A former royal marine from Portland is training to spend weeks rowing across the Atlantic Ocean in a gruelling charity challenge.
Sean Phelps, aged 50, was a Royal Marine from 1990 to 1997. He served in Northern Ireland and Iraq, even doing Arctic survival training in Norway.
He will take on the might of the Atlantic to raise money for struggling veterans and the children of men and women who have died while serving their country.
Sean will tackle the huge 3,000-mile rowing challenge, 'Oceans ELITE', with three other veterans. Their journey is expected to take anywhere between four and seven weeks.
It all started when Sean, who has suffered from mental health issues for years, received a message from his friend and fellow Royal Marine veteran (and now skipper) Chris Thrall asking if he would like to join him in rowing the Atlantic. Sean said: "I jumped at the chance, I didn't think of any negative things, I was like 'yes when do we go'.
"Everyone in our group has had issues with mental health and we want to say and show to our veterans and charities that we are here for them.
"I suffered with stress and anxiety a couple of years ago and still do today. For no reason I can explain I just get a feeling of doom and a pain in my chest. I have learned some exercises over the years to cope, I have my good days and bad.
"You have got to realise that you are the most important person in your world. Once I realised that and took care of myself I was a better person for my loved ones and those around me."
Sean and the team will row out of Grand Canaria, weather permitting, in November of this year.
Training has already begun, with the team taking a short test voyage earlier in March.
The money raised will be split between two charities, Alabaré Homes for Veterans and Scotty’s Little Soldiers.
Sean is a facilitator at Andy's Man Club on Portland and is a self-employed carpet fitter.
He added: "It is a once-in-a-lifetime challenge. We all understand that there are risks but we are going to take every precaution.
"Please do support these charities. They do life-changing work."
To learn more visit: oceanseliterow.com
To donate to the group's GoFundMe Page visit: gofundme.com/f/oceanseliterow
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