A CHELTENHAM soldier undertaking a transatlantic rowing challenge has been without water for three days.

Lieutenant Will Dixon, who lost his leg in a bomb blast in 2009, is part of a six man team trying to ration water during the journey to Barbados.

Three days ago they were 558 miles away from the Caribbean island and had just 55 litres of water left.

The Row2Recovery team, made up of soldiers injured during combat, is trying to raise £1 million for wounded soldiers.

Since their equipment broke, 1,000 miles from Barbados, the team have been rationing the 200 litres of water left in their ballast tanks and have pushed on a further 400 miles west.

They are waiting for support vessel the Aurora, which was around 765 nautical miles away on Tuesday.

The Aurora had initially hoped to reach Row2Recovery on Tuesday, but has been delayed due to two other boats in the race – Patience and Dream It Do It – requiring emergency re-supplies.

Those re-supplies have now taken place and Aurora is making best speed directly to Row2Recovery, hoping to reach the team by Friday.

They have enough water to last until Saturday.

Lieutenant Dixon, a former Cheltenham College pupil, said: "The desalinator packing up was one of the worst-case scenarios for us.

"It's definitely not been ideal but we've drawn on our military experience to strictly ration our water intake to enable the re-supply to happen.

"It's been a tough race and a lot of boats have encountered difficulties so Aurora has had her work cut out.

"But we're confident she'll get to us before we run out of water. If she can't, we have contingencies in place.

"We remain utterly determined to complete our mission of rowing across the Atlantic and in doing so help inspire our fellow wounded and their families and raise £1 million for service charities."