The keen sailors, most of whom have just finished their exams, will be sailing a 39ft yacht round the coast of Ireland over six days in August, to raise money for the international charity, Mercy Ships. The charity provides free medical and humanitarian aid to the poorest countries in Africa via its 500ft hospital ship, the Africa Mercy. It is the first time any of the youngsters have undertaken such a challenge and their training starts this week at the Kinsale Yacht Club, where they will familiarise themselves with the yacht Sonas kindly supplied to them for the challenge by its owner David Ross
Ben Fusco, 19, from Kinsale, said, "We are all keen sailors and wanted to combine our love of sailing with doing something for charity. There are lots of great maritime related charities out there but when we heard about the work of Mercy Ships, we were taken by the idea that a ship provides free medical care to some of the poorest people in the world.
"Hearing that thousands of people every year are given free medical care by volunteers on the ship was inspiring and we knew we had to do something special to raise money for them – hence our Round Ireland Challenge.
More on the forum thread started by Ben Fusco HERE.
