A veteran who lost both legs and his left arm serving in Afghanistan hopes to become the first triple amputee to sail solo and unsupported across the Pacific Ocean.
Craig Wood, from Doncaster in South Yorkshire, was 18 years old when he suffered life-changing injuries from a roadside bomb in Sangin, southern Afghanistan, in 2009.
Mr Wood, now 33, is preparing to sail 6,000 nautical miles (11,112km) from Mexico to Japan to raise funds for the charities who helped his recovery.
He is hoping his 80-day challenge will change perceptions and show other disabled people what they can achieve.
The father-of-two, who will leave the UK for Mexico this week, told the PA news agency: “I’ve been sailing around the world for eight years and every single sail that I’ve done has been a collective experience to this goal.
“I’m hoping the impact of seeing me do such an amazing challenge shows other disabled people what can be achieved.”
He will set sail from La Paz in Mexico, on a 41-foot custom-built aluminium catamaran called Sirius II.
Mr Wood usually lives on the boat with his wife and two young children travelling the world.
On his solo journey, he will likely face waves as tall as two double decker buses, tropical storms, hidden atolls (coral reefs) that could puncture the boat’s hull and fishing fleets off the coast of Japan.
“I have to be prepared for really anything because I’m at sea for so long that any type of weather system can occur,” he said.
“I’m hoping for trade wind-style conditions so wind flowing in a specific direction constantly over the weeks but that’s only going to get me from Mexico up to Hawaii.
“From Hawaii to Japan I have to start getting higher in the latitudes, so I enter a variable wind step so I could have hurricane force, or I could have zero winds.”
Mr Wood will survive on rations of dried and tinned foods but he also plans to catch fish.
While this will be the longest stretch he has ever spent alone, he said he will be kept busy tracking and monitoring weather and wind conditions.
He will also have access to a Starlink connection to stay in touch with his wife and children.
His boat which is already fitted with extra grab rails will have an electric winch installed but apart from that Mr Wood said he will operate it as normal.
He said sailing played an essential part in his recovery both physically and mentally.
“When I got injured at 18 I went from being the healthiest I had ever been to being bed bound,” he said.
“The psychological problems all sort of hit you at once.
“You wake up and the doctors tell you you’ve got no legs or left hand so you start thinking about all the things that you used to do, sort of victimising yourself.
“I focused quite heavily on my recovery and without having remorse.
“I would say I wish I had my legs back but instead of focusing on what could have been, I focused on what is and accepting the change.
“From then I got into sailing. From there, my skill set progressed and progressed, and over the last eight years I’ve been sailing around the world.”
To learn more about Mr Wood’s challenge you can visit his fundraising page: https://givestar.io/gs/mexico–japan-solo-sail-world-record
