An amateur rower from Backwell, who plans to cross the Atlantic Ocean, is calling on more potential sponsors to come forward and help support the 3,000-mile charity expedition.

Tom Parker and Nick McCulloch, who make up Atlantic Tempest, will be one of up to 30 two-man rowing teams who will line up for the 2015 Atlantic Challenge on December 15.

They will set off from the Canary Islands and some two to three months later will arrive at Nelson’s Dockyard English Harbour in Antigua.

During that time, they will row continuously, with each of them alternating between two hours rowing and two hours resting. They will only stop during bad weather when they may be forced to close the hatches and ride-out a storm.

Tom was encouraged to take on the challenge by his friend Nick and since then both have been in training for the challenge which will see them face 30ft waves and battle against sleep deprivation and sunburn.

The pair are looking for more commercial sponsors to support their challenge, which will raise money for children’s charity Barnardo’s, Wallace and Gromit’s Grand Appeal for Bristol’s children’s hospital, and The Sussex Beacon which runs HIV education programmes in the area where Nick is from. Sponsors benefit from branding on the team’s website, social media pages, boat, live on-board broadcasts and daily web updates.

For more details about sponsoring the Atlantic Tempest team visit the team’s website.