Geoffrey Trevor Marden Holt (born 24 February 1966) is an English

sailor A sailor, seaman, mariner, or seafarer is a person who works aboard a watercraft as part of its crew, and may work in any one of a number of different fields that are related to the operation and maintenance of a ship. While the term ''sailor'' ...

from

Portsmouth Portsmouth ( ) is a port city status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Hampshire, England. Most of Portsmouth is located on Portsea Island, off the south coast of England in the Solent, making Portsmouth the only city in En ...

Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Berkshire to the north, Surrey and West Sussex to the east, the Isle of Wight across the Solent to the south, ...

. Paralysed in an accident at the age of eighteen, in 2007, he became the first

quadriplegic Tetraplegia, also known as quadriplegia, is defined as the dysfunction or loss of Motor control, motor and/or Sense, sensory function in the Cervical vertebrae, cervical area of the spinal cord. A loss of motor function can present as either weak ...

yachtsman to sail solo around

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the north-west coast of continental Europe, consisting of the countries England, Scotland, and Wales. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the List of European ...

. In September 2007, Holt completed his sail around the UK in his trimaran dinghy ''Freethinker'', becoming the first severely disabled person to make the journey. In December 2007, he was named

BBC South BBC South is the BBC English Region serving Hampshire, Isle of Wight, Dorset, West Sussex, Oxfordshire, Berkshire and parts of Gloucestershire, Buckinghamshire, Northamptonshire, Surrey, and Wiltshire, with geographic coverage varying between ...

Sports Personality of the Year. In 2008, Holt wrote his autobiography ''Walking on Water''. In December 2009, he set out to cross the Atlantic Ocean on his yacht the ''Impossible Dream'', aiming to become the first quadriplegic to do so. He succeeded in the crossing, arriving on 7 January 2010. Holt was appointed

Member of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

(MBE) in the 2010 Birthday Honours. Holt also won the title of Yachting Journalist Association (YJA) Pantaenius Yachtsman of the Year for 2010. Of this award, he said: "For me this is the knighthood of sailing". In 2012, Holt was made a Deputy Lieutenant of Hampshire. In 2024, Holt completed a second circumnavigation of the United Kingdom, this time in a powerboat from his Wetwheels charity as part of an ongoing campaign calle
finishing the dream
to raise the funds for four more disabled accessible powerboats to help ensure every disabled person has a barrier-free access to the water as part of th
Wetwheels foundation

References

External links

geoffholt.com
1966 births Living people Deputy lieutenants of Hampshire English non-fiction outdoors writers English male sailors (sport) Maritime writers Members of the Order of the British Empire Sportspeople from Portsmouth Sportspeople with tetraplegia 21st-century English sportsmen English autobiographers 21st-century English male writers English writers with disabilities English disabled sportspeople {{England-yachtracing-bio-stub