Sailor in the Spotlight - Hilary Lister

Hilary Lister, the first quadriplegic person ever to sail across the English Channel alone, is about to set a new world sailing record. She will set off in just a few weeks on her solo sail around the British Isles, a feat for any sailor, but especially impressive as Hilary can only move her head, eyes and mouth.

Who among us doesn't feel a special sense of freedom when we sail? The moment the rig catches the wind and starts to pull, knowing we could ride that power most anywhere the seas reach - it sets us free from our mundane terrestrial bonds when we're aboard, and feeds our dreams when we aren't. It gives us wings to fly.

Hilary Lister is a funny, vivacious, quadriplegic, charming, lovely young bio-chemist from Kent. She is also, as her husband Clifford put it: “not a lady you say no to,” which may be why she is sailing around Great Britain. Because, having lost the use of her arms and legs, she was one day strapped into a lawn chair on an open-transom sailboat, and found her wings. Since then, “no” isn't a word taken seriously.

Rounding the Isles is tricky for any mariner, and Hilary will be doing it with only the ability to sip, puff, and bite special mouth-controls. Said Dame Ellen MacArthur: “the challenges of this journey should not be underestimated! [...] Hilary will have to deal with strong tidal gates, shallow waters, busy shipping lanes, and every stage of the journey needs to be planned, both to make the most of the good weather, and to avoid the worst! Hilary is someone who is driven by challenges, and has not let her situation in life take away her drive nor her dreams. [...] She really pushes the boundaries to prove what is achievable, in a truly inspirational way. ”

Is there any wonder why Hilary Lister is our latest Sailor in the Spotlight? We reached Hilary by phone on the Isle of Wight, where she is currently training.

 

YP: So Hilary, why do you like sailing?

HL: We all sail for the same reason don't we? It's that feeling of freedom, when you let go all the lines, and you're out there on the water - it's just you, and the wind, and the sea, and that's it.

If I want to move from one chair to another chair at home, or from one place in the room to another place, I have to get someone to move me. I can't decide to change the television channel over, you know, if I don't like what I'm watching. But when I'm in a boat, I'm me again. I can go where I want, I can do what I want, I can sail as fast as I like - as fast as a lot of blokes, and faster than some. I'm kind of a competitive girl, always have been, so it's just... yeah it's just - pure joy!

 

YP: You sound like a very driven woman. I understand you're also a biochemist?

HL: Yeah, I wanted to be a biochemist when I was three, and I never really faltered from that. I had kinda standby plans that I would teach clarinet, or I would do other things, if I couldn't work for any reason. But I never really planned for a future where I couldn't use my hands. So yeah, I'm very driven.

 

 

YP: What convinced you to first go out on the water?

HL: A friend came into the house [in 2003], and said 'do you want to go sailing?' I said yes immediately, basically because I hadn't been out of the house in three months, and I thought: 'oh I'll chip out,' you know? Quite nice.

So the following week, there I was at this very beautiful - very shallow - but very beautiful lake just outside Canterbury. There was a Wayfarer on the pontoon, and they had lashed a garden chair down across the transom. Between us we kinda figured out a system - a board under my legs, and another board 'round my back, and lots of duct tape and string.

So I got in the boat, and for the first time in a LONG time, the sensation of movement was not painful. Within 30 seconds I'd fallen in love. That was it for me, I knew that I had to make sailing part of the rest of my life.

 

YP: We hear you have big plans to break a sailing record this summer?

HL: Yeah, really big plans. Planning on sailing 'round Britain, which is about between 1500 and 1700 miles. I haven't actually added it up, because it's slightly scary [laughing]. I'll just take it in legs you know, a day at a time.

 

YP: So you'll be stopping every night?

HL: Yes, we have to stop every night. The boat is an America's Cup design boat, so there is nowhere to sleep, eat, make a hot drink, or do anything at all, except sail. It's a hard core sailing project.

 

YP: Why sail around the British Isles?

HL: Because after I had sailed the Channel, I hadn't had any time to think, I'd only had four and a half hours to sail before I sailed the [English] Channel. I met a journalist, who stuck a microphone in my face, and said 'what are you going to do next?' Before I knew what I had said, I'd said 'I want to sail around Britain!' And the more I thought about it, the more it ATE away at me, and the more it ate away at me, the more I began to think 'actually, this is entirely possible!'

 

YP: Will you have a support boat nearby?

HL: Absolutely, I have to have a support boat all the time, because without them if I need to reef, or if something goes wrong with the electronics, I'm completely stuck. I can't even use a VHF, so I can keep a listening watch, but that's it.

 

YP: Can you tell us about your support team for this project, who will be on the chase boat?

HL: I have a fantastic team of four people. One of them is my project manager Toby May, and if I'm on the water, he'll be on the water. The other three will take it in turns. [...] If I go in the water, I know my support team will fish me out.

This campaign is a big team effort, and without the team there would be no solo sailing for me.

 

 

YP: Can you tell us about the sailboat you will take for this trip?

HL: It's called an Artemis 20, so she's 20 feet - 6 meters - long. She draws 1.6 [meters] and it's got a lifting keel - it's a bulb keel rather than a fin keel. If you picture a mini America's Cup boat - that's what you've got.

The boat sails like a dream. She's so smooth - just beautiful to sail. You would never want a tiller rigged again in your life, once you've sailed a sip puff [laughing].

 

YP: How is the boat specially equipped for your needs?

HL: She has been engineered by a guy called Steve Alvey, who is the Canadian guy who did the Marten 16's - which is the first kind of time I became aware of boats that quadriplegics could sail. So, I have three straws, which are hooked up by pressure sensors, very simply, to motors basically. One of them works the tiller, so you puff to go to port, and sip to go to starboard. One of them works both sheets together, so you puff to sheet out, sip to sheet in. And then the third, it's called the bite switch, and that let's me cycle between about five different functions. I can adjust the jib, I can adjust the nav, I can go into auto-pilot so I can set it to steer to a course, I can go into auto-helm and have 20 minutes peace and quiet. I have a whole series of things I can do with that extra straw. It really gives me as much control over my boat as an able bodied sailor would have - given that I can't reef.

 

 

 

YP: So the only thing you would need help for is reefing?

HL: Yes, somebody just jumps on the boat. Basically if someone gets on the boat, we mark the waypoint where they got on, and if we sail more than a quarter of a mile, we sail 'round in a circle and sail back to that waypoint.

I want this to be a SOLO sail. And I want this to be a SAIL around Britain, not a motor [Hilary has no motor on her boat]. A lot of people have said to me 'that's impossible, that's impossible', but I don't believe in things being impossible.

 

 

 

YP: What happens if you run into trouble or capsize the boat?

HL: Well if there's a knockdown then... The chair in my boat is gimbaled, so it is designed to stay as upright as possible, which will mean I'll go to about 40, 45 degrees I guess - tops. Hopefully I'll stay in the chair, in the boat, and just pop back up again. That's what it is designed to do.

 

 

YP: When and where are you going to start this trip around Britain, and what are your route plans?

HL: We're due to leave June 9th from Dover, it's the nearest thing I have to my home port. We'll be going clockwise around. We're up against wind and tides, for the whole of the south coast, but at least when we get to the North Sea we should get swept back home - which is a good thing.

 

YP: Where has been your favorite place to sail so far?

HL: So far, it's got to be 'round the south coast of the Isle of Wight, which is kinda in the Channel really. You get some nice big rollers coming in there.

 

 

YP: You like the big rollers?

HL: Yeah, I love them. I love surfing! I love it when you get the boat just right, and the whole thing vibrates and hums. It's just such a buzz!

 

YP: What motivates you to keep sailing, despite your hardships?

HL: People joke that when I'm on the water, I'm part cyborg, because I kind of become part of my boat, and my boat becomes part of me. It's just that incredible freedom that I lost completely... gosh, now we're talking nine or ten years ago, and I never thought I would find again. So to have that back - to have that control over my life back - is such an incredible buzz, that every time I come off the water, whether I'm cold and wet, or it's a warm sunny day and I've just been having a great time, I'm high as a kite!

 

 

YP: Once you achieve this goal of sailing around the British Isles, do you have another in mind?

HL: The Transat [trans-Atlantic] is the next thing that's really calling.

 

 

YP: Really?

HL: Absolutely! It's an awful lot easier actually than going around Britain.

 

 

YP: Do you think they could set up an Open 60 with a sip and puff system?

HL: Ah, I'd love an Open 60. That would be a dream, just incredible! I saw the video of Dee rolling hers on the YachtPals site, it was just incredible. I'd be happy with an Open 40 though [laughing], it would do the job.

 

 

YP: We wish you the very best on this trip, you are truly an inspiration to us all. Thank you for reminding us what the pure joy of sailing is all about. Is there any advice you would like to share with other sailors out there?

HL: Just go for it - live your dreams! We all have that same choice don't we? You can live your dreams, or you can put up with the cards you've been dealt - I know which I choose every time.

 

 

You can find out more about Hilary Lister, and Hilary's Dream Trust, at her website.

We promise to keep you up-to-date about Hilary Lister's trip around the British Isles here at YachtPals.com, so stay tuned.

• Visit Hilary Lister's Boat Home Page and Tracking Map: Me Too - Hilary Lister
• Click here to watch a video about Hilary Lister.

- Kim Hampton for YachtPals.com

Submitted By YachtPals on 19 May

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