Disabled sailor plans a voyage around Britain

A record-breaking quadriplegic sailor is preparing to sail solo around Britain in a 20ft boat controlled by her breath.

Hilary Lister, 36, from Dunkirk, Kent, became the first quadriplegic sailor to cross the English Channel, in 2005.

She solo circumnavigated the Isle of Wight in July last year, becoming the first female quadriplegic to do so.



Mrs Lister, who has no movement below her neck, controls the boat using straws to adjust the sails and tiller.

She is planning to start her trip in Dover, in her boat, the Artemis 20, on 9 June. It is anticipated the clockwise journey, which will be taken in a series of day sails, will take three to four months.

Mrs Lister has been paralysed for seven years as a result of a progressive degenerative disease, reflex sympathetic dystrophy.

Hilary's website.