Project Torpedalo is an ambitious project in which two men will attempt to pedal all the way from the Canary Isles to Antigua – Freddie Flintoff eat your heart out
Two friends are hoping to defy the odds and pedal 3000 miles across the Atlantic to raise £250,000 for charity as part of Project Torpedalo.
Mark Byass and Mike Sayer, who have the full support of their employer Bentley Motors, as well as a host of other sponsors, will set off from La Gomera in the Canary Islands on 4 December 2011 and hope to arrive in Antigua 38 days later.
The 9-metre boat is still in the design stages but it is expected to include an enclosed cockpit, a self-righting hull with open forward deck area, and a sleeping compartment to the rear.
It will have a beam and a height of just 1.5 metres and the only power will come in the form of a single one-gear pedal crankset using Gates two-stage belt drive and a custom twin-blade low-speed propeller, designed by Bruntons.
The aim of the challenge is to raise £250,000, which will be split between two charities: The Motor Neurone Disease Association and Make-a-Wish.
The madcap plan is part of the Woodvale Challenge, a trans-Atlantic rowing race involving around 30 boats that takes place biannually.
Project Torpedalo will be the first team to take part in a pedalo. In 1994 a pedalo took 111 days to complete the same journey so the duo is hoping to set a new World Record.
