Czech man to cross Atlantic on wooden raft

A 62-year-old Czech man has planned to sail across the Atlantic Ocean from Portugal to Florida, the US, on a wooden raft, media reported Friday.

Jozef Bohac said he was inspired by the Czech traveller Eduard Ingris who was sailing on the Pacific Ocean on a raft in the 1950s, xinhua reported.

"The famous Norwegian Thor Heyerdahl was sailing across the Atlantic on vessels made of balsa wood or papyrus. But no one has ever managed to sail from one continent to another on a raft made of several beams tied together," Bohac said.

Bohac's voyage will cover several thousand km. His raft is made of 16 spruce beams connected by steel cables. It will have a platform with a superstructure, two masts. Food, water and other personal belongings will be preserved in barrels.