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Personal Everest is the brainchild of disabled yachtsman, Geoff Holt. Paralysed from the chest down and confined to a wheelchair, Personal Everest will see Geoff sail single-handed, the 1,600 miles around the coast of the UK in the summer of 2007.
Sailing under the burgee of the Royal Southern Yacht Club, the trip will be made in daily trips, each of about 8 hours and will take about 100 days to complete. Already the first disabled sailor ever to sail solo the 70 miles around the Isle of Wight, the only disabled sailor to sail around the Isle of Wight twice (once in 1992 and again in 1997) and the fastest disabled sailor to sail solo around the Isle of Wight (7 hours 55 minutes), Geoff will once again sail his Challenger trimaran dinghy into the record books for this epic journey. Accompanied by a fully crewed 22ft support RIB, 3 support vehicles and a total support crew of 8, the attempt will begin off the Royal Yacht Squadron in May 2007 heading in a westerly direction. Not only a feat of human endeavor, the journey will be a complicated logistical effort as the schedule will be completely dependent on tides and weather. In addition, the practicalities of launching and recovering the dinghy on a daily basis, plus the added difficulty of wheelchair accessible accommodation in remote areas will test the team to the limit. “It’s something I’ve had in mind for several years” admits Geoff. “Ever since I completed the round the island attempt in 1997, I knew that something like this was possible. The trouble is that after the Isle of Wight, the next biggest challenge was always going to be the UK but it’s a big jump from 70 miles to 1,600! Yes, the sailing will be physically challenging, but the real obstacles to the success of the challenge are the logistics surrounding my care. In other words, how I actually arrive at the boat each day dressed and rested, how I find accessible accommodation, how I manage to eat and drink in the boat, how I prevent pressure sores from such long exposure to unconventional seating posture etc,. Compared to these problems, the sailing is the going to be the easy part. Safety will be paramount but much was learned from previous challengers to ensure that the right life jacket was found and methods of recovery were learned by the RIB crew in the event of a problem at sea. “It’s all about careful planning” says Geoff. “The boat itself is tried and tested in the open sea. It’s the only boat I have found that I can sail at speed yet feel completely secure. It’s an incredibly exhilarating experience and makes you completely forget about your disability”. “The schedule will have to remain fluid” says Holt. “With favorable tides and winds we will endeavor to put in some high-mile days but we factored in several lay-days in the event of poor weather, we are not going to endanger ourselves just to meet a schedule, we’ll evaluate the conditions on a daily basis and this could include changing choice of stop-over’s where necessary – safety will always come first”. |
