Quadriplegic sailor Hilary Lister is due to set off from Dover at noon on Monday on her round-Britain voyage.

The start had been put back a week because of technical problems with the boat, Artemis 20.

But those difficulties have now been overcome, and Hilary, 35, who lives at Dunkirk, is making last-minute preparations.

She has already set the record for the first quadriplegic to sail across the Channel from Dover to Calais.

Now she plans to be the first to sail around the coast of Britain.

Able only to move her head, eyes and mouth, Hilary sails using a sip and puff device linked to a computer which allows her to control the sails and tiller of her 20ft boat with just her breath.

The voyage is expected to take between three and four months.

A support team will sail alongside her, and a land-based crew will also accompany her. Each evening, a GPS setting will be taken of where Hilary has reached, and the next morning she will be towed back to that point to continue her voyage.

Hilary's progress can be tracked from her website www.hilarylister.com