Disabled sailor taken to hospital

Page last updated at 21:54 GMT, Saturday, 6 June 2009 22:54 UK

A quadriplegic yachtswoman was taken to hospital after suffering the effects of cold off the west Wales coast.

Hilary Lister, 37, from Kent, is aiming to become the first disabled woman to sail solo around Britain.

The Fishguard RNLI lifeboat took the sailor off her boat after the weather deteriorated and she had a check-up at in hospital at Haverfordwest.

Her boat was eventually towed to shore by her support boat under the supervision of the lifeboat.

A spokesman for Ms Lister said there had already been a plan with the RNLI to take Ms Lister off her boat when she reached Fishguard but this was brought forward.

There had been no radio contact after the yachtswoman failed to arrive in port at the appointed time.

Peter Kedward from the RNLI at Fishguard explained: "Eventually the coastguard managed to make radio contact and established that she was two miles north of Strumble Head and under tow by her support boat.

"Conditions were becoming very difficult and the tide had turned against her."

The support boat with four on board requested assistance from the Fishguard lifeboat which stood alongside as the tow continued.

Mr Kedward added: "With force five winds and with wind over tide, the sea state became very demanding and the lady requested to be transferred to the all-weather lifeboat as she was becoming hypothermic."

Assistance was requested from a Stena ferry, which was approaching inbound Fishguard from Rosslare.

The RNLI crew made radio contact with the ferry and requested a weather lee so they could transfer Mrs Lister into the lifeboat more comfortably.

But in the end the transfer was not possible because of the conditions and the tow continued into Fishguard harbour where Mrs Lister was transferred to the inshore lifeboat in calmer waters and then taken onto Withybush hospital by ambulance.

Mrs Lister, from Faversham in Kent, is disabled from the neck down.

She is trying to become the first disabled woman to sail solo around Britain, and - in the process - the first disabled sailor - male or female - to conquer the Irish Sea.

On her website today, she said she arrived at Fishguard at 0130 after an "excellent sail followed by a very difficult end," and that they were remaining in port for another week.

The start of the current bid in Plymouth last month was delayed after she developed breathing difficulties.

She had to abandon her first attempt last August because of technical problems and bad weather.

Ms Lister uses a "sip-and-puff" system of straws to control her boat.

Her specially-adapted vessel, an Artemis 20 called Me Too, has been designed to be operated through three "straws".

Ms Lister, a biochemistry Oxford graduate, became the first quadriplegic sailor to sail solo across the English Channel in 2005 and two years later was the first quadriplegic woman to sail around the Isle of Wight.

She was wheelchair-bound at the age of 15 because of a progressive neurological disorder, reflex sympathetic dystrophy.