Will Homer, 18, from Bridge End, is part of a four-man team who want to row around Great Britain in less than 27 days and be the youngest people ever to succeed in doing so

The Rugby School pupil, his classmate Xander Morgan, 17, and his friends Nick Bevan,19, and Rob Pickering, 19, from Warwick School, are preparing to set out on the voyage in the summer.

Will said: "I am nervous - it is a huge challenge. The Irish Sea and the coast around Scotland will be very dangerous. Physically we can do it but 50 or 60 per cent of the task will be about how we can cope mentally."

Will, who trains four times a week to play for his school's second XV rugby team, is an endurance sports enthusiast.

He and Nick canoed from Oxford to Warwick in less than 24 hours last summer and they walked 200 miles beside the River Rhine in Germany the year before.

Will's inspiration for the challenge came from a talk held at his school by rower Stuart Boreham, the first ever disabled man to cross the Atlantic Ocean unaided.

Will said: "I just thought that sort of thing sounded fun. I emailed the other guys and it went from there."

Regular gym sessions, navigation lessons, radio operations courses and sea safety briefings will occupy the team until next year.

But despite the grand task ahead of them the main stumbling block could be raising funds so the team can afford a specially designed rowing boat and equipment.

Will said: "The hardest thing will be getting sponsorship, especially in these difficult times. We need £25,000. We also want to raise funds for Orchid, the men's cancer charity."

To find out more email: HOMEWA@rugbyschool.net.

For more information about Orchid visit www.orchid-cancer.org.uk