Personal Everest

After a cracking 5 hour sail on Tuesday 12 July from Morfa Nefyn, Geoff Holt arrived at Holyhead at about 19:30 hours. He had a steady 15 knots of breeze from the SW which gave great sailing conditions. However, when he reached Holy Island lighthouse, the skies darkened, the cloud level lowered, the wind disappeared and he rounded the point with minimal visibility, the only hint of the headland being a ghostly grey silhouette through the cloud and the deep boom of the fog horn, even the light from the lighthouse was obscured.

Geoff Holt’s entry was delayed slightly by the arrival of a huge ferry, one of many that use the port, then he made his way around the breakwater, apparently the longest in Europe. Late Saturday evening in Holyhead and much to the teams surprise, a potential window was opening up for early Sunday. Weather proved even better than they could have hoped and so Geoff Holt arrived at the Isle of Man quicker than expected. The original plan was to sail to Port St. Mary on day 1, Peel on day 2 then up to Scotland, Port Logan on day 3. Sail was another long one taking almost 7 hours but Geoff Holt covered another 40 miles arriving Campbeltown about 19:30.

Personal Everest

Geoff Holt left Plymouth Sunday morning at 1000 hours headed Falmouth. It was a pretty uneventful run although it was 1900 hours by the time he hauled out at Mylor Yacht Haven. Almost all nine hours he sailed under grey skys with drizzle, with only the GPS confirming the route was towards Falmouth. Paralysed from the chest down and confined to a wheelchair, ex-professional yachtsman Geoff will sail over 1,600 miles around Great Britain in an inspirational Challenge that will take in excess of 50 days to complete. Already the holder of many disabled sailing endurance records, the Personal Everest Challenge will be exactly that, Geoff’s own Personal Everest.

Personal Everest

Geoff Holt, the quadriplegic sailor who is attempting to sail around Great Britain, has been weather bound in Brixham, Devon since last Thursday. Geoff left Southampton on Sunday 21st May and sailed to Lymington, Portland and Bridport before arriving in Brixham. He had hoped to get further around the coast by now, but has been waiting for a weather window. Geoff will not set sail for Plymouth before Wednesday 30th May and even then only if the weather is a lot calmer.