All-woman team's Atlantic quest

The team hope to shave seven days off the record for the journey

Four women hope to break two world records in an Atlantic rowing race.

Oxfordshire's Clair Desborough, 32, and Sarah Duff, 24, will row alongside Fiona Waller, 32, from London and Rachel Flanders, 17, from Bolton.

The "Atlantic Angels" hope to shave seven days off the current 67-day record and raise £250,000 for charity.

Miss Flanders also hopes to become the youngest person to row across an ocean. The team will set off on 2 December from the Canary Islands for Antigua.

Just one big ocean, four girls, four oars, muscle power and determination Rower Rachel Flanders

The existing record for an all-female four-member team crossing the Atlantic is approximately 67 days, seven hours and 20 minutes.

The team, who hope to raise thousands of pounds for Cancer Research UK, will embark on The Woodvale Atlantic Rowing Race - a 2,500 nautical mile journey (4,630km) - in their vessel called the Faceboat.

Ahead of the race, they are now asking family, friends and supporters to post pictures of themselves on the website which they have set up for the event so they can be printed on the hull of the boat.

Miss Waller, a cervical cancer survivor who has recently been given the all-clear, said: "Having the faces of family, friends and other supporters onboard will certainly help us through the difficult and lonely times of the challenge - particularly Christmas and New Year."

Miss Flanders, 17, said: "Although I am still young, I have no doubt that this will be the most challenging and most amazing thing I will ever do in my life.

Sleep deprivation

"We have to row Faceboat across the Atlantic with no engine and no sails. "Just one big ocean, four girls, four oars, muscle power and determination."

The women will face severe sleep deprivation during the crossing, rowing continuously in alternate pairs for two-hour stretches.

They plan to consume 7,000 calories of freeze-dried army rations each day, and make their own drinking water with a desalinator.

They hope to arrive in English Harbour, Antigua, on 31 January after starting their journey in La Gomera.

Some of the funds raised will also go to the Helen Rollason Heal Cancer Charity and Trinity Hospice, in Clapham, London.