Jeanne Socrates’ Christmas plans are to be just northeast of the Falkland Islands, hopefully in calm seas.
The determined 76-year-old has just made it past what some are calling the toughest part of her around-the-world sail — Cape Horn at the tip of South America. She set out from Victoria Oct. 3, intent on getting back to the Inner Harbour in around 7 1Ú2 months after an unassisted, non-stop cicumnavigation.
The rules of such a journey — which she completed once before at the age of 70 — prohibit touching land or using a motor. If Socrates successfully finishes again, she will be the oldest person to have ever accomplised the feat.
Right now, the record is held by a Japanese man who rounded the globe in 2005 at the age of 71.
In total, Socrates has 31Ú2 solo sails around the world under her belt.
About 40 people gathered at the Royal Victoria Yacht Club this week to listen in on a satellite phone call from Socrates’ on her 38-foot boat, Nereida. Socrates, an honorary club member. It was about 8:30 p.m. in Victoria and 12:30 a.m. her time.
She said she has her Christmas meal all planned out.
“I’ve got chicken in white-wine sauce,” she said. There will be olives, hummous and Christmas cake, too. “I’ll be well fed.” Socrates told the group she also had a celebratory cocktail ready to go in honour of the call. “I’ve got my dark and stormy here, waiting to say ‘cheers’ to everyone.”
The group responded with three cheers of “hip hip hooray.”
Socrates wished everyone a happy holiday season and thanked them for getting behind her effort. “I really feel your support, it’s really fantastic. Thank you so much.”
It was decided there should be another gathering soon, when Socrates reaches the Cape of Good Hope. She figures she’ll be there in three or four weeks.
Club members recounted tales of her exploits so far.
“All that southern ocean is really windy, but Cape Horn is notoriously windy,” said Randy Diamond, past commodore of the yacht club. Socrates likely encountered waves there up to 10 metres high, he said. “Ten metres is basically the length of her boat as a wall of water.”
It can be a scary part of the voyage, said club member Steve IIlman. “She did mention this time it had gone beyond her comfort level.” Going solo around the world is a huge endeavour, Illman said. “For sailors, this is going to Mars.”
Socrates’ latest attempt to go solo and unassisted around the world follows two tries in 2016 that were thwarted by bad weather. Last year, she was badly injured in a fall from a ladder on her boat, leaving her with a broken neck, nine broken ribs and a concussion. Diamond said she spent six weeks in hospital.
Socrates, a retired mathematics professor who took up sailing at 48, has planned her current voyage down to the finest detail. Food staples include canned tuna and salmon and plenty of vegetables.
A mother and grandmother, she said that Lymington, England, is her theoretical place of residence, but she considers Nereida to be her home. Still, she has a network of friends all over the world, none more admiring than her boating allies in Victoria.
Along the way, Socrates is raising money for the Royal National Lifeboat Institution. The organization, based in England, gives search-and-rescue training and provides equipment.
