By the age of 18, Geoff Holt had sailed 30,000 miles, including three Atlantic crossings, and made a small fortune skippering yachts for wealthy clients around the world. It was a life of carefree adventure that came to an abrupt halt when he broke his neck in a diving accident in 1984, leaving him paralysed from the chest down. Now, 25 years on, Holt, 43, is planning to return to the Atlantic to become the first quadriplegic sailor to cross it unaided, skippering a 60ft catamaran called Impossible Dream.

Holt will launch his attempt at the Southampton boat show this week, a fortnight after Hilary Lister, 37, became the first quadriplegic woman to sail around the coast of Britain unaided, a journey that Holt made in 2007.

Although he crossed the Atlantic as a young, able-bodied sailor, repeating the voyage as a quadriplegic — not to mention without a crew — will demand different skills, plus a new level of endurance and courage. For his round-Britain journey Holt, like Lister, was trailed by a lifeboat and stopped on land overnight in a specially adapted motor­home. This time his boat will be all alone in the middle of 3,000 miles of ocean.

Holt has no movement below his torso, has no finger control and has only limited movement in his arms. He will be aided by specially designed gadgetry and high-tech kit, from sails that furl and unfurl at the flick of a switch (Holt has some slight movement in his right thumb) to a remote-controlled steering wheel, autopilot and clothing to make sure he never gets too hot or too cold — in his accident, Holt lost the ability to sweat or shiver so his body has no automatic mechanism for adjusting temperature.

If all goes to plan, Holt will spend 17 days and nights at sea. For this reason, he will be accompanied by a carer and a cameraman, neither of whom will help with the sailing. “I’m not stupid and I’m not reckless,” says Holt. “I’m a father and a husband. I’m doing this on my own, but I’m not going to say, ‘I’ll do it on my own or die’.”

Holt, who grew up close to the Hamble river in Hampshire, was a precociously talented sailor. He left school at 16 to crew charter boats and was quickly promoted to skipper. He was a 6ft 4in, blue-eyed blond with a taste for the high life and — without the need to pay for board and lodgings — he had enough money to live it. “It was a charmed life,” he says.

The accident that robbed Holt of his athletic body and his livelihood could hardly have been more banal. He was enjoying a morning off work in the British Virgin Islands, on a beach called Cane Garden Bay. As the water became too deep to wade in, he dived under a wave, but misjudged his angle, hit his head on the sand below, then heard his neck crack.

“I felt it break, but strangely it didn’t hurt,” he recalls. “On September 5, 1984, that was it. My friends pulled me out of the water so I didn’t drown and from then on I was paralysed from the chest down. My life had changed for ever.”

Back in Britain his rehabilitation be­gan, helped by his nurse, Elaine, now his wife of 23 years and the mo­ther of his seven-year-old son. It was a year before he could leave hospital. Holt retrained as a computer scientist, got a job as a database manager in the marketing department of an accountancy firm and within a few years became a senior manager.

It was only 10 years later, when Elaine became ill with the pressure of looking after him, that the true extent and burden of his disability really hit home. “She was exhausted and it was a huge wake-up call,” he says. “I am totally reliant on people looking after me. But I never really had to face that because Elaine was always there.”

Holt was forced to give up work. He had taken up sailing a few years previously in specially adapted yachts and this now became his vocation. “For a long time I couldn’t even watch sailing on television, but then when I got into a boat for the first time in seven years and for the first time since the accident, I suddenly felt in control again,” he says.

“As the boat sailed away from the jetty, I saw my wheelchair on the shore — it felt as if I was leaving my disability behind. I felt empowered and there was no stopping me.”

He sailed around the Isle of Wight in 1993, helped to found Sailability, a charity for disabled sailors, in 1995, and represented Britain in the world disabled sailing championships in Australia in 1997, returning with a bronze medal. Then, in 2007, he set about becoming the first quadriplegic to sail around Britain. The adventure almost ended in disaster when, moments after Holt set sail, a press boat cut in front of his vessel, causing it to capsize and leaving Holt face down in the water, thinking it was “game over”. He was rescued, eventually completing the trip in 109 days.

His plan to cross the Atlantic was formed after he completed Walking on Water, his book about the trip round Britain. “It was a sudden ‘I’ve got nothing to do’ moment,” says Holt.

He secured the loan of Impossible Dream from Mike Browne, the former owner of the outdoor clothing and equipment supplier Snow+Rock, who has been wheelchair-bound since he broke his back in a skiing accident 15 years ago, and who had the catamaran custom-built by Multimarine for £2m. “He said, ‘Okay, you can borrow it, as long as you don’t prang it’,” says Holt.

As Holt is more disabled than Browne, who is paraplegic, the boat has been further adapted. Holt will take catnaps in his wheelchair, as well as two or three 20-minute lie-downs a day. His cabin has been moved from below deck to a position close to the helm and there are three Raymarine navigation stations — one by his bunk, one on port, one on starboard — so he does not have to move far to check progress. The navigation station includes a chart plotter (a sat nav device for boats) and also displays radar information, while trans­ceivers relay information about the wind speed and direction, tides and boat speed.

Holt uses the autopilot to set his course, so the boat steers itself and he needs to intervene only if there is a change in the wind or an obstacle cross his path. He uses a switch to operate hydraulic winches to furl and unfurl the sails and other switches to operate the steering wheel and auto­pilot. A remote control unit allows him to make adjustments from his bunk and an alarm sounds if any vessel or other obstacle comes within a five-mile radius. His wheelchair has been treated with water-resistant oil and sealant.

Despite the perils, Holt’s main concern is monetary. Henri Lloyd, the clothing manufacturer, and Raymarine have provided kit but he is still looking for a main sponsor.

If all goes to plan, he will set off on December 10 from Lanzarote and complete his voyage in time to celebrate the new year with friends and family at his destination — Cane Garden Bay. “I’ve not been back there since the accident,” says Holt. “It will be a bit like sticking two fingers up to the beach, metaphorically speak­ing. I left there in an ambulance, but I plan to return there as a transatlantic quadriplegic sailor and lay some ghosts to rest.”

Holt is raising money for the Ellen MacArthur Trust, which helps children recovering from serious illness through sailing. Go to www.geoffholt.com to follow Holt’s progress