Geoff Holt: Walking on Water

Walking on Water by Geoff Holt, Seafarer Books, £9.95

It is the inside story of the voyage - and I had even more respect for his achievement, having read just what was involved in making it possible - and also the story of Geoff's remarkable life.

Growing up in Hamble village, all Geoff wanted to do was sail, and he left school as soon as he could, to pursue his dream. He was working in the Caribbean when, on September 5, 1984, at the age of 18, he dived into a tropical sea, hit his head on the sand, and broke his neck.

The accident left him paralysed from the chest down, barely capable of lifting his arms, and facing the rest of his life in a wheelchair. However, Geoff is not the sort to cave in to adversity - as his determination to complete his Personal Everest, during one of the worst summers on record proved.

He has been, he acknowledges, extremely fortunate in a number of ways. First of all, he fell in love with and married Elaine, one of the nurses who cared for him in the spinal injuries unit at Stoke Mandeville. Geoff attributes all of his achievements to the support he receives from Elaine, and says it is her strength and love that underpins all he does.

The other crucial piece of luck was that Geoff was one of a small group of disabled people selected for training in computer skills, right at the beginning of the IT revolution. As a result, he was able to enjoy a successful career with an international firm of accountants.

Despite being told it was impossible, he relearned to drive, using only his arms and his head. And ultimately, against all the odds, he learned to sail again, in a Challenger trimaran.

As many disabled sailors have testified, being able to sail solo offers them a rare taste of independence: no longer wheelchair bound or reliant on other people, the sailor has the same freedom of the wind and waves as an able bodied yachtsman.

And Geoff was so inspired by the rediscovery of sailing that he became the founder chairman of Sailability, for two decades sitting on just about every national and international committee representing disabled ailing. Geoff also campaigned his own Challenger, twice representing Great Britain in world championships abroad, winning a bronze medal in Australia in 1987.

Geoff was medically retired from work in 1997, but unwilling to sit idle, he embarked on a degree course in Fine Arts Valuation, and having graduated in 2002 is now a qualified valuer and auctioneer. He proved all the medical experts wrong when his son Timothy was born the same year.

Timothy and Elaine accompanied Geoff in their motorhome HQ throughout the Personal Everest adventure, and Timothy is now being taught to sail by his father.

“I had been considering writing a book for some time,” said Geoff, who lives in Shedfield, Hampshire. “But at the age of 42 I thought I was too young to write an autobiography. However, when I finished my sail around the UK last year, I felt such a magnificent sense of achievement that I thought it should be documented - simply because so many people had followed my story.

“But if I was to write a book, then it had to be more than just a diary of my sailing experiences. I took a conscious decision to write about my entire life story, warts and all. It's been a difficult journey, writing the book, but I wanted to try and explain how an accident, one caused simply by diving into the sea, can change the course of your life so dramatically.

“I've deliberately discussed the impact of that accident on me and those close to me, how I rebuilt my life, despite all the barriers I've faced along the way. I'm really proud of the end result. My biggest wish is that it will be read by anyone and everyone, not just those interested in sailing - because I want to show what is possible if you apply yourself to fulfilling your dream.”

It was 23 years to the day after his accident that Geoff completed his Personal Everest, having sailed 1,500 miles single-handed around Great Britain. The book cleverly interleaves episodes of his life story with chapters about the voyage itself.

The Princess Royal - who has worked closely with Geoff in Sailability - has written the foreword to the book. She says Geoff's voyage was “tremendously courageous” - it “not only inspired a new generation of sailors in this country, it has demonstrated to everyone that disability need not be a barrier to achieving your dream.”

Dame Ellen MacArthur, who wrote the afterword, describes the book as “Beautifully written and honest,” and says that she was “truly inspired as I found myself glued to its pages.” I can only endorse those comments!

Walking on Water is subtitled “A voyage around Britain and through life.” The title is inspired. Geoff says in his preface, “I've been on many long journeys in my life, from physical ones like sailing the Atlantic as a teenager to emotional ones like coming to terms with a life-changing disability, but the trick I have discovered is to learn from each and everything I do, and as long as I continue to test myself and embark on new challenges, then I will never stop learning.”

Writing the book was a challenge in itself - “using only my right index finger, I have tapped almost a million keystrokes in writing, then editing, nearly 130,000 words.” He says the experience has been “tough, but cathartic, too, and now I have laid some of those ghosts to rest, it's time to be thinking about the next stage in my fortunate life.”

Read the book and you will understand why Geoff called the boat in which he sailed round Britain Freethinker. Goeff's Personal Everest was a life-changing experience for him, and by writing about it so frankly and fully, he has ensured that it will inspire and influence many more people's lives, too.

Moving, uplifting, occasionally understandably angry, but more often told with humour, the story is, as the publisher says, “a powerful affirmation of the potential of the human spirit.”

For more information visit www.walkingonwater.info and www.personaleverest.com