As Paul Ridley '05 flies from New York City to the Canary Islands today (Dec. 10), he will be looking down on the ocean that he'll be rowing across in a solo transatlantic expedition that ends in Antigua.

On Dec. 20 Ridley will embark on the 2,950-mile journey in the hopes of raising more than $500,000 to fight cancer through Row for Hope, a nonprofit organization dedicated to his mom, who passed away in 2001 from malignant melanoma.

If successful, the 25-year-old will be the youngest American to row across any ocean solo and unsupported (with no chase boat or means of re-supply).