A Royal Air Force officer from Falmouth is on the trip of a lifetime as he takes part in a leg of a round-the-world yacht expedition.

Flight Lieutenant Alistair Paton, 30, has been picked to take part in the Exercise Transglobe expedition, which gives airmen, soldiers and sailors an opportunity to sail the world on two yachts. The expedition, which is intended to develop leadership, initiative and resilience in military personnel, started from Gosport, Hampshire, in July and will sail 35,000 nautical miles stopping at Cape Town, Montevideo, New York and other destinations.

A total of 392 women and men, from both the reserve and regular services, will take part during the 13 legs of the journey until it concludes back in Gosport in August 2016.

Alistair will be crewing Adventure of Hornet, which is a joint services Challenge 72 yacht, during Exercise Transglobe’s leg nine. This leg starts in Montevideo, Uruguay, and ends in St Lucia, in the Caribbean. The journey will include sailing over the equator where there will be the ceremony of Crossing the Line. The sailors who have never crossed the equator will be introduced to King Neptune and his court who will induct them into "the mysteries of the Deep" and present them with certificates.

Alistair joined the RAF Regiment in 2012 and is now based at RAF Marham in Norfolk, where he works as an operations officer. “I wanted to experience sailing in different conditions beyond the Solent," he said. "It’ll be a challenge sailing beyond seven days."

Nick Trundle, who is in charge of the venture, said: “Exercise Transglobe will, in the true spirit of service adventure training, seriously challenge all who take part. It has been two years in the planning and we are all delighted that it is going well.

“The two yachts are in excellent shape and I believe all those who take part will have experiences and challenges that develop their ability to do their military jobs.”