Natasha’s arc

Bidding to become the first person to across the Atlantic by breath control on the largest vessel ever converted to use the technology, 23-year-old Natasha Lambert will depart from Gran Canaria on 22 November after she had to postpone her challenge last year.

Whilst sailing from Cowes to Gran Canaria and then taking part in the Atlantic Rally for Cruisers would not appear to be a huge challenge for a lot of people, for Natasha it is a different story. Natasha has Quadriplegic Athetoid Cerebral Palsy which means in order to sail her boat it has to be adapted for the ‘Sip and Puff’ technology that allows her to control the vessel.

It all began when she was nine-years-old and first went afloat, followed by challenges of increasing difficulty, culminating in this latest epic adventure.

With the boat for this challenge, a Nautitech Open 46 called Blown Away, being considerably bigger than her Mini Transat, the work has taken longer than envisaged. The challenge to cross the Atlantic was postponed last year as her boat was not quite ready. At one point It did look like it was going to be postponed again due to Covid, but the ARC is going ahead later this month.

Natasha is undertaking this challenge to raise funds for three charities: the Ellen MacArthur Cancer Trust, RNLI and the MissIsle School of Sip Puff Sailing. The aim is to raise £30,000. You can help in this by going to Natasha’s web site, www.missisle.com, and clicking on the Virgin Money giving link.

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