Jeanne Socrates, British solo grandmother, sails for the Horn

by Lee Mylchreest on 7 Dec 2010 British solo sailor Jeanne Socrates is this week over the equator and heading for Cape Horn. Timing her voyage so that she will round the much dreaded Cape Horn in the most favourable conditions, the gutsy grandmother, who didn't learn to sail until she was 51, is hoping that this time she'll make it round the world non-stop and unassisted.

One month after sailing out of Victoria Harbour in Canada, Jeanne celebrated her crossing with a glass of mango juice, she wrote in her blog. The 67-year-old British grandmother began Oct. 25 on what she hopes will be a seven-month voyage.

Her attempt is being recorded by the World Speed Sailing Record Council, and for that she carries a 'black box' to record her progress.

This epic, non-stop journey in her 38ft-foot boat Nereida, is the culmination of some extraordinary adventures already.

From March 2007 to June 2008, Socrates sailed around the world with planned stops. But her trip ground to a halt 60 nautical miles short of her starting point when, due to an autopilot failure, the boat went aground on a Mexican beach.

Her next attempt was to circle the globe solo and non-stop. She set out in October last year from the Canary Islands, but had to make unplanned stop two months later in Cape Town, South Africa, to replace the boat’s engine. Two months later, Socrates was heading eastward to Australia and New Zealand. She ended up in Port Townsend, Wa., for repairs in preparation for this attempt.

Jeanne learned the ropes of sailing with her husband in 1994, when she was 51.

A five-day course triggered Socrates’s enthusiasm. Her husband died of cancer in 2003, but Socrates carried on with plans to sail away to attend a rally in British Columbia. the following year, and sailed there alone.

Jeanne is hoping that this third attempt to circumnavigate solo will be 'third time lucky'. After Cape Horn, her route will take her on to South Africa, Australia and New Zealand.

She plans to sail back into Victoria’s Inner Harbour next May. Along the way she’s trying to raise funds for the Marie Curie Cancer Care, a British charity that enables nurses to care for terminal cancer patients in their homes.

Sail-World Cruising will continue to bring reports the journey of this truly amazing grandmother from time to time, but you can also follow her voyage almost daily on her blog at www.svnereida.com.