Torquay car park attendant prepares for gruelling charity sailing challenge

A TORQUAY car park attendant is busy planning and preparing for a gruelling sailing challenge. David Birch, who works MDL's Torquay Marina car park, intends to single-handedly cross the 75 miles from Guernsey to Torquay in Rosco, his nine foot Laser Pico dinghy, to raise money for Rowcroft Hospice in May. The hospice was recommended to David as his sponsored charity by friends. Although David has lots of experience on yachts he has less than two years experience of single-handed dinghy sailing. Related content David said: "I just think that if you're going to do something for charity then it should be a challenge, something that you have to work hard to complete and worthy of people donating money to. "This trip will take around 14 hours which in itself is a challenge when you're sailing a single-handed dinghy. "It's the logistics that can be as problematic as the endurance aspect." David will have a support boat alongside him that will carry supplies and be there in case of emergencies, but David does plan to carry as much as he can in Rosco. He added: "I've got one of those army jackets which should be able to store a fair amount and I'll also have a dry bag inside the dinghy for the storage of provisions." David hopes to reach and exceed his £5,000 target and has set up a JustGiving page to organise the donations. Mike Smith, manager at Torquay Marina, said: "We're all so proud of David for taking on this challenge, it's not an easy one and he's doing it for such a good cause that is so very close to many within the local community. "We wish him every success and will do anything we can to support him." You can follow David's challenge via his YouTube channel and donate online.