Quadriplegic sailor, Geoff Holt is about to set the record as the first disabled person to successfully sail around Great Britain, a 1,400-mile voyage he describes as his ‘Personal Everest’.

Holt left Southampton on 20 May this year, sailing every day that weather has allowed. He had hoped to complete the voyage in around 60 days, but this summer’s inclement weather has hampered his progress and he has been weatherbound in several ports, causing his passage to take longer than anticipated.

Holt is now working his way along the South Coast and will be sailing in to the Solent on Wednesday morning, 5 September, where he will be greeted by a flotilla of support boats which will follow him to Hamble and a welcome from family and friends.

Hampshire based Holt, aged 41, was one of the youngest charter shippers working in the Caribbean when he was paralysed as the result of a swimming accident at only 18 years of age. Since his accident, despite being paralysed from the breast line down and wheelchair bound, he has taken every opportunity to go to sea in his Challenger trimaran dinghy.

In 1992 Geoff was the first disabled person to sail solo around the Isle of Wight and he bettered his own record in 1997. Ten years later, the record he set, 7 hours 55 minutes, still stands.