“I can do one-handed bowlines because I’ve got no other choice” – Triple amputee Craig Wood is gearing up for a world record setting solo voyage across the Pacific to change perceptions of what disabled people can do and show that sailing is a sport for everyone.
Sailing for 80 days solo, non-stop and unsupported 6,000 miles across the Pacific would be a daunting enough voyage for many people.
Craig Wood, a 33-year-old former Army rifleman from Doncaster, has the additional challenge of being a triple amputee.
The self-confessed ‘sailing geek’ is determined to “change perceptions of what disabled people can do and show that sailing is a sport for everyone.”
Credit: GD Media
He told PBO: “My level of knowledge is the same as any able-bodied sailor, they may be able to implement it faster but I find a way.
“So it creates a level playing field. I can do one-handed bowlines because I’ve got no other choice.
“When other sailors see me doing this, they’re like “Nice!” and I get a little bit more respect but I say “I’ve got no choice, aye”.
“Sailing gives me that level footing.”
Completion of this voyage, which is raising funds for limbless veterans charity Blesma and sail training charity Turn to Starboard, would see Craig achieve a world record as the first triple amputee to sail solo across the Pacific – even if he needs to stop at Hawaii as a bolthole.
Craig will depart from La Paz in Mexico at the end of March, bound for Yokohama in Japan aboard his aluminium catamaran, a 41ft French-built Galileo.
Triple amputee Craig Wood aboard his 41ft Galileo aluminium catamaran
RYA Yachtmaster-qualified Craig is hoping for trade-wind conditions of 15 knots all the way to Hawaii and 1.5m-2m waves. Once past Hawaii, Craig expects variable winds.
He said: “Depending on how slow I’ve been, it could be entering typhoon season. So I just have to make sure that if there’s any type of pressure building, I’m just mega aware about it.”
Safety will be top priority. Father-of-two Craig added: “My family have been out sailing with me so they know my skillset.
“They just say ‘Don’t make silly mistakes, don’t take risks, always be clipped on’.
“It’s just being sensible really, there’s no reason not to do these things.”
His previous longest solo voyage was 1,200 miles and 10 days.
Craig’s biggest fear for the voyage is “any submersible object.”
Triple amputee Craig Wood and family enjoy a liveaboard lifestyle on their 41ft Galileo aluminium catamaran
How did Craig Wood become a triple amputee?
Aged 18, Craig lost both legs and his left hand during a routine patrol with 2nd Battalion, The Rifles, in Helmand Province, Afghanistan, when an improvised explosive device (IED) blast was triggered.
It happened on 30 July, 2009, while Craig was on deployment to his first war zone. His face was also ravaged by shrapnel.
Waking up 14 days later from an induced coma, nothing would ever be the same again.
It took eight months for Craig to learn to walk again and four-and-a-half years of rehabilitation work at the dedicated Headley Court facility in Surrey to improve his quality of life.
Craig Wood before he was injured as a teenage Army rifleman
Craig Wood and colleagues before he was injured as a teenage Army rifleman
Back home as a triple-amputee, he returned to the hobby his father had shared with him as a child on their family trips to Bridlington – sailing.
A Paralympic coach, contacted by his father, arranged a taster session for Craig on a 2.4mR. Craig “immediately loved it and how accessible it was” and a year later got his own boat with assistance from Help for Heroes.
Craig spent two years racing 2.4mRs before competing in the Sonar keelboat class on the Paralympic circuit with crewmates Steve Palmer and Liam Cattermole.
Despite extensive training, the trio missed out on 2016 Games selection, then the class was sadly dropped from the 2020 Paralympic sport line-up.
While in Melbourne, at the 2015 Para World Sailing Championships, Craig spent an afternoon sailing on a yacht and “fell in love with the idea of sailing around the world.”
Craig Wood undertaking dusty boat work
By April 2016, he had bought a Colvic Victor 40, which he spent months refitting before departing from the River Orwell in April 2017, a day after his 26th birthday.
After a year of cruising Never Ending Story to the Mediterranean, Craig wanted a boat better suited to light winds to sail around Cape Horn. In Lefkada, he found the Beneteau Oceanis 46, Sirius.
Having made improvements to the boat’s electrics and solar panels, he sailed on, either solo or with crew.
While in Gibraltar in December 2018, he met Renate Gwerder, who was hitchhiking to South America, who would later become his wife.
Today, Craig is the world’s first triple amputee to achieve Yachtmaster status.
Favoured kit
Credit: GD Media
Adaptions Craig has made to his multihull include running all the lines aft to the helm station, and an electric winch. Handhelds were already in place.
Craig will be using the PredictWind weather forecasting app.
He praised the Starlink satellite communication system as being “an amazing thing to have, it gives you the ability to call anyone about a subject and they can show you videos as well. It makes safety so much more accessible.”
Meteorologist for the British Sailing Team, Simon Rowell, author of Weather at Sea, will be Craig’s first call should weather become unpredictable.
Other recommended gear on board a watermaker “so you can have showers all day”, his B&G NAC-3 autopilot and his B&G V60 Radio with AIS.
Craig said: “I’ve got a hydraulic steering system and I really like having AIS on board because I can set alarms and when I’m solo it’s having that guard zone is great, it means I can have a deep sleep, without worrying about crashing into a boat.”
Regarding lifejackets, Craig prefers his Crewsaver, as it enables him to “sit down comfortably.”
Voyage sponsor Henri Lloyd has kitted him out with their Elite Offshore jacket in orange, to increase visibility. He also has a SOLAS-approved clip-on LED flare, a SmartFind personal locator beacon and personal AIS.
He said: “One of the things on my mind is not to get too complacent. Although I might just be going to the back of the boat for a second, I still need to be clipped on, and to be taking as much care as possible.”
Craig is hoping to catch fish to eat along the way, and will be taking “a lot of dried food such as rice and noodles. I’ve got a nice big freezer that I’ll fill with 15kg of meat, plus tins of veg.”
Hero’s welcome
Supporters can follow Craig’s progress via a DataHub tracker and the Iridium Go tracking page.
Among the family and friends who will be greeting Craig in Japan will be wife Renate, son Amaru aged 3 and daughter Madeira, aged 2.
Craig said: “I think they’ll be arriving a couple of days before. That will be really nice and emotional.”
His scariest sailing moment so far was off the coast of Argentina, aboard his Beneteau, bound for the Falklands, when a powerful gust of wind hit.
Craig said: “I had 50% of my genoa out. We had that much windage, it turned the boat and I was hard over trying to bear away. The boat would not go.
“It was a 50 knot gust, a really weird wind, and the sea state built up into a chop really quickly.
“That was the scariest thing, where I had no control of the boat but we furled the sail away, turned the engine on and 10 minutes later it was back down to 20 knots.”
Triple amputee Craig Wood and family enjoy a liveaboard lifestyle on their 41ft Galileo aluminium catamaran
Craig with his wife Renate and two young children
He added: “But that’s pretty lucky in eight years of sailing. We’ve been living the dream.
“We’ve been in central America for the past four years now, going up and down each country.
“After Japan, we’re probably going to head down to the Philippines and spend a little while there. Then probably try and get down to the South Pacific.“Sailing has helped me to overcome my injuries because it was something I could do before I was injured. It’s taken me from the darkness into the light.
“I hope this expedition will inspire others to follow their dreams. I would say to anyone – if you’re not trying sailing because you don’t think you can, just try it. I guarantee you’d be surprised.”
Follow Craig’s updates at @CraigWoodSails on Instagram
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