Gerry Hughes is the first profoundly deaf man to sail single-handed across the Atlantic Ocean. He crossed the finishing line off Castle Hill, Newport at 1130hrs (1630hrs GMT) local time on Saturday 3 July 2005 after 35 days of sailing.
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Hughes was profoundly deaf from birth. He had experience of boats since he was about 2 years old in Largs, Rhu and Inverkip. In his teenage years he was involved with a group of deaf sailors in the south of England and sailed across the English Channel.
Hughes graduated with a degree in Mathematics from the Open University. In 1995 he qualified as a teacher. He later became acting head of Donaldson's School for the Deaf in Edinburgh.
In August 2004, Hughes bought a 23 year old, 34 foot yacht. He named the yacht Quest II.
Hughes set off from Portsmouth in Quest II, but was forced to call at Cork (city) for repairs due to a failure of battery power. Out in the Atlantic, a few days later, the battery power failed again, resulting is the loss of use of his navigation lights, generator, laptop computer and mobile 'phone. He continued, making use of an oil lamp.
When he eventually reached USA waters he was able to ask directions from a passing speed-boat encountered in fog. He reached Newport successfully when the fog had cleared.[1]