Jeanne Socrates may hail from the United Kingdom, but she has plenty of Victoria friends getting ready to welcome her “home” next month from an epic voyage around the world.
On Monday, the 70-year-old grandmother and her 38-foot sailboat, Nereida, were 214 days into her voyage and located 1,300 nautical miles west-southwest of Hawaii.
She’s expected to sail into Victoria Harbour in late June or early July.
Barring any misfortune in the home stretch, Socrates is expected to set a record as the oldest woman to sail solo, unassisted and non-stop around the world.
She sailed out of Victoria in October 2012, choosing this as her start and finish point because it’s far enough north for her voyage to accumulate the required miles as set out in the rules. She also has many friends among Victoria’s sailing community.
Socrates is about 3,000 nautical miles from home and is travelling about 100 miles a day, depending on the winds.
She crossed the equator on May 17, Victoria supporter Shaun Peck said.
A computer breakdown means Socrates can no longer directly reply to emails or update her blog at svnereida.com, Peck said.
“She’s transmitting to ham radio operators and they are typing [her messages] into the blog. I’m surprised she’s been able to provide as much detail as she was giving before — it’s quite phenomenal.”
Socrates is “incredibly capable” at repairing equipment on her boat and is an inspiration, he said. “She has posted every day on all the things that have gone wrong and how she has fixed them.”
Ian Grant, a Victoria director of the Ocean Cruising Club — open to sailors who have completed a non-stop ocean passage of at least 1,000 nautical miles — said Socrates’ achievements are commendable.
“She’s an inspiration to us all —it’s fantastic,” he said. “I’m enormously proud of her.”
Grant plans to be among the throng to greet Socrates upon her arrival in Victoria.
“One of the things I’ll probably say to her is ‘Welcome home,’ even though it’s not her home,” he said. “She knows lots of people here. She’s gained the hearts of the sailing fraternity in Victoria, that’s for sure.”
This is Socrates’s third attempt at setting the record. An earlier voyage that began in the Canary Islands was scuttled when she was forced to stop in Cape Town, South Africa, for repairs.
In October 2010, Socrates tried again, setting sail out of Victoria. That voyage ended in January 2011 when Nereida was knocked down by high winds and heavy seas off Cape Horn.
