With a simple sip and puff, Natasha Lambert sailed her 46 foot long catamaran 3,000 miles across the Atlantic. Aged just nine when the aspiring mariner said she wanted to sail, after a family activity holiday, her dad Gary was determined to make her dream come true.
But it was no mean feat. Born with cerebral palsy, Natasha, now 29, from the Isle of Wight, can’t use her arms or legs and struggles to speak. Her breath control, however, is top notch - giving her dad a cunning plan.
Her younger sister, Rachel, 19, explains: “Growing up, it was never a ‘no’ for Tash, but an ‘ok, how can we make this happen’. Our parents encouraged her to have a go at all sorts - like abseiling. When she expressed an interest in sailing, Tash wanted to not just be a passenger. She wanted to be in control of the boat. But when we did some research near our home in Cowes, the technology just wasn’t there.
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“Dad is an electrician by day, but a mad inventor by night. Off he went into his shed and he created a custom ‘sip-and-puff’ breath-control system for Tash, so that she could independently skipper and steer sailing boats.”
