First Blind Sailor to Solo Round the Isle of Wight
Catalan sailor Dani Anglada Pich, blind and utterly undaunted, became the first person to circumnavigate the Isle of Wight solo and unaided—without sight, without a rudder, without a boom, and without even a centreboard. Just one man and his Patí Català, the sleek but stubborn rudderless catamaran more often seen on Barcelona beaches than off the headlands of the Solent.
The start was straight from a naval novel: cannon fire from the Royal Yacht Squadron signalled the off, courtesy of RYS Secretary Patricia Lewington. With a tailwind and sheer will, Dani rocketed along the north shore, touching 12 knots to Lymington in under an hour. After a quick rendezvous with a support RIB helmed by Round the Island Race veteran Simon Rogers, he headed for the Needles. And that’s when the wind gave up.
From then on, it was hard-earned miles. With no steering gear, Dani had to shift body weight and play the sail to keep course—no small feat even in fair conditions, let alone offshore in a building sea. Eight miles offshore he searched for the gradient breeze, but approaching St. Catherine’s brought grief. The sea state turned ugly. “Every time I tried to gybe back towards land, the waves shoved the stern sideways—I nearly lost it,” Dani said.
By late afternoon, he’d passed the lighthouse and was aiming for Sandown Bay. Culver Down brought new breeze, but Bembridge Ledge brought chaos. Standing waves, rising wind, creaking ply. “That half hour was hell,” Dani admitted. “I could feel the boat twisting and flexing in a way I’ve never known. I didn’t know if I’d get through.”
A few yards behind, in a 4.8m RIB, Magnus Wheatley—himself a Round the Island winner aboard MOD70 PowerPlay Zoulou—was watching. “We’d drilled for this,” said Magnus. “He was tired, but his instincts were sharp. He nailed every tack on cue. I’ve rarely seen that kind of resolve.”
Once clear of the Ledge, Dani tacked past Bembridge Lifeboat Station, then cut out wide to dodge traffic off Seaview. He tiptoed over Ryde Sands with just enough pressure and a helpful tide to make the line before dark. The sun was setting, the wind dying. But the gods sent one last breath, and Dani ghosted back into Cowes, where the crowd on The Parade cheered him home. He collapsed, sobbing, on the deck. Job done.
Back at East Cowes Sailing Club, where the challenge had been planned and supported, Commodore Peter Ball called it “one of the finest moments in the club’s history.” The Mayor of East Cowes presented Dani with honorary citizenship, and the club gave him a trophy—he’d earned it ten times over.
Magnus Wheatley summed it up: “In 35 years of writing about sailing at every level, I’ve never seen anything quite like this. Ten minutes watching him and you forget he’s blind. He’s in a league of his own.”
The mission was bigger than one island. Dani sails to spotlight the push to get sailing reinstated in the Paralympics for Brisbane 2032. With support from Emirates Team New Zealand boss Grant Dalton and the YES WE SAIL Foundation, Dani’s not done yet. He’s now eyeing the Bol d’Or Mirabaud in 2026—one of Europe’s toughest inland races.
“From day one, the East Cowes Sailing Club saw me as a sailor first,” Dani said. “Not as someone with a disability. That made all the difference.”
When the Sea Calls You Back: The Story of Dani Anglada Pich
You don’t plan to lose everything 500 miles off Hawaii. But that’s where Dani Anglada Pich’s story turns. A fire extinguisher explodes aboard a gas carrier. One moment he’s a sharp, young merchant navy officer with wings and sea miles under his belt. The next—face shattered, eyes gone, life off course.
For a while, the lights stayed out in every sense. The sea was far away. So was everything else. A degree in Nautical Studies, a master’s from ESADE, a pilot’s licence—none of it mattered much when the future looked like a closed door. “I went through a very dark tunnel,” Dani says. And he means it.
But some sailors are built different. The sea doesn’t forget them, and they don’t forget the sea.
Bit by bit, wave by wave, Dani made his way back. Not to the life he had—but to something harder, bolder, and arguably more important.
He founded YES WE SAIL to prove a point the world often needs reminding of: blind doesn’t mean broken. Disabled doesn’t mean done. Dreams don’t come with disclaimers.
And so this summer, he set out to do something no one had done before: sail solo around the Isle of Wight in a Patí Català—a crazy, rudderless, boomless, centreboard-less cat that’s usually sailed by the wildest Catalans on the Med. Except Dani’s is rigged with custom tech, stripped down for feel and instinct. He sailed 70 nautical miles without help, without vision—just guts, trim, and the unshakable will to push back at the world’s expectations.
Because Dani isn’t just chasing a sailing story. He’s showing us what’s possible when you throw the rulebook overboard. He’s showing us the only limits are the ones we let stay standing.