Geoff enjoys a Painkiller and gives his book "Walking on Water" to Pusser's as a token of his appreciation for the Painkiller Welcome Reception the night before.

Geoff Holt, after a 28-day, 2,700-mile voyage, recently become the first quadriplegic to sail solo across the Atlantic.

Sailing Impossible Dream, a 60-foot specially built catamaran, he completed his voyage on Thursday, January 7th after setting off from Lanzarote in the Canary Islands on December 10, 2009. On his arrival at Tortola he was given a hero’s welcome by hundreds of wellwishers. The BVI governor and deputy prime minister also turned out to greet Geoff. All of us at Pusser’s were very pleased to throw him a Painkiller Welcome Party on the dock at Manuel Reef Marina, the home of the BVI’s Sailability programme and the BVI Watersports Centre.

Geoff had been expected to arrive in Tortola on December 27, but unhelpful weather and mechanical problems delayed them (he had a non-sailing carer and videographer onboard with him). Five hundred miles from the finish line the generator on Impossible Dream stopped working properly, leaving Geoff having to work the hi-tech yacht manually.

It also meant he couldn’t cook anything onboard in order to save vital fuel.

Geoff’s historic voyage has been extensively covered in the UK including a live broadcast on BBC News when he arrived at Cane Garden Bay and in major newspapers.

The Daily Telegraph reported: “Poignantly, he returned to the exact scene of the diving accident that paralysed him 26 years ago – Cane Garden Bay, on Tortola island.

“The arrival has been everything I expected and more,” Holt said.

“The welcoming committee has been amazing, I am surrounded by a flotilla of boats and yachts that have all come out to meet me. It’s emotional and I have a tear in my eye.”

This is the fourth time Holt has sailed the Atlantic, but the first time since the accident in 1984.

Congratulations Geoff from the entire Pusser’s crew!

Geoff’s Bio

By the age of 18, Geoff had sailed in excess of 30,000 miles at sea, including three trans-Atlantic crossings and several solo voyages. His career was cut short in 1984 by a life changing accident which left him paralysed from the chest down. Diving into shallow water broke his neck causing a complete spinal cord injury and he has used a wheelchair ever since.

He has remained passionate about sailing and keen to support any initiative which provides sailing opportunities to other disabled people. In 1995, Geoff was a founding Trustee of the national disabled sailing charity RYA Sailability and now, through a network of more than 150 Sailability clubs and groups, more than 20,000 disabled people a year experience the freedom of sailing in the UK.

For more than 15 years he headed up regional marketing teams for two of the world’s largest firms of accountants. He holds a degree in Fine Art Valuation and has sat on just about every sailing committee representing disabled sailing both nationally and internationally.

More than 20 years after his accident, Geoff became the first disabled person to sail single-handed around Great Britain in an expedition he called Personal Everest.

“Sailing has given me so much in my life. It was my livelihood before my accident and it was to be my saviour after it. The freedom I experience on the sea is like no other; I am free of my wheelchair and free of my disability. When I am on the water, it makes me feel alive and any sailor, regardless of their ability, will know exactly that same feeling. Sailing is my life.” says Geoff.

On his return from Personal Everest, Geoff published his autobiography Walking on Water to critical acclaim.

Personal Atlantic was his latest adventure and raised funds for The Ellen MacArthur Trust.

For more information: http://www.geoffholt.com

Photos courtesy of Todd VanSickle

Soggy Dollar Bar, BVI - Birthplace of the Pusser's Painkiller

The infamous Pusser’s Painkiller® had its start at the six-seat Soggy Dollar Bar on a long stretch of white sand beach at White Bay on the island of Jost Van Dyke in the British Virgin Islands. There’s no dock, so the usual way in is to swim. Of course, your dollars get wet – hence the name: Soggy Dollar Bar.

When all this started, the bar with its four adjoining cottages was owned by an English lady, Daphne Henderson. Boaters, including myself, came from all around to sample her tasty Pusser’s Painkiller® for which she’d become locally famous. The fact that I had gone to Great Britain’s Royal Navy and gotten permission to commercialize the rum in 1980 made me more curious about this deliciously concocted recipe made with Pusser’s Rum.

Daphne Henderson and I became good friends, but in spite of our friendship, and no matter how hard I tried, she refused to divulge her secret recipe for the Pusser’s Painkiller®. Two years passed, then late one Sunday afternoon at the conclusion of a long session of Painkilling, I somehow managed to get one of her concoctions back through the surf and over the gunwale into my boat, and ultimately into my kitchen on Tortola where I live.

There I went to work, trying to match her flavor as closely as possible with my own recipe which I finally worked out to be “4-1-1″ ratio – four parts pineapple, one part cream of coconut and one part orange juice – adding Pusser’s Rum to suit.

The following Sunday, I returned to the Soggy Dollar Bar for another afternoon of West Indian food, Painkillers and swimming. Shaking the water off after my swim ashore, I announced to Daphne Henderson that I’d finally broken her secret, “At last, Daphne, I have the Painkiller recipe which I promise to not divulge to anyone if you tell me that I’m right.”

“If you’ve got it, what do you need anything from me for?” she replied smiling as she continued to josh me about not being able to come even close. “Wait and see,” I told her, and in a few minutes, mixed one of mine and started to taste it against hers.  I discerned a slight difference, but thought my mixture was better, not quite so sweet as hers, and told her so. Understandably, she insisted that hers was better and challenged me to a contest.  I accepted, and the bet was on for $100.

There were about ten patrons around the bar. I ordered two rounds: one that Daphne made, and one that I made to my recipe. We marked the cups and proceeded to test. My recipe won 10 out of 10 taste-tests! They preferred my version to hers. She humorously insisted that somehow I had paid everybody off to win. Of course, I hadn’t, and vehemently denied her charges. I took payment on the bet in the form of 40 Painkillers which the crowd all drank to celebrate the occasion.

Soon after, I started promoting the Pusser’s Painkiller® in the two Pusser’s bars I had at that time on Tortola.

From this modest beginning, the fame of the Pusser’s Painkiller® has spread throughout the boating and sailing communities of the Caribbean and the U.S., and is probably the most popular mixed rum drink amongst sailors today in the West Indies. And it continues to spread throughout many other parts of the world.

Thanks to Daphne Henderson! …the inspiration behind the Pusser’s Painkiller®.

PUSSER’S PAINKILLER® RECIPE

The Painkiller® is a blend of Pusser’s Rum with 4 parts pineapple juice, 1 part cream of coconut and 1 part orange juice served over the rocks with a generous amount of fresh nutmeg on top. You have a choice of numbers 2, 3 or 4, which designate the amount of Pusser’s Rum! Cheers!

* Painkiller #2 … 2 parts Pusser’s Rum
* Painkiller #3 … 3 parts Pusser’s Rum
* Painkiller #4 … 4 parts Pusser’s Rum