Richard Mayon-White - across the Atlantic solo on a Mini Transat

by Sail-World Cruising Round-up on 12 Mar 2013 He has rowed across the Atlantic to raise money for cancer, cycled across the Pyrenees and now he is to sail solo across the Atlantic. Many people have done that, you say, but British adventurer Richard Mayon-White is going to do it solo in a 6.5m boat.

Richard's Tropic 4 Cancer Trans Atlantic challenge is an expedition to sail single-handed 4000 miles across the Atlantic along the Tropic of Cancer, commencing from Gibraltar in October.

The big difference this time round is the solo nature of it. Richard rowed across the Atlantic with his wife Elizabeth, and cycled many thousands of miles with his colleague Richard Broome in aid of charity, 750km coast to coast across the Pyrenees. Richard has now unveiled his Tropic 4 Cancer voyage plans, where he will cross the Atlantic again, but this time solo, sailing on a diminutive Mini Transat 6.5m yacht.

Not that he is not used to adventurous undertakings. Richard is a Fellow of both the Royal Geographical Society and the Zoological Society of London. He is also a commercially endorsed RYA Yachtmaster, has climbed Kilimanjaro and Aconcagua. He has skippered yachts in the Fastnet Race and Three Peaks Yacht Race. It was in 2009 that he cycled the route of the Tour de France - also to raise money for a cancer charity.

Richard will leave from Salterns Marina in Poole in August, to sail to the start point in Gibraltar to start his 4000 mile journey in October.

Richard's goal is to raise £40,000 to be split equally between two great causes, the Sobell House Hospice in Oxford and the national charity Sail 4 Cancer, which gives respite to cancer sufferers and their families through days out on the water and sailing holidays.

It was his mother's last days spend in Sobell House which inspired him to 'give something back'. Speaking of his past adventures, often to raise money for cancer, Richard told the media last week, 'The Tropic 4 Cancer voyage is the biggest and most important of them all. I feel that as it is close to Mother's Day it seemed like a poignant time for me to announce the voyage.'

The Tropic of Cancer runs around the Earth at approximately 23 degrees north, marking the most northerly position at which the sun may appear directly overhead. Richard's voyage will sail south from Gibraltar, following the western coastline of Morocco and the Western Sahara, until reaching the Tropic of Cancer which he will follow for 3000 miles until reaching the Bahamas.

Attempting to sail on the line of the Tropic of Cancer will make the voyage all the tougher for Richard, in not being able to take advantage of the best wind and weather. However, coming just at the end of the hurricane season, the winds 'should' be behind him.

Richard's money-making efforts are not merely for consolidated revenue for Sobell House. Part of the funds raised by Tropic 4 Cancer will fund a pilot study at Sobell House Hospice for an education programme for lay carers to learn the practical skills they need to look after patients with palliative care needs in their home.

For more information visit http://www.tropic4cancer.com