Sponsored by
Geoff Holt, the Great Britonon the crest of the waves
Record-breaking disabled sailor Geoff Holt is flying high after winning a competition to be voted a Great Briton.
Geoff, a quadriplegic, won the BA Great Britons competition – and will use his prize of free flights to enable wife Elaine and son Tim to meet him at the end of his latest challenge/.
The 43-year-old is planning to become the first disabled person to sail across the Atlantic, using a specially modified 60ft catamaran, this December.
British Airways will now fly his wife and seven-year-old son out to Tortola in the British Virgin Islands to greet him at the end of the gruelling 3,000 mile trip.
Voting closed at noon yesterday, and Geoff, of St Anne's Lane, Shedfield, near Fareham, was notified soon afterwards.
He said: 'I'm absolutely delighted – I'm over the moon. BA will be paying for both of them, which is excellent – it's another thing I can tick off my list.
'It was quite a tough competition – some of the other people I was running against are quite amazing.'
Geoff, a News We Can Do It Award winner after he became the first disabled person to sail single-handed around Britain in 2007, has had trouble raising sponsorship for his latest voyage, so the prize has provided a great boost.
'Tim was really worried that he couldn't come out to see me at the finish,' he added. 'I'm sure we would have found the money somehow, but it's one less thing to worry about.
'It was Tortola where I had the accident 25 years ago, so it will be quite strange to take Tim there.'
If all goes to plan, Geoff will arrive in Tortola on December 27 when he plans to celebrate a late Christmas with his family.
The catamaran, Impossible Dream is owned by the charity Sporting Activities for the Disabled and is currently moored up in Plymouth.
It will be taken to Southampton in about a fortnight to allow Geoff to practice.
Geoff, who broke his neck when he dived into shallow water aged 18, will be joined on the trip by a personal assistant to help him with day-to-day tasks like getting out of his wheelchair and having a shower, but she will not take part in any sailing.
British Airways has been inviting people to submit their profiles to greatbritons.ba.com and let people know why they should win the flights.
The most inspirational are then shortlisted for a head-to-head online vote. A new round starts every two months, and new profiles are now being accepted.
Email to a friend
Print this page
Looking for...
Featured advertisers
Jobs
Search for a job
Motors
Search for a car
Property
Search for a house
Weather for Portsmouth
Saturday 11 February 2012
Today
Sunny
Temperature: -5 C to 3 C
Wind Speed: 8 mph
Wind direction: East
Tomorrow
Cloudy
Temperature: 2 C to 4 C
Wind Speed: 12 mph
Wind direction: North
