Sally and Sarah Kettle arrive in Barbados after their Atlantic row

Four female British rowers are hoping to smash the world speed record for an Atlantic crossing.

The crew will aim to beat the current record of 36 days 59 minutes for the voyage from the Canaries to Antigua.

They will be skippered by Sally Kettle, 27, from Brighton, who has already made the 3,326-mile journey with her mother.

She will be joined on the epic journey by Diane Parks, 44, from Halifax, Ali Boreham, 34, from Norwich, and Claire Mills, 22, from Dunstable, Beds.

Sally and her mother, Sarah Kettle from Northampton, took more than three months to complete the journey.

However, this time Sally said she would be rowing as an athlete.

Mentally strong

"I've no idea how quickly we'll do it," she said. "It took longer in my last trip but then we just wanted to get across.

"This time we are going to go as athletes. We'll talk to as many people as possible who have done the race before and I'm sure we'll be 100%.

"It's going to be very hard. We are physically inferior to the men we'll be racing against, but I believe we are mentally as strong."

As well as attempting to break the world record, the four rowers are hoping to send out a message to other women.

"Women don't have much of a showing in extreme sports and there are only 15 women in total who have rode an ocean before," she said.

"That has got to change and this is the perfect opportunity to make it change."