August 24, 200520 yr Link Quadriplegic Woman Sails English Channel Tue Aug 23,11:09 PM ET LONDON - A British woman on Tuesday became the first quadriplegic to sail solo between Britain and France across the English Channel, coast guards said. ADVERTISEMENT Hilary Lister, 33, who is able to move only her head, eyes and mouth, took six hours to navigate her boat, the Malin, unaided through one of the busiest and most treacherous shipping lanes in the world. "It is very emotional for me. I was absolutely certain that once I got in the boat that I could make it to France. I am too stubborn to give up," Lister told reporters as she quaffed champagne after arriving at the northern French port of Calais. "I want to get able-bodied people to rethink their views about the disabled," she said, adding that she now wants to sail around Britain's coast. Coast guards at the southern English port of Dover, where Lister began her journey, said it was the first time a quadriplegic had made the voyage solo. Lister's vessel has been adapted to be controlled by the "sip and puff" method, allowing Lister to adjust the sails and tiller by blowing and sucking through two straws. Lister, from Canterbury in southern England, was diagnosed with the degenerative disease reflex sympathetic dystrophy as a teenager. She took up sailing two years ago as a way to boost her self-confidence.
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