Disabled woman to sail 3,000 miles across Atlantic using mouth to control boat
Natasha Lambert, 23, is 'one of those individuals who is unwilling to accept the word "can't"'.
A young woman with cerebral palsy is set to sail 3,000 miles across the Atlantic Ocean using only her mouth to control the boat.
Natasha Lambert, 23, will sail from Gran Canaria to St Lucia in November in the hope of raising £30,000 for three charities.
It comes after her dad Gary Lambert, 51, invented a unique ‘sip and puff’ system that means she can pilot a boat using a single straw.
Parents Gary and Amanda, 52, were told Natasha’s ‘life would be difficult and she wouldn’t be able to do a lot of things’ when she was diagnosed with quadriplegic cerebral palsy at birth. The condition affects her movement and ability to communicate.
The young girl discovered a passion for sailing while on a family holiday in the Lake District at age nine – but was disappointed to find she couldn’t pilot a boat by herself.
After returning home to Cowes, Isle of Wight, electrician Gary invented a ‘sip and puff’ technology that sees Natasha sip and puff on a tube in her mouth to operate the steering and sails and check the navigation on a boat.
The determined young seawoman started sailing rivers in a smaller boat and went out to sea just a year later.
In 2014, she met English sailor Ellen MacArthur who told her it would be possible to sail the Atlantic ‘with the right boat and the right crew’.
Feeling inspired, Natasha’s parents immediately started saving for a bigger boat. Natasha now sails a specially modified 46ft catamaran and has raised more than £65,000 for charity through various sailing challenges.
She has been described as ‘one of those individuals who is unwilling to accept the word “can’t”‘.
Mum Amanda said: ‘Tasha can’t use her hands, so her most reliable method of using things is with her mouth.
‘Gary adapted the boat so that she could use her mouth to steer by using a tube. The boat will go left or right depending on whether she sips or blows.
‘If she wants to operate the sails there is a sensor in her helmet, and she changes the mode with her tongue from steering to sails.’
She added: ‘When she began raising money for charities it meant she was part of society – it got to be like going to work. She was doing something meaningful for good causes.
‘We are extremely proud of her. It brings us to tears when we see her sail that boat.
‘We were told that her life would be difficult, and she wouldn’t be able to do a lot of things.
‘We hope it can give people the hope that no matter what condition or disability you have, you can still have aspirations to drive towards.’
Natasha and her crew sailed her boat Blown Away from Cowes on July 31, arriving in Gibraltar on August 16, and finally dropping off the boat in Las Palmas, Gran Canaria 13 days later.
She will embark on her trip across the Atlantic on November 22 with a crew of eight people, including her sister Rachel, 13, and her mum and dad.
The inspiring young woman has launched a Virgin Money Giving campaign to raise money for the Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) and the Ellen MacArthur Cancer Trust.
She is also raising funds for her own MissIsle School of Sip Puff Sailing, which allows people with similar disabilities to learn to sail using the technology.
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