Four men to row Indian Ocean

Mat Hellier, Ian Allen, and Nick and Phil McCorry aim to set off in April from Western Australia to compete the two month and 3,500 mile unassisted journey across the Indian Ocean to Mauritius.

Matt said: "For this time we will be rowing around the clock in pairs, so two hours of rowing for every two hours of rest, 24 hours a day!

"The Indian Ocean has never been crossed by a four boat and so we aim to set the world record, not only that but we will be the youngest crew to ever cross any ocean by rowing boat.

"We are completing this challenge to raise money and awareness for the Stroke Association and are accepting private donations and sponsorship through our website at www.row4charity.co.uk.

On Wednesday three members of the team took part in their first sponsorship presentation at the Cooden Beach Hotel in front of a number of Rotary clubs from across the South coast area.

Matt, Nick and Phil made the presentation along with Veteran Atlantic rowers Nick Young and Mark Hefford who gave the Rotary an insight into their experiences of rowing the Atlantic Ocean.

As well as the presentation, Rotary members had the opportunity to examine the boat, which the team has chosen to buy - the same boat which Hefford and Young used to row the Atlantic last year.

Matt commented: "To make ocean rowing a fair sport all the boats are made from the same mould and to the same specifications, for this reason no boat has any real advantages over another, the reason for us selecting this boat is for the added advantage of Hefford and Young's help and support in such events as tomorrow's presentation.

"The boat itself is Carbon fibre hull, measuring 29ft long by 7ft wide, on-board is all the equipment needed to survive 2 months at sea, including a sea water purifier, GPS, VHF radio, satellite phone and solar panels to power it all to name just a few. The boat also has better storage solutions than Ikea and it needs it for the 90 days worth of food we are required to take."

Also on show at the presentation were their two cars, which have just been kindly "vinyl wrapped" in their charity logos by Phil English of Select-Signs.net.

The team are still in much need of sponsorship and "implore" any Bexhillians with an interest in their challenge to contact them to offer any help and support they can

Email: [email protected]

Phone: 07525931342