SOUTHAMPTON Airport is looking for a unique band of shipmates to help them swap the sky for the high seas as they team up with the Jubilee Sailing Trust.

A team of staff from the airport are looking for an additional four Hampshire residents with physical disabilities to join their crew for a voyage on the specially designed tall ship Lord Nelson in September.

Depending on weather conditions the successful applicants, who must be 16 or over, will join the four airport staff in a 40-strong mixed ability crew for a voyage to the Channel Islands or northern France.

This is the fifth year that Southampton Airport has offered sponsored places for local people with funding from the BAA Communities Trust, which included work to help build the tall ship Tenacious in 1997 a ship also designed for crews of mixed abilities including blind people and those in wheelchairs.

To apply for a place on the special voyage, please write in about 100 words why you should win one of the four places.

Entries must include name, address, age and details of the applicants' disability. Applications should be sent to Ian Clark at the BAA Southampton Airport Voyage, Jubilee Sailing Trust, Hazel Road, Woolston, Southampton, SO19 7GB.

Entries must reach the Jubilee Sailing Trust by noon on Tuesday, August 8.

Further information on the Jubilee Sailing Trust can be found online at www.jst.org.uk.

Pictured from last year's voyage are, from left to right, Kirsten Draper, customer service duty assistant at Southampton International airport, Lorna Sprague, Hampshire resident, Andy Morris, multi-skilled technican at the airport, Brian Jones, resident, James McIntosh, firefighter at the airport, Roma Barns, resident, and Donna Wainwright, security officer at the airport.