Disabled sailor to sail around Britain

A former Royal Navy helicopter pilot is preparing to sail around Britain in a revolutionary wingsail yacht.

Trevor Jones, 38, hopes that a completion of the two-month voyage aboard the Inventure will attract sponsors for a pioneering round the world trip.

Mr Jones, who plans to start around UK from London in July, has chosen a succession of wheelchair bound sailors to help crew the vessel for a week at a time.

‘‘They are keen sailors who have not found a way to go sailing,’’ said Mr Jones, from Fulham, south-west London.

They were picked from applicants around the world who logged onto Mr Jones’ website, and from them he will select potential crew for the world voyage which would the first by a quadriplegic skipper.

Mr Jones, who has set up the charitable Inventure Trust for the benefit of severely disabled sailors, has spent about £1 million converting the Inventure to enable him and other disabled sailors to sail her.

He is currently finalising sponsorship deals which will finance the round Britain voyage, and pay for work on Inventure, including a new centreboard, rudder and steering system.

The former Naval Lieutenant launched the 60ft craft over two years ago in Plymouth, Devon, where refit work is currently being carried out.

In December, 1998, he sailed the Inventure to London, were she was unveiled with the help of the Duke of York.

Mr Jones was the Navy pilot who plucked Virgin tycoon Richard Branson to safety after his transatlantic balloon crashed into the Irish Sea in 1988.

Shortly afterwards Mr Jones, a sailing enthusiast, broke his neck in a skiing accident while preparing for the Inter Services Ski championships near Innsbruck.

Since the accident, Mr Jones has flown the Channel in a specially-adapted microlight aircraft.

And he has set up the world’s first flying school for severely disabled people at Old Sarum, near Salisbury, Wiltshire.