An ex-SAS solider is hoping to sail the Atlantic in a boat shaped like a giant whale.
Tom McClean, 73, launched the project 20 years ago and has spent a total of £100,000 building the 65-foot tall vessel.
The boat, named Moby after Herman Melville’s novel Moby Dick, is currently moored in Loch Nevis in Scotland.
But Mr McClean has high hopes of sailing to New York inside the unusual vessel.
He said: “Why not, I would say. I’m the first man to row the North Atlantic alone and I’ve sailed it and I’ve crossed it in a bottle boat.
“You can go in many shapes and I thought, well, why not a whale.”
Despite being a pensioner, Mr McClean said he would not let that hinder him embarking on another journey.
He said: “You can say I’m mad but I’m happy with that. I’m getting on and doing things. I’m getting off my backside and doing things rather than sitting and watching the telly.”
The former SAS solider hopes to sail 3,000 miles across the Atlantic from London to New York in stages next year.
