Sail on the Impossible Dream

As I was driving to work this morning, car radio tuned in on BBC world news, I listened in complete stupor to the incredible story of an extraordinary man – Geoff Holt.

Geoff has set out to sail across the Atlantic Ocean single-handedly in his sailing yacht ‘Impossible dream’ from the Canary Islands to the Caribbean. There is one slight barrier to his amazing journey – a barrier Geoff has amazingly demonstrating can be leaped over – he is wheelchair bound with limited movements in his arms and hands.

He is already the first quadriplegic sailor to sail around Britain a feat he describes as his ‘personal Everest’. His courage, determination and positive outlook on life are not only admirable and inspiring but truly exemplar. You should listen to this man – his humble words convey an immediate shot of motivation and respect to life.

At the end of his 3000 mile journey, which he describes as truly emotional (no doubt of that), he landed on an Island called Tortola on the British Virgin Islands, specifically to a place called Garden Bay where 25 years ago he had suffered neck injuries during shallow sea water diving – an accident that led him to his disability.

Geoff says that he chose the place because he wants to ‘lay some ghosts to rest’. What is amazing though is that he did not say this in a bitter, repressed kind of way. On the contrary he radiantly tells the BBC journalist that his disability was a blessing in disguise that gave him the amazing opportunity to meet his wife (which was and still is his nurse) and to have a wonderful son, his now seven year old Timothy.

Listening to Geoff as he was being interviewed on the radio was truly inspiring. You could hear the shining splendor of a transformed and enlightened soul beaming through his words. “I am a happy man he exclaimed” and the tone of his voice clearly doesn’t betray his positive state of mind.

Geoff is an outstanding example of strength of spirit, resilience and excellence in human character. He is a living interpretation of the saying: “Life is not what happens to you but what you make out of it”.

Not only did he carry on with his life, marry and build a family after being physically challenged but he set out to reach dreams and adventures with a burning heart.

No doubt that his amazing success came from a strong set of beliefs. “We can achieve anything”, he said “if we truly believe in ourselves and just get out there without being afraid of failing”. Failing is good, it’s an inevitable lesson in life we should wisely embrace and make profit out of it.

Learn more about Geoff on his website.