THE SINGLE-HANDED SAILOR DUSTIN REYNOLDS

Surely if anyone has the right to call themselves the Single-Handed-Sailor, then it is Dustin Reynolds. When the 43-year-old American arrived back in Hawaii on 4 December 2021 he achieved the remarkable feat of becoming the first double amputee to sail alone around the world.

Until 18 October 2008, Dustin had led a pretty comfortable western lifestyle in Hawaii. He had a nice house, a business, drove a Mercedes and owned a fishing boat. That night everything changed when he was hit head-on by a drunk driver while travelling home on his motorcycle and left for dead. In hospital, Dustin recalls: ‘Doctors told my parents, my friends, and me that I would likely die. I heard my mother’s and father’s voices tremble and shake over the phone from thousands of miles away as they tried to be strong for me.’ He eventually pulled through but would have to come to terms with spending the rest of his life as a double amputee - an unimaginable adjustment