Last summer, Hilary Lister was the first quadraplegic to sail solo across the Channel. Now, the disabled sailor is planning a new adventure; to sail solo around the country next summer.

Lister hopes to do ‘an Ellen-style hop around the entire country,’, hopping ‘from port to port, in a small boat similar to Malin, 20 ft to 30 ft with some weather protection.’

Her dream is to build a ‘a go anywhere do anything boat’ to provide a training and sailing craft to inspire disabled people to attempt sailing.

‘Building the catamaran is still a long-term goal, but I really need to learn to walk before I can run. I’m looking at doing the UK trip next summer. It really will be a marathon as I reckon we will only do about 50 miles a day and it will take up to four months.’

Hilary sailed for the first time in 2003. She crossed the Channel in her small boat Malin on Aug 23 last year in a time of six hours 13 minutes using specially adapted ‘sip and puff’ equipment attached to her mouth.