Third time lucky for Jeanne?
‘Age is just a number that I prefer not to think about. It’s one’s health, fitness and mental attitude that matter,’ stated Jeanne Socrates as she continues on her voyage to become the oldest person to sail solo and non-stop around the world without assistance.
The 76-year-old left Victoria, British Colombia, in her Najad 380 Nereida on 3 October 2018 and hopes to complete her voyage by May 2019.
This is the third time the septuagenarian has tried to break the record, held since October 2016 by Minoru Saito of Japan. Previous attempts have been thwarted by storm damage to Nereida and a fall from a ladder in September 2017, which left Socrates hospitalised for months with a broken neck.
‘The main damage remaining from my accident is my slightly restricted neck rotation, from damage to the first two vertebrae and wearing a neck-brace as a result for over three months, but that’s not enough of a problem to cause me to cancel my attempt,’ Socrates told PBO via email as she sailed 400 miles off the coast of San Francisco.
She said that while she didn’t have the ‘daily exercise routine and fitness of an Olympic athlete’ she is managing fine, and believes ‘a positive mental attitude and plenty of determination, with the ability to stay calm in a crisis, are what matter far more.’
‘Everything on the boat is likely to fail at some point over seven to eight months of hard use, however well-prepared the boat is at the start, so I have to be prepared to cope with that,’ added Socrates, who holds the record for being the oldest woman to sail solo, non-stop and unassisted around the world. She was aged 70 years and 325 days old when she claimed the title.
The voyage, which is also raising money for the RNLI, can be followed at svnereida.com.