The Challenge

Project Torpedalo is a charity event like no other. We’re designing and constructing, from scratch, a self-sufficient carbon fibre pedal-powered boat. In December 2011, we’ll climb aboard our boat in the harbour of La Gomera in the Canary Isles, and pedal it 3000 miles west to Antigua. We’ll pilot our boat as part of the Woodvale Challenge, a trans-Atlantic rowing race involving roughly 30 rowing boats that takes place every two years – we’ll be the first crew ever to compete in a pedalo. A pedalo has only ever made this journey once before, in 1994, taking 111 days. We want to do it in 38 days – if we succeed, we’ll set a new World Record.

We started the project in October 2009, and since then the idea has gone from a pipe-dream to a reality. With the support of some incredible sponsors already, the project is growing every day. We’ll rely on sponsors like the ones we’re already partnered with to build the boat and then to raise a target of £250,000 for two charities – the MND Association and Make-A-Wish.

WHY?

We (Mark and Mike, the two crewman) have been collaberating on various work projects for years, and in that time we’ve both done separate charity work. Whether it was endurance cycling, relay-running, swimming silly distances or running marathons up the Jungfrau, we’ve both done many events to raise the all-important funds that charities need. The decision to start a more extreme charity project together was an easy one.

A couple of years ago, a crazy mutual friend of ours (the sort of guy who wears a suit with sandals) came up with the idea of taking a standard pedalo across the English Channel. He was laughed at, rather a lot. Except by us. Simultaneously, Mark was harbouring a desire to row the Atlantic Ocean, having been inspired by the journey of Ben Fogle and James Cracknell in 2005. Having cycled 350 miles from Crewe to Le Mans for charity in 2007, and being particularly rubbish at running, Mike wanted to start a new pedal-powered challenge. These three ideas naturally came together, and in the summer of 2009 we started talking seriously about pedalling a boat from London to Paris. This idea then grew to include Mark designing and building a custom pedal-boat for the job, as the Final Year Design Project for his engineering degree.

At that point, we decided to pitch the project to Members of the Board at Bentley Motors, our employer. Fortunately, all were massively supportive, giving the project the foundation it required. This posed a small problem – we had to stop just talking about it, and actually do it. At least we were only talking about a small boat and a seven-day journey…until we naively decided that that wasn’t enough. Mike noticed that Mark was spending an unhealthy amount of time looking at pictures of Atlantic rowing boats, but was still surprised when Mark proposed that our journey should not be cross-Channel, but trans-Atlantic. After questioning Mark’s sanity (by swearing at him) we realised that this was the challenge we had been looking for. And so it was decided – we would design and build our own pedal-boat, and pedal it 3000 miles across the Atlantic Ocean.

There are many good reasons that motivate us to do this project. In 2005, Mike watched his grandfather, who he was very close to, succumb to the horrible demise that Motor Neurone Disease ensures. Ever since, he’s wanted to do something to raise money for the MND Association, that helped his grandfather and who research the disease. Mark is hugely supportive of this, having also recently lost his grandfather who was an incredible man and a childhood hero. We have also both had grandparents that we’ve never known, with them passing away either before we were born or before we can remember. The project is dedicated to the memories of grandparents we’ve loved and lost.

Our grandfathers - The inspiration for the project

We also both feel very strongly about ensuring good quality-of-life for poorly children, who can have so much of their childhood robbed by illness. For this reason, we choose the Make-A-Wish Foundation as our second beneficiary.

Trying to pedal a boat across the Atlantic may seem like a crazy, frightening and dangerous task. Probably because it is. But those facts are what make us want to do it. In the words of Mike’s dad:

“ONLY BY SETTING DISTANT AND DIFFICULT GOALS DO WE TRULY SUCCEED.”