Quadriplegic sailor Geoff Holt, undeterred by the potentially life-threatening incident that nearly stopped his Personal Everest challenge as soon as it started, is to resume his attempt to be the first disabled person to sail around Great Britain.
“We are fast realising that the events on Monday, albeit desperately disappointing for our team, were in fact a blessing in disguise,” said Geoff, aged 41 from Hampshire.
After a farewell reception at the Royal Southern Yacht Club attended by hundreds of well-wishers, a flotilla of boats followed Geoff in his 15 foot trimaran, Freethinker, down the Hamble River and out in to the Solent. But his passage was cut short after just a few minutes, when the wash from spectator boats caused Geoff's boat to broach and he was thrown into the water and left floating face-down.
Geoff was quickly rescued by his highly-trained support team, but there was concern that his lifejacket apparently failed to inflate.
“Although we have an absolute thorough set of risk assessments, even though we have trained and rehearsed various emergency scenarios, even though I have put together a fully trained and fully qualified support team around me, accidents can still happen,” Geoff wrote in his daily blog. “To be truly wise, you must learn lessons from them and as a team we have learned several.
“To set the lifejacket issue straight, as it looked identical, I thought that my new lifejacket that I obtained last week was an auto-inflater like my previous one. It was not. My fault, I should have checked, but it turns out my previous lifejacket had an auto-inflation adaption made many years ago and I didn't think to mention this when supplied with the new jacket.
“I wrongly assumed it was the same and had no reason to think otherwise. However, with its inherent buoyancy, the new lifejacket still could have turned me over but due to time pressure on the day, without thinking through the consequences I wore a pair of quilted trousers that I had made a year ago by a friend especially suited for being sat down all day.
“These trousers made my legs so buoyant they floated on the surface and didn't give the lifejacket a chance to do its job. In hindsight I should have been wearing my normal and less buoyant clothing, but I've learned a valuable lesson,” he added.
“My sincere thanks to Crewsaver. Following Monday's incident and without hesitation they set up a meeting and the photo above shows me in the water with my crew member Andy 'Fruity' Cockayne (with sunglasses) and Guy Page from Crewsaver on the right.
“We spent two hours trying out a variety of lifejackets from their range and a variety of clothing combinations. We have now found the perfect jacket, a 275 Newton auto-inflater which, when worn with my Henri Lloyd salopettes and semi-dry top had me rolled over and face up within five seconds. A big thanks too to Andy Goddard and Andark Diving for the use of their pool.
“I am lucky that this accident happened now and not later in my passage on one of the more treacherous parts of the coast,” added Geoff. “The good news is that the rescue plan, which my team have practised rigorously, worked perfectly and I was rescued instantly.”
Ian Clover, Geoff's project manager agreed: “It boosted the crew's morale to know that we can rescue Geoff quickly in an emergency and I'm delighted that we've been able to try out a variety of clothing and lifejacket combinations in the pool and am completely satisfied that we have found the best solution for Geoff.
“It gives me and the entire crew confidence. Now our only concern is the weather and with no suitable weather window on the horizon, our restart is unlikely to happen until next week at the earliest.”
Geoff's Personal Everest Project has been made possible by sponsorship from law firm Blake Lapthorn Tarlo Lyons, who are providing the funds to ensure that Geoff has the necessary back-up team and equipment to make his Personal Everest attempt safe and efficient.
For more information visit www.personaleverest.com
