Being left paralysed from the chest down and with no feeling in his fingers after a moment of teenage exuberance went horribly wrong has not stopped Geoff Holt from fulfilling an unquenchable passion for sailing.

Inspired by esteemed high-seas adventurers such as Robin Knox Johnston and Clare Francis, the quadriplegic yachtsman has proved that where there is a will, there is a way.

A memorable 12 months, when he became the first disabled person to sail unassisted across the Atlantic Ocean and was made an MBE (Member of the Order of the British Empire) for services to disabled sailing, was capped last week when the Briton received the prestigious Pantaenius YJA Yachtsman of the Year trophy.

"I was not expecting to top last year. What pleased me most is that it's not a disability award, or an award because I'm disabled; it's an award given by the yachting community to their peers," Holt, 44, said.

"The list on the trophy includes all the greats - Sir Robin (Knox Johnston - the first person to sail single-handed and non-stop around the world), Dame Ellen (Macarthur), Ben Ainslie, Francis Chichester...the list goes on. It's amazing to think that my name is now on it."

Life for Holt changed as a headstrong and talented 18-year-old with a lucrative career as a professional sailor ahead of him when he charged into the inviting sea off Tortola in the British Virgin Islands. Moments later he was hauled out, his neck broken.

"Just ran down the beach until the water got to my knees, dived forward and hit my head on the sand. I dived too steeply

and bang, from that moment I could never walk again," he recalled.

Never mind coming to terms with his long recuperation, helped by his nurse Elaine - later to become his wife - and diminished physical capabilities, it took seven years for Holt to get back into a boat. Such was the emotional damage of accepting he could no longer sail able-bodied.

"I refused to look at one, it was like a bereavement. It was like my life had been taken away from me. (Sailing) was my life. Seven years later someone persuaded me to get back in a boat and I realised that I should have been doing it all the time."

He sailed around the Isle of Wight in 1993 and four years later won a bronze medal for Britain in the world disabled multihull championships.

A decade later he embarked on a 109-day voyage around Britain, becoming the first quadriplegic to do so single-handed.

The perils and difficulties of such a venture for someone with restricted movement are obvious.

"Pulling the ropes in with my teeth...the cold, the wet, the fatigue," he reeled off.

His voyage spawned an autobiography 'Walking on Water' and before long Holt craved a longer and harder challenge.

So came the single-handed Atlantic crossing on a 60-foot (18-metre) catamaran called Impossible Dream when he was joined on board by a cameraman and a carer, neither of whom assisted with the sailing.

"I cannot move my fingers, I can barely move my arms...I have about 30 percent movement in my arms...so the practical difficulty I had was clearly finding a boat where I could go with my wheelchair," he said.

"I can push my thumb so I can push the controls to get the sails out and sails in, I can also just about steer with the back of my hand...also you have the problem of sitting in a wheelchair on a boat that is moving quite violently. I was thrown about an awful lot."

The 4,800-km crossing ended at Cane Garden Bay - the sweeping stretch of golden sand, fringed by a turquoise sea and backed by steep, tree-lined hills, where Holt had suffered his life-changing accident 25 years earlier.

"That had to be the destination. That was the last place I had walked. So 25 years later I thought it was only right to turn up again at that beach.

"I had all these emotions running around my head. I get there and there were 1,000 people, flags, foghorns...I was overwhelmed by it. I was laughing but I could feel the tears running down my cheeks. It was just perfect.

"I don't lament the last 25 years, I celebrate it. Had I not had that accident I wouldn't have met my wife...we wouldn't have had our son and be doing all these wonderful things...helping to inspire other people."

Holt, a public speaker and disability sports ambassador, is now itching to get back to sea - this time planning a round-the-world voyage.

Finding a "solution to the wheelchair" is high priority and help is at hand with leading multihull designer Nigel Irens - "perhaps the greatest in the world" according to Holt - designing an 80-foot (24-metre) catamaran adapted to his needs.

"I don't actually need to be in the wheelchair - I could perhaps use a cradle of some sort that is on a track. The wheelchair, if anything, is the weak link between me interfacing with the yacht and sailing the boat safely."

His exploits at sea, though, have come at huge personal financial cost. No sponsorship was forthcoming for his Atlantic crossing and it cost him his house.

"I could not get one single sponsor," he lamented. "I was convinced I would get a sponsor so I underwrote the costs...now I'm living in a rented house."

He has learned a hard and costly lesson. "The round-the-world simply will not happen without a sponsor," he said.

Reuters