhaustion, row through shark-infested waters, dodge 50 ft waves and go through tropical storms in their mission.

The five-man world record currently stands at 37 days and 5 hours - and the team hope to complete the challenge in between 50 and 70 days. They will be rowing against up to 25 other crews including teams from Sweden, Russia and Australia.

Neil added: "At the moment more people have been into space than have rowed the Atlantic. It’s rated as one of the toughest challenges you can do."

For more information go to rowtheatlanctic2013.co.uk