Puff and sip sailing

Hilary's round Britain dream is complete

On August 31 2009 the 20-footer  ‘Me Too’ blew into port in Dover. At her helm was Hilary Lister, who had just become the first quadriplegic woman to successfully sail solo around Britain. Her journey began in Plymouth on May 21st.

Lister has been wheelchair bound since the age of 15 due to a progressive neurological disorder. She uses a ‘sip and puff’ system of three straws to control her boat; this technology allows her to sail totally alone. Lister has a support team of six staff, she is closely shadowed by a rib at all times but when afloat, it is only when she needs food or medicine that she calls on their assistance. This freedom is what immediately hooked Lister to sailing when in late September 2003 she had her first foray into the sport. She says of that moment: ‘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’.

The 2009 success was Lister’s second attempt at the record. In 2008, she was forced to abandon her voyage due to bad weather, technical trouble and injuries to her support staff. Weeks before departure in 2009, it looked like this year’s sail might be similarly fated; in May she was admitted to hospital with breathing difficulties. This proved to be only a temporary setback and the Oxford Biochemistry graduate can now celebrate not only circumnavigating Britain but also raising £30,000 for her charity ‘Hilary’s Dream Trust’.