Disabled sailor starts solo trip

Hilary Lister was finally towed out of Dover harbour a week late

A record-breaking quadriplegic sailor has set off from Dover on a solo round-Britain trip in sea conditions described as "ideal".

Hilary Lister, from Canterbury, Kent, was cheered on by friends and family as her specially adapted yacht was towed out of harbour into open water.

The 36-year-old is expected to arrive at her first stop, in Eastbourne, East Sussex, at about midnight.

She uses a "sip-and-puff" system of straws to control her boat with breath.

She has no movement below her neck and operates the sails and tiller of Artemis 20 with the system.

She doesn't know how her body will react to long periods of sailing at a time Tony Leppard

She originally planned to embark on the clockwise trip round the British Isles a week ago.

But despite spending six months preparing for the voyage, problems with the boat's electronics delayed her, and there were more complications when the mast broke.

Before setting off, Mrs Lister said she was confident nothing else could go wrong.

"We've broken everything that can be broken, and everything that could have gone wrong has gone wrong, so we've got to be OK now," she said.

"I feel excited, nervous and scared. I'm just desperate to get started now."

Mrs Lister has been paralysed for seven years as a result of a progressive degenerative disease, reflex sympathetic dystrophy.

Mrs Lister's Artemis 20 sailing boat leaves Dover harbour

She became the first quadriplegic sailor to cross the English Channel in 2005 and circumnavigated the Isle of Wight in July last year.

The latest journey is expected to take three to four months in a series of day sails on the Irish Sea, the North Sea and the English Channel.

She will spend up to 18 hours on the water, sailing on average four out of every seven days.

Project director Tony Leppard said the stretch along the north Cornish coastline was likely to be the most challenging.

"The coast there, if not exactly treacherous, will definitely be the most difficult," he said.

"I suppose the biggest challenge for Hilary will be the physical one.

"She doesn't know how her body will react to long periods of sailing at a time.

"She'll come into shore every night unless the weather turns for the worst."

Mrs Lister is accompanied on the water and on land by support teams.