A plan to sail around Great Britain in 50 days – which was two years in the making – ran into trouble after a freak accident on the second day.
Blesma Members Talan Skeels-Piggins and Neil Baxter, both experienced sailors, had to abandon their detailed itinerary when their 34-foot boat was hit by a wave that sent Neil crashing across the cabin, breaking his hip. A coastguard helicopter was scrambled but, with conditions deteriorating, it had to abort its mission to winch Neil, a below-knee amputee, clear so he could get treatment.
“We had to divert to Torquay with Neil lying in the cabin being bounced about in pain for six hours!” said Talan, a former Royal Navy fighter controller who was paralysed in 2003. “In Torquay, it took the coastguard team and ambulance crew 90 minutes to get him out of the cabin using a special cliff rescue stretcher.”
Neil was later transferred to hospital in Portsmouth while Talan sailed to Falmouth the next day with remaining crewman Mark Layzell to finish the first leg of the planned trip but decided it would not be possible to complete the challenge.
“It was a tough route around the outside of Ireland and the top of Scotland, so we decided it just wouldn’t be possible,” Talan added. “I’d put a lot of planning into it so it was disappointing, but I’m not deterred and the aim is to try again next year.”
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