Just a quick Blog to say that I heard from British Airways yesterday that I was a winner in their Great Britons Award. Heartfelt thanks to everyone who voted for me, I can not begin to tell you how touched I am. Thanks too for all of your emails and messages of support - at one point, my PC crashed under the volume of emails.  Because the original email snowballed (I guess you call it viral marketing), I had people voting in America, New Zealand, Japan and even Ecuador.

Obviously Tim & Elaine are delighted that they will be able to fly out to meet me when we arrive in the Caribbean.  It's certainly helped the financial burden.  Thanks to BA as well for running the competition and shortlisting me.

Sorry I have not been able to email each of you individually but there is a free pina colada waiting for you all on the Beach Bar in Tortola - to be collected on 27th December 2009.

Thank you.

Hi. Susana here. Geoff has asked me to update his blog whilst he is out doing "boaty" things.

As of this morning, thanks to all of your votes, he has moved up to 1st place in the British Airways Great Britons awards but, with only 3 hours left, apparently positions are very close. You get 1 vote per email address. If you have not done so already, can you please give a vote for Geoff by CLICKING HERE.  If successful, BA will provide flights for Elaine & Tim to fly out to meet us when we arrive the other side.  Whatever the outcome, Geoff will post results on the website when we get them (hopefully later today or tomorrow).

Geoff has also asked me to post a couple of new video links you might be interested in (all open in YouTube);

• This is a bit of footage of Impossible Dream at Multimarine recently CLICK HERE
• This is a short video interview of Geoff created by Gordon Robbins from the PHAB organisation CLICK HERE
• Geoff, Tim and Max did this short piece to camera for the BA Awards (unscripted but lip synch needs work) CLICK HERE
• Finally, Geoff's friend Nick Lawson in Australia is related to one of the Battle of Britain heroes and he is campaigning for a statue of Sir Keith Park to be erected in Trafalgar Square. In this video he interviews ex-flying ace John Pattison from the Battle of Britain now living in New Zealand and asks him about Geoff - don't you just love his answer? CLICK HERE

Have a good week..!!

It's now just over a week before Impossible Dream starts her journey back from Multimarine and the guys are working flat-out at the yard to get her ready, thanks to everyone at Multimarine and at Waypoint 1 who are, as I write, up to their ears in cabling as they fit all of the Raymarine electronics.  Grapefruit Graphics did their business on Wednesday this week as you will see from the photo.  Still more to be done for sponsors but it was essential we got the www.geoffholt.com logos on the bow before she gets back to the Solent.  Although, looking at the photo, it looks like someone has pulled the plug out, it must be those imposters from across the harbour in Plymouth.

With 3 days to go in the British Airways voting, I find myself now in first place out of the 8 candidates.  I just need to maintain the momentum for another 3 days and we could win those tickets for Elaine & Tim to fly out and meet me at Christmas after my crossing.  If you have not yet voted, please have a go, it's free and only takes a couple of minutes, CLICK HERE for more info. I've been told that voting numbers are in their thousands - can I just say, whatever the outcome, thank you very much indeed, it means a lot to know that so many people have taken the time and trouble to vote for me, it's very humbling.

A couple of quick updates for you. The Help for Heroes speaking event last week (see previous Blog), succeeded in raising a whopping £20,000 which is great news.  Secondly, I'm delighted to say that we now have 250 registered users on this site - thanks to all of you.  I hope you enjoy these blogs and don't forget, because you've registered, feel free to comment on the blogs.

I will give more detailed information nearer the time but those with their diaries handy, might like to know that the boat and I will be exhibiting at the PSP Southampton Boat Show between the 14th and 17th September courtesy of National Boat Shows who have very kindly provided a free berth - it's Feature Berth 525 if you are really that organised.  There's a competition to win a guided tour of ID and win a few freebies on their website so do take a look.  CLICK HERE for details.  Please do come along and say "hello"

Incredibly it seems only yesterday that we watched Scarlet Oyster sail out of Cowes on her voyage around Great Britain to raise money and the profile of the Ellen Macarthur Trust.  Yet, as of today, she is nearing Largs on the west coast of Scotland having alread sailed up the east coast and throught the Caledonian.  It is an incredible voyage for a tremendous cause - do please click on the link above to read about the Around Britain voyage.

One group who have been long-term supporters of me and my project is a group called PHAB. One of their regional officers, Gordon Robbins, made a short video of me at their sports day last year. CLICK HERE to watch the video.

Well, all parents will know it is now the Summer Holidays so I found a few hours spare to take Master T to the Beaulieu Motor Museum yesterday. The highlight was without doubt the Top Gear Exhibition which was full of the usual childish, but highly amusing (and boyish) rubbish. Pic below of Tim with the Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.  Didn't see Lord Montagu - perhaps he was out scouting around his wonderful gardens or something but we took a look around his magnificent palace, very nice it was too.  I would have signed the visitors book but couldn't find it.

Monday 20th July 2009

Firstly, I must apologise to the guys and girls working at Multimarine where Impossible Dream was built and where she is currently having work done to make her ready for the crossing later this year. Apparently they are based at Millbrook which is in Cornwall, not Plymouth which is in Devon (although they are only a mile or so apart across the estuary).  Thanks for the factual correction and I apologise for that error but, for the 99% of people who have never heard of Millbrook, the boat is still in Plymouth.  The electronics arrive this week, courtesy of Raymarine (a full review of all the equipment will follow later - it is an impressive list) and we've been promised the generator will also be renewed and installed this week.  The sails arrived back, freshly cleaned, repaired and strengthened by Hyde Sails and the graphics are being applied by Grapefruit Graphics on Wednesday so we are gearing up for her first public outing at Cowes Week during the first week of August. It's all getting very exciting.

Well, a bit of a quieter week this week with one notable exception.  Last Thursday I had the honour of introducing yachtswoman Dee Caffari at a Speaking up for Heroes charity event at the Royal Institution in London in aid of the Help for Heroes charity. Speakers included John Simpson from the BBC, Monty Halls (you may have seen his series on BBC about living on a beach in Scotland  with his dog Reuben), Dee Caffari, polar explorer Ben Saunders and Andy Macnab, the SAS guy who appeared with no balaclava although it was strictly no-photos.  I could describe him to you, but then he might kill me..!  It was a fab evening, and all credit to my friend Caroline Rose who organised it all.  The only downside was my electric chair running out of power half-way through proceedings and poor Susana had to physically push me and my chair across Waterloo station at 11.00pm at night.

With so many new subscribers to my site in recent weeks, I thought I would once again draw your attention to the amazing Sarah Outen.  Sarah was one of my support crew when I sailed around GB two years ago.  More than 110 days ago, Sarah set off from Freemantle in W Australia to row to Mauritius, on her own, in a 16ft boat.  Incredibly, she is now only a few hundred miles away from achieving her ambition - how amazing is that - please visit her website www.sarahouten.co.uk

L to R: My crew members Andy Cockayne, Sarah Outen, Joel Whalley. Photo taken July 2007 at the summit of Mt Snowdon during our circumnavigation of GB.

Finally, just a quick reminder, there are only 6 days left to vote for me in the British Airways Great Britons Awards.  If you haven't voted already, can you please have a go - it's free...!! Click the BA logo below.

We are thrilled to announce that Geoff has just been shortlisted by British Airways in the Great Britons Awards.  If successful, he will win flights to the Caribbean which will enable close friends and family to fly out to welcome him on his arrival later this year after his Atlantic Crossing.

"I'm quite shocked that I was shortlisted from so many entries but this could be a wonderful thing to win. With no sponsor yet signed, I've already had to cut back on many costs including who I could afford to fly out to meet me when I get to the Caribbean, especially my wife and son. If I am successful, it means they will definitely be able to fly out to see me arrive which will mean so much to me.  Please vote for me".

To vote for Geoff, simply CLICK HERE.  You will be asked to register with your email address and username but it should only take a couple of minutes - please vote.

Thank you!!!

Thursday 9th July 2009

Well, it's been a frustrating time waiting for the boat to be worked on in Plymouth, itching to get on with the sail-training back on the Solent. But they are necessary jobs which hopefully will be concluded in the next couple of weeks at the very latest.

However, I've not been sat twiddling my fingers though. Apart from the endless succession of emails and phone calls coordinating the various elements of the project, I have been kept busy with some of the more "fun" aspects.

On Friday 3rd July, I was guest speaker at the local Durley Primary School on the day of their School Fete which had a Caribbean theme - 110 kids aged been 4 and 8. I've done lots of talks but that was one of the toughest - as Susana said; "they are kids, if you're rubbish, they will boo you".  Disarmed by her comments, I only just managed to pull it off, but only by steering the talk to sharks and pirates, another of Susana's suggestions. Thankfully there were no mishaps though I did learn that several of the 6 year olds had an unatural degree of knowledge about lifejackets and newtons of bouyancy, it was a slightly surreal experience being quizzed by a 6 year old about the manufacture of my lifejacket?? Talk over, I had the honour of declaring the school fete open - who said I don't live a rock n roll lifestyle?

I left the school and drove straight to Hampshire Collegiate School in Romsey where I was their guest speaker at their inaugural Sports Dinner.  A posh black tie dinner, I was conspicuous in my beige trousers and open-neck shirt. But it it was a simple choice. Talk to 110 young kids at Durley School wearing a black DJ or suffer the embarrassment of speaking at a black tie dinner wearing casual clothes.  It was a no-brainer.  Well done to all the HCS students who did so well in the prize-giving, especially Annabel Vose who, at the age of 15, won the national Optimist Sailing championships and will now go to Brazil to represent GB in the Oppie Worlds later this year. Go Annabel...!

Saturday 4th was slightly calmer attending the Rose Road Association Independence Day Summer Fair.  I managed to struggle to find a red, white and blue checked shirt to show some sort of solidarity with our American cousins. As patron of the Rose Road association, it was great to see so many people there supporting such a worthwhile cause and I ate my fair share of doughnuts.

Sunday it was off to Farnborough where I was asked to participate in a panel discussion on sport at the annual Beyond Boundaries exhbition.  What a great show but it was missing only 1 thing - PEOPLE!!!  Maybe it was the Wimbledon final which put people off but what a shame.  If you are disabled or have an interest in disability activities and getting outdoors to do something, there was something for everyone but it's such a shame there were so few people there.  On the way back, we saw the Alton Show was on so we stopped off to give Susana a taste of a traditional English Country Show.  I think she enjoyed it but dragging her through the cake marquee without stopping didn't win me any brownie points.

Wednesday was more akin to Christmas when all of our special Henri Lloyd branded clothing arrived - a gurt big box stuffed full with our jackets, shirts and essential sailing kit. It is fantastically generous of Henri Lloyd and I'm sat here now in my posh new Polo Shirt with geoffholt.com emblazoned across the chest and shoulders. I'm a lucky boy indeed.

Talking of lucky boys, Master T was "upgraded" to a red belt in his Karate class yesterday. Don't panic yet, it is only 1 up from the beginner white belt, but he and fellow 7 year old Katarate buddy Charlie (he of the big boobs club), can unleash some pretty ferocious kickking power. I reckon sending Tim to bed in future years could become increasingly tough as my willpower clashes with his Karate belt status.

Well, Thursday today, just had a great meeting with Raymarine and Mike the owner.  We are all systems blazing to get Impossible Dream back to the Solent in good time for Cowes Week (1st to 8th August).

Just before I go, do please have a read of the latest Sailability Foghorn magazine - there's a nice piece on "you know who". CLICK HERE

I'm delighted to tell you about a wonderful initiative that I'm supporting called Speaking up for Heroes. My friend and supporter, the wonderful, record-breaking yachtswoman Dee Caffari is one of the keynote speakers so it's worth going to hear Dee speak, if nothing else.  It's a great cause and it's going to be a great night. Do please come along if you can.

Speaking Up For Heroes

Dee Caffari will be joining forces with BBC’s John Simpson, TV presenter adventurer and former Royal Marine Monty Halls, bestselling author and ex-SAS soldier Andy McNab and polar explorer Ben Saunders on 16 July when they will be ‘Speaking up for Heroes’ at the Royal Institute, London.

On the evening, these experienced speakers will share stories and draw on personal experience in a series of talks about courage, achievement and overcoming impossible odds to celebrate heroism and raise money for Help for Heroes, the charity formed to help those who have been wounded in Britain’s current conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq.  ‘Speaking Up for Heroes’ promises to be a memorable, entertaining and thought-provoking evening. 

It is sure to be a real night to remember, so for more information about this fantastic event or to buy tickets please click here

Venue:         Faraday Theatre, Royal Institution of Great Britain, 21 Albermarle Street, London, W1S 4BS.

Nearest tube:  Green Park

Date:           Thursday 16 July

Time:           1800 – 2200hrs

Buy tickets:   click here

Thank you for your support

Saturday 27th June 2009

After a long wait, I'm delighted to announce the arrival of Susana, my crew member for the Atlantic crossing.  I have updated The Crew link in the top menu bar with full details.  CLICK HERE.

Susana and I visited Hyde Sails at their sail loft in Curbridge yesterday.  Hyde have kindly cleaned Impossible Dream's 3 sails and are making some repairs and strengthening some areas of the cloth so there is no chance of failure on the voyage.  Our first impression was how enormous they look laid flat on the floor. Thanks very much to Gareth at Hyde.

Fischer Panda, makers of ID's generator visited ID in Plymouth this week to inspect the generator. Having a reliable power source will be incredibly important on the voyage as we need to power the autopilot and the many hydraulic devices on the yacht. Thanks to Fischer Panda for their help and support. The generator is due to undergo a full service and overhaul back in their workshop. One thing is for sure, neither FP or we can afford anything other than 100% reliability. Thanks to Barry and Chris at FP.

I feel a bit tired today as I was on the 10.00pm to midnight shift at the Young Carers Festival at the YMCA in Fairthorne Manor yesterday CLICK HERE.  My Rotary Club, Hamble Valley RC, act as volunteers in the canteen and I went for the late shift, unknowingly the busiest shift of the day.  We made about 200 burgers and hot dogs in 2 hours - I wasn't much help opening the bags of burger baps and hot dog rolls but we had a fun time.  There are in excess of 1500 young kids there, all carers for their parents.  Organised by the Children's Society, it is an annual event to give the youngsters a fun weekend away from caring.  As someone who needs full time care myself, it is moving indeed to see just how many, and how young these kids are. It also raises all sorts of questions about how, in a civilised society, we allow children so young to do a job that could/should be provided by the state. Wish me luck, I am back again tonight for the 8.00pm to 10.00 shift.  What a great event and a privilege to be involved with. Without exception, the kids were so polite and good humoured.

Comment of the week goes to my sons 7 year old friend Charlie.  He came home to tea with Tim on Wednesday. Whilst eating their sausages and mash, Timothy announced they had a supply teacher who "had the most enormous boobies" and revealed that "Charlie couldn't stop looking at them".  To which Charlie added, very matter of factly, "I didn't get any work done all day".  Boys heh?  We never change.

It's 10.30, Saturday morning, the day of the JP Morgan Round the Island Race - the first boats started at 7.30am this morning - a total of 1779 boats competing.  I was on the Island last night as a guest of JPM and there was a great atmosphere.  I got the last ferry back at 00.15 this morning and there were still hundreds of crew members partying hard - I bet there were a few sore heads this morning.  Sadly I couldn't do the race this year but I am going back this evening as I've been asked to give a talk at the prize-giving dinner.

So, what’s new? Well, it’s been a busy week (again).  Last week I was delighted to be asked to give my support to a new Sailability group, but this time, on my home patch..!!  It’s remarkable to think that, despite there being more than 150 Sailability groups around the UK, despite the charity RYA Sailability and the RYA being based near Southampton and, despite the Solent being home to some of the best and most famous sailing waters in the World, it seems crazy that there has never been a Sailability group in Southampton – the nearest has been Langstone (near Portsmouth) in the East and Ringwood (New Forest) in the West.  Well, that has now been remedied with my Rotary Club, HambleValley, presenting two special Access dinghies to the local authority run, Southampton Water Activity Centre on the River Itchen where they have decided to set up and manage their own disabled sailing programme.  It’s pleasing for me on a personal level too – it’s the very first place that I sailed again, some 7 years after my accident.

Talking of my accident, if you have read my book, you’ll remember three characters I shared a hospital ward with 25 years ago, Dave Howard and Tim Clare.  Well, we still keep in touch and see each other, usually at the rugby at Twickenham.  It was Dave’s 50^th on Thursday so he had his party at Ascot which was quite an experience.  It was Ladies Day and the Queen and Princess Royal were there looking very smart – which is more than I can say for some of the other, so-called “ladies”.  Blimey, lots of sights and plenty of sore eyes – the “fashion police” would have made hundreds of arrests.  Elaine had to put my eyeballs back into their sockets and roll my tongue back into my mouth on several occasions – I’ve booked my tickets for next year…!!  I will confess to a flutter but my reckless selection process for placing a bet, mixed with Elaine’s cautious approach, meant we left Ascot £2.50 richer – though Elaine will tell you it would have been £55 richer were it not for my reckless 100-1 punts.

We left Ascot headed straight for London, specifically the magnificent Apothecaries Hall in the City.  I was guest speaker at the annual dinner of the Guild of Fuellers, my friend and ex-Round Table Chairman, Mike Husband, now being the Grand Master of the Fuellers – does that make him the Grand Master Flash??  A great night and a great honour to speak to such an illustrious group in such a prestigious venue.  I was justifiably shattered by the time I parked the car on our drive at 02.00 am.

Well, the sails are now off Impossible Dream and are back in Hampshire with Hyde Sails who are giving them the once-over and we are now only waiting on the electronics to be fitted before ID makes her way back to the Solent.

Right, I need to crack on – I’ve got my speech to write for tonight.

No pictures I'm afraid but I wanted to give a quick update on Impossible Dream. Apologies for the technical stuff, but there will be those who like to know these things.

The owner of ID and myself set off at 0600 last Thursday morning in my van to Plymouth.  By the time we arrived at Mayflower Marina at 0930, some of the guys from Multimarine were already on board getting on with various maintenance jobs. Having only ever seen ID in Malta 6 months ago from a stern-to mooring perspective in the marina, it seemed strange seeing her side-to the pontoon in Plymouth and I was able to rub my hands along her hulls.  First impressions were "enormous".  Her hulls are more than 2 metres high and her 60ft length made her look more like a football pitch than a yacht.  "Awesome" with a capital "O" as my Kiwi crew tells me (apparently it's an "in-joke" in NZ).

Another first for me was going aboard ID in my electric wheelchair. When I flew out to Malta, I had take my lightweight, push along wheelchair which I only ever use when flying.  But as I will be using my heavier, bulker, electric wheelchair for the Atlantic crossing, it was important to see exactly how we would get it aboard.  Luckily, ID was designed with 2 stern hydraulic lifts, one on the port stern quarter, the other on starboard.  Although it was a tight fit, we managed it without any difficulties - phew..!!  Another worry crossed off the list.

I spoke with one of the boat builders on board and discussed the 2 most immediate jobs; converting the saloon table into a bunk so I can sleep in the saloon which is alongside the Nav Station (that way I am on-hand with the controls immediately if there are any difficulties whilst at sea). And secondly we are removing the sliding Captain's seats which slide in an arc on tracks around the Nav station.  Ideal for a paraplegic who can transfer into them, but an obstacle for me in my wheelchair.

One of Hyde Sails' top guys was on the boat by 1100 and we talked through our various options on the 3 sails; the genoa (the big front sail), the staysail (smaller, inner sail) and the big mainsail. All are a few years old and somewhat weathered and suffering from UV damage. It was agreed they will be taken off the boat and they come back to Hyde's sail loft in Southampton this Wednesday for an inspection and some maintenance.  A big thanks to Hyde. Followers of my previous voyage around GB could not fail to miss ther huge "H" on my mainsail.

As Hyde left an hour later, so a senior engineer from Raymarine arrived to assess the electronics.

I regard there being 4 main cornerstones to the success of this project;

1. Having the boat itself which is designed for sailing by a disabled person in a wheelchair
2. My ability to sail the vessel
3. The power management of the boat
4. Having the latest electronic technology to enable me to navigate across the Atlantic

There are obviously other requirements, but these 4 underpin the entire project. So it was with much excitement and gratitude to learn that Raymarine, the world leading marine electronics company, have agreed to completely replace all of the navigational electronics on ID with the most up to date suite of electronics. This comprehensive set will include radar, GPS, auto-pilot, weather instrumentation and remote control systems.

This entire Atlantic project is not only intended to demonstrate through example, the abilities of disabled people and inspire others to take up sailing, but it is also an opportunity to showcase state of the art technology; from the design of the boat itself, to the systems which operate it, and the systems which allow me to sail the boat independently. Having the latest Raymarine kit has well and truly knocked item 4 on the head so their engineer spent a long time talking through the various options available.

Of the 4 main cornerstones, all we need to satisfy ourselves on now is item 3, power management.  It looks as though we may need to replace the existing generator and we are looking at acquiring an additional, completely independent, power source, in case of power failure.

And so, at 1530 hrs, and very tired, having had our meetings, I drove home again, satisfied we had completed a good days work.

A final word to say the With Sails+I gig in London last night was great fun. It was Phil Jupitas' first stand-up gig in 7 years and his imperonation of Eddie Izzard was inspired.