A WORCESTER couple are set to have a chilly summer when they set sail for the Arctic.

Andrez Short and Alison Davies are planning to take their one-year-old son Thomas along on the voyage, in their yacht Alpha Carinae.

The couple, originally from the Falkland Islands but who now live in Barbourne, made headlines last May, when Miss Davies' father, 63-year-old Mervyn Davies, crossed the Atlantic despite being a novice sailor.

He helped Mr Short sail the boat to the UK, after Miss Davies flew home alone.

She had sailed from the Falklands only to discover she was pregnant by the time the 30ft craft reached the Caribbean.

Mr Short and Miss Davies postponed their journey to the Arctic after Miss Davies - who is now working as a teacher at Cherry Orchard Primary School, Worcester - gave birth to Thomas in Trinidad.

They are now gearing up for their journey far north, a year behind schedule.

"We want to leave by about Easter," said 44-year-old Mr Short, of Lavender Road.

"We'll go up through the Irish Sea to the western coast of Scotland, before heading for the Faroes and northern Norway.

"We won't be going to the Pole, but we intend to sail inside the Arctic Circle.

"Because we're from the Falklands we're used to the cold. We have adapted the boat for Thomas and are working on it again to get it ready."

The Alpha Carinae is moored in Bristol.

"It's quite ironic, because it's in view of the SS Great Britain, which came here from the Falklands," said Mr Short.

"As a lad I saw it in harbour there."

The couple describe reaching the Arctic as their "ultimate goal".

They hope to return to the UK by September, before setting sail for the South Atlantic in October.