According to boatbuilder Beneteau, 1,525 people have scaled Mt. Everest, 560 have been to outer space, yet only 300 people have completed solo circumnavigations. Those are fairly exclusives clubs. Perhaps the most exclusive club of all is one that includes but a single sailor: Gerry Hughes, a Scottish school teacher is the one deaf sailor to have sailed around the world solo.
Hughes started his circumnavigation on September 1, 2012 from the Firth of Clyde on Scotland's west coast aboard his Beaneteau 42s7, Quest III. More than 32,000 miles later, and after he had doubled the world's five southernmost capes, he arrived home on May 8, 2013. Hughes said he undertook his circumnavigation to fulfill a lifelong ambition and, more important, to inspire young deaf people to overcome the obstacles they must face in life.