Joe Duggan (Reporter)
FIVE cancer survivors are to fulfil a lifelong dream and sail across the Atlantic from Mallorca.
The all-female crew will travel 4,000 miles from Palma to the Caribbean island of Martinique, with stops at Lanzarote and Cabo Verde.
A five-week voyage on board the 16-metre Sargantal will raise money for charity Fundacion Cris Cancer.
The Ocean Dream project’s leader, Natalia Ensenat, pitched the idea at Palma’s Royal Club Nautica just two weeks after a mastectomy operation in January last year.
When she was first diagnosed with breast cancer she went straight to Club Nautico as ‘I needed to see the sea’.
“I was clear in my head I wanted to make a big sailing journey before I died,” said Ensenat.
“It’s not just about five friends making a journey, it has to be real challenge.”
Palma’s Royal Club Nautico helped the crew with donations for their yacht.
Ensena then chose her four crew members from a shortlist of 25 with the Sargantal’s skipper César Enríquez – another cancer survivor – the only man onboard.
“Ths project is a call to life. Not just for the challenge of the journey, but for solidarity,” added Ensenat.
