Quadriplegic Woman to Sail Round Britain

Yachtswoman announces second attempt at becoming first female wheelchair-user to sail solo around Britain

A yachtswoman has announced that she is to make her second attempt at becoming the first female quadriplegic to sail solo around Britain.

Hilary Lister, 36, from Faversham, Kent, plans to embark on the journey next May, using 'sip-and-puff' technology to control the sails and tiller of her yacht, Me Too. The boat can be steered by sipping or puffing in a straw-like tube - the change in the air pressure in the tube is then interpreted as a command by her computer. Lister became wheelchair bound at the age of 15 and did not discover sailing until 2003, by which time she had lost of the use of her body from the neck down.

'Sailing came along when life didn't seem worth living any more,' she said. 'Within seconds of being on the water, a light switched back on inside me. I knew that I had found what I was going to do with the rest of my life.'

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