A yachtsman has become the first quadriplegic sailor to complete a solo voyage across the Atlantic.

Geoff Holt, 42, from Southampton, began the 2,700-mile (4,345km) journey from Lanzarote to Tortola in the British Virgin Islands, on 10 December.

His voyage was hampered by the lack of wind and mechanical problems on his boat, Impossible Dream.

His wife Elaine and son Timothy sailed out to greet Mr Holt off the coast of Cane Garden Bay.

Mr Holt suffered a diving accident 25 years ago in the bay that left him paralysed.

During the voyage, he has been aided by a carer and filmed by a cameraman, but did all his own sailing in the 60ft (18m) purpose-built catamaran.

Hydraulic technology

He told BBC News: "It's fantastic, it's absolutely wonderful to be back after 25 years to sail across the Atlantic Ocean, it is quite emotional.

"This has been years in the planning. It has been my dream to sail back across the Atlantic and I have only gone and done it."

This is the fourth time Mr Holt has sailed the Atlantic, but the first since his life-changing accident in 1984.

He broke his neck while diving into shallow water and has used a wheelchair ever since.

“ It has been my dream to sail back across the Atlantic ”
Geoff Holt

During his record attempt, Mr Holt has had to overcome engine problems and unexpectedly light prevailing winds.

He has limited use of his arms and hands and used a hydraulic push button technology to sail the vessel on the 28-day voyage.

Legendary sailor Sir Robin Knox-Johnson led the tributes to Mr Holt.

"What a tremendous thing to have completed," he said.

"Geoff continues to raise the bar when it comes to sheer determination to allow nothing to stand in his way.

"I am so proud of his achievement."

Mr Holt is already the first quadriplegic sailor to sail solo around Britain - a feat he achieved in 2007.

If you have got Jomsocial on your website & have been having a few problems getting it to connect to Facebook then I recently came across a really fantastic tutorial which enabled me to set up the Facebook connection on my Jomsocial website and get it working flawlessly. In case you are none the wiser, Jomsocial is a social networking component that can be added to a Joomla 1.5 website application. It is really based around Facebook and I can absolutely promise you that your members will love it.

here is a link to the tutorial

http://www.herdboy.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=168:how-to-set-up-facebook-connect-for-jomsocial&catid=56:guides&Itemid=249

Dan Eley spent years helping children on the streets of South America - now though it is him who needs help.

The 32 year old broke his neck in a swimming accident over the new year.

It took three days for Dan to be airlifted from a small local hospital to a medical clinic in Bogota, where he could receive the proper treatment.

But his insurance does not cover the the estimated £90,000 needed to get a specialist air ambulance to fly him home to the UK.

His family and friends have now launched an appeal to get him back to Britain.

To Donate Click Here

Okay, as promised, a quick update on my joystick replacement problem on my Permobil. We were not going to let them walk all over us and simply ignore their responsibilities to all their customers. So after quite a few phone calls making it quite clear that they must bring this problem to a successful closure, a joystick became available. We were told that it was a completely different make of joystick that would be available for the foreseeable future & would also be a little bit more on the reliable side. However, when the joystick arrived it didn't really look any different from the old ones. I didn't really have any choice but to have it fitted since it arrived on Christmas Eve and the engineer had already been booked in to fit it. Even the Permobil engineer was puzzled at why they had sent exactly the same joystick as before. Anyway, it is all outfitted on the chat is working as normal which is a relief. However, been here before and have got the T-shirt........ three times, so I'm not holding my breath that this joystick is going to be any different from the last three.

If you are in the same situation as me please don't let Permobil walk all over you and abandon your situation. You may have to be firm with them but from our experience, getting a little irate does sometimes have its advantages.

I love my Permobil and I would really struggle with out it. I'm glad that they came around to my way of thinking and I applaud them for dealing with the situation promptly, rather than keeping me hanging on for months.

I wish to take this opportunity to wish everyone who visits my site a very happy 2010. I hope that the coming year brings you happiness and good health.

Okay, an update on my situation regarding Permobil ceasing to supply PG8 joysticks for older models of their power wheelchairs. We have been talking to Permobil and have made it quite clear that they are responsible for maintaining wheelchairs they have sold, and that means supplying spare parts. To cut a long story short they have now found some joysticks that will work on wheelchairs such as the chairman. I believe these are not actually PG8 joysticks, but are compatible with the wheelchair. I am having this replaced under warranty since it is any of few weeks since the last one was replaced. An engineer from them Permobil is visiting me on 24 December so I will update this information I came, hopefully with good news that everything is working and you will be able to obtain spare parts if needed, fingers crossed

I thought I would update you on the situation regarding my Permobil. I've already mentioned that I received a letter from the UK supplier of Permobil informing me that Permobil would no longer be providing replacement PG8 joystick controls. It seems the letter jinxed me as my existing joystick which was only replaced in September has developed a fault yet again. Thankfully I have got another a wheelchair I can use but that wheelchair is not equipped to use in my van so if I have to rely on it, that screws my driving up completely.

I purchased my Permobil in 2000 which isn't really that long ago. I think this is grossly unfair of Permobil to suddenly stop providing vital components for older models of their wheelchairs. If you purchased a vehicle at the same time wouldn't it be fair to say you would expect spare parts to be available for it for considerably longer than 10 years? Blimey, you can still find spare parts for cars that are 40 years old. My wheelchair cost £13,000, I was expecting to be able to maintain it for at least 20 years but it seems Permobil have put a stop to that.

Ask yourself a question "if you purchase a Permobil in 2010, will vital components still be available in 2020. 10 years may seem a long time, but when you're spending in excess of £10,000, that really isn't a very long time.

As far as I'm concerned Permobil are still responsible for providing me with spare parts and you can rest assure that I am not going to let this matter to rest.  If you own a Permobil Chairman, or any other Permobil wheelchair that you bought 10 years ago then you may well be looking at the same problem I'm having. Don't just ignore the situation because your joystick is working okay, you will be screwed if it suddenly goes wrong, we need to take action now and try and appeal to Permobil that they still have a responsibility to older customers who rely on their wheelchairs.

This is a direct quote from Permobil's own website

Customer Support Center

A good product needs a strong organisation behind it in order to achieve it's full potential. We are here to help you find the best solution to your problem whatever it may concern: wheelchairs, spare parts or accessories. You may want a quotation for a wheelchair or you have a query about shipping documents or a technical question - we will be happy to help you.

This is a really fabulous advert that is doing the rounds on the television at the moment

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q4-Qyu9KbBo

Many of you will probably watch the reality show "I'm a Celebrity, Get Me Out Of Here". I never watched the first few episodes but got into it about three years ago. It's harmless fun takes up an hour of your time every evening. Well, when they say harmless, not to many of the animals it isn't, which brings me onto why I am writing this entry. Two contestants who took part in this year's show have been charged with animal cruelty because they killed and cooked a rat on the show. Now they have been charged with animal cruelty by Australian authorities.

Apparently it is illegal to carry out this type of practice for show, in other words in front of the cameras on a reality show. It's okay to go off on your own into the woods, catch a rat, bash its head in and eat it, you might get in trouble then. But oh no, give a bunch of people rice for dinner every day and then start moaning because they have killed and eaten vermin. Did they boil the rat alive? No, they killed it very quickly and humanely and made use of the meat. I think it is rather hypocritical of the authorities to take this action.

It is a rat any different from a cockroach? Both of them are classed as vermin in most countries and certainly not dealt with humanely. It seems that it's perfectly okay for these contestants to eat all these little critters while they are still alive, cockroaches, grabs, worms and god knows what else. I really think the Australian authorities should get a life and concentrate on something a little bit more serious.

I own a Permobil Chairman which I purchased in 2000. I recently received a letter from the UK supplier of Permobil informing me that the PG8 joystick will no longer be available and is now obsolete. I have already had my joystick replaced three times in the 10 years so it doesn't fill me with confidence that this one is going to be any better in the long run.

I'm quite sure you can imagine my worry at this decision Permobil have come to, by all accounts there are 25 people in the UK, not counting the rest of the world who are still using a Permobil wheelchair utilizing this type of joystick, so the law of averages states that one of us is going to have problems with our joystick at some stage. I can't speak for everyone who owns one of these wheelchairs but I am extremely angry and actually quite worried about what the hell I am going to do if my joystick decides it's going to malfunction like it has done three times before. I only bought my wheelchair 10 years ago, it seems ridiculous that Permobil have just washed their hands of it completely. I rely entirely on my power chair, without it I am bedbound, it's as simple as that. I'm not suggesting that Permobil should continue to manufacture my particular type of wheelchair for the next 50 years, but I do think they should keep a stock of spares for those of us who are still using the older wheelchairs.

I would like to think that if looked after properly, my wheelchair still has quite a few years left in it.  As it stands, if my joystick malfunctions, I've got to bin the whole wheelchair. Car manufacturers don't automatically stop supplying spares for the older makes of car, why should Permobil be any different?

If you are as worried as I am then we need to unite and try and persuade Permobil that their decision is very unfair to all of the older customers who chose one of their wheelchairs over any other on the market.

I can tell you one thing for sure, never again will I ever purchase a Permobil wheelchair.