Dakar, Senegal ? A New Yorker set off from West Africa on Sunday to become the first black American to row solo across the Atlantic.

Victor Mooney, 41, said the voyage in his homemade, 24-foot boat is to raise awareness of AIDS in Africa and memorialize the route that took African slaves to the Americas.

Africans “went through slavery and now they’re going through AIDS and being devastated again,” said Mooney, who lost a brother to the disease.

Mooney’s craft has no backup sail or motor, and he is rowing with no accompanying boat. He said the French military has promised to send planes over his route occasionally to check on him.

Fewer than 50 people have completed solo rows across the Atlantic, according to the England-based Ocean Rowing Society.

“He’s crazy,” said Gaston Sabaly, who works at a beachside restaurant where Mooney set off. “Everybody wants to go to America but not like that.”