AN adventurous Malvern man will be crossing the Pacific next year as part of a round-the-world yacht race.

Alex Sweetman, 29, will join the yacht Durban Clipper at the Chinese port of Qingdao in February.

The yacht will then stop off in Japan before setting off across the ocean towards Canada. It will then head down the West Coast of America and through the Panama Canal to Venezuela.

Alex was brought up in Malvern and went to Malvern College. He currently works for the HSBC bank in London.

Alex has been training for the last 18 months in readiness for the challenge.

"I've just got my dry suit and had my jabs, and I'm getting fit for it," he said.

"Crossing the Pacific in winter is quite a feat, but I'm really looking forward to it. The people I'll be crewing with are a real mixture, from a London taxi driver to a stuntwoman from Texas."

Alex maintains strong links with Malvern, where his parents still live in Cowleigh Road, returning regularly to play for the Old Malvernians soccer team.

Like other crew members, he is raising money for the Phillip Green Memorial Trust to build a school in London for children with cerebral palsy.

He wants to raise £3,000 himself and contributions can be made via www.justgiving.com/alexclipper.