pushingthelimits.com

In keeping with the fine British tradition of taking to the sea’s, quadriplegic sailor Hilary Lister will be embarking on a solo circumnavigation of the UK in her specially outfitted yacht controlled entirely by her breath using sip and puff technology (and a fair bit of that famous upper lip). Proving not only that sailing is a fully accessible sport for wheelchair users of all abilities, but also that if sip and puff technology were ever to fall into the hands of some evil genius we’d all be doomed.

Hilary has been a quadriplegic for the last 7 years thanks to a progressive degenerative disease called reflex sympathetic dystrophy and has no movement below her neck, but she’s already set sailing records. She became the first quadriplegic sailor to cross the English Channel to France in 2005, and then last year she completed a solo circumnavigation of the Isle of Wight.

Her latest adventure will see her set sail from Dover on the 9th of June, sailing in a clockwise direction around Britain in a series of day sails. A support crew will be following her in a rigid inflatable while a ground crew with two motor-homes will be waiting at port each day. 

Each day the team will record her finishing latitude and longitude from her onboard GPS, before heading to land for a good nights sleep. The next day they will tow Hilary back to the exact same point from where she’ll continue her solo effort. The estimated timeframe for completing the complete trip is 3 to 4 months.

She wont be making a complete circumnavigation of the entire UK mainland, but instead missing off the treacherous northern coast by using the Caledonian Canal system from the west to east coast of scotland.

All this from someone who hadn’t even sailed before 2003, and only took up the sport after becoming severely paralysed as a way to feel freedom again, 10,000 pushingthelimits points to you Hilary. Good show.

UPDATE - Quadriplegic sailor forced to cancel solo record attempt

Hilary Lister Website