WITH force five winds and the world’s busiest shipping lane bearing down on you, it would be a tough ride for a seasoned solo sailor.

But for Natasha Lambert, who cannot move her limbs or speak, sailing the English Channel by herself was a true odyssey.

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Born with athetoid cerebral palsy, the teenager is confined to a wheelchair.

But early yesterday morning the teenager from West Cowes left her wheelchair behind to sail across the Channel in her 21ft 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.

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This was two hours ahead of time, having battled swells of up to two metres and force 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 Natasha, 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 Aman-da, 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’.”