HOTEL worker Jethro Minaar is getting ready for a new challenge as he prepares to take part in the Tall Ships Race 2003.

Mr Minaar, 24, of Bath Road, Devizes, flies out this week to Gdynia, Poland, to sign on as one of the 23-strong crew aboard the Rona II, a 68ft sailing boat.

Mr Minaar, who works at the Castle Hotel in New Park Street, Devizes, was selected for the trip through a series of training weekends organised by the London Sailing Project, also known as the Rona Trust, in Southampton.

The physical rigours of the trip hold no terrors for Mr Minaar. He said: "Being a red belt in Tae Kwon Do has helped me overcome the physical demands needed to race. It also helps with the balance needed during strong racing conditions."

Also headed for the Baltic is the Jolie Brise, Dauntsey's School's own 76ft pilot cutter which has won the Tall Ships Race twice before, including the Millennium Transatlantic Race in 2000 which meant the small ship, crewed almost exclusively by school pupils, braving the Atlantic Ocean crossing twice.