A SEVERLY disabled teenager has beaten all odds and completed her cross-Channel voyage today using her mouth.

Natasha Lambert was born with atheroid cerebral palsy, which affects her limbs as well as her speech and confines her to a wheelchair.

But early this morning the teenager from West Cowes left her wheelchair behind to sail across the Channel in her 21 foot mini transit, Miss Isle Too, to mark her 16th birthday.

Without the use of her hands she sails the yacht with her mouth using a ‘sip and puff’ system – operated by a straw inside a mountain bike helmet – which has been engineered by her father.

Setting off from Boulogne in France, she took just four and a half hours to reach Dover to a hero’s welcome from a crowd gathered to meet her.

Daily Echo:

This was two hours ahead of time, having battled swells of up to two metres and Force four and five winds.

In her triumphant wake, she has raised more than £2,000 to be split between the RNLI, the Ellen MacArthur Cancer Trust and Wetwheels Solent.

Dad Gary, who sailed alongside said: "It’s stunning. We are very proud of her."

“What she has done is so immense and she is so humble about it.

“It was foggy this morning and it could have shut us down, but once we set off the conditions were perfect.

"She is very happy with herself that she completed it and did not let anyone down.

“She was completely shattered and exhausted, but she is feeling fine now.

Mum Amanda, who sailed alongside, said: “Natasha took a long time to get to sleep, but she eventually did for around three or four hours.

“She was very excited and nervous, it was a fear of the unknown, we did double check if she wanted to go ahead and she said “Yes, yes definitely”.”