Jeanne Socrates Oldest Person solo RTW attempt

[Paul Elliott]

Jeanne left Victoria on Wednesday (Oct 19, 2016) and she had been fighting contrary winds since she left. There have been a couple of offshore low-pressure systems that have given her both very light and fairly strong winds from the wrong direction. She is preparing for some heavy southerlies and pretty big seas starting tomorrow, and plans to heave-to using a drogue if necessary to keep her from losing too much ground as she tries to get south. At this point she is about 120 NM offshore, latitude just south of Portland, Oregon

She has finally got her Iridium hourly position report working -- you can find her track here: Enable Cookies - GSatTrack
I've been seeing website errors at that link, but sometimes it works fine. Even if the page doesn't properly load, you can still get position details by clicking the little ">>" icon at the upper left of the screen. I don't know what timezone her hourly report is using -- but it looks like it might be East Coast USA.

You can also see Jeanne's daily (more or less) position reports that she sends (by email I presume). Here's a link: YACHT-INFO KC2IOV

There are other sites that use this data, but this one has a nice presentation.

Jeanne also sometimes calls into the ham radio Pacific Seafarers Net to report status and position. I see that she checked in this evening.

And here is Jeanne's blog, where she has been giving good daily updates: S/V Nereida Blog

She's got some nasty conditions to face over the next week, but I believe her schedule is being driven by the need to get around Cape Horn in the southern hemisphere summer months. She also departed Victoria in October for her previous round-the-world effort, and did see similar conditions, so I suppose she knows what she's in for.

[groundtackle]

Thanks for that Paul, all in one place now.

[KetoNomad]

I hope to be doing what I love at that age. Good for her! In a world where most people talk like you ar just waiting for death after 29 this is good to read

[Paul Elliott]

Here are the conditions Jeanne is in the middle of today:


She is being forced back north at 3 kts, and is towing a Jordan Series Drogue and reporting 50 kt winds, very heavy seas.

[Jim Cate]

Originally Posted by Paul Elliott

Here are the conditions Jeanne is in the middle of today:


She is being forced back north at 3 kts, and is towing a Jordan Series Drogue and reporting 50 kt winds, very heavy seas.

ICK! not a nice way to begin any jouney. But it should sort out any unnown weak points that she's missed in her preparations.

Jim

[Littlechay]

Originally Posted by Paul Elliott

She is being forced back north at 3 kts, and is towing a Jordan Series Drogue and reporting 50 kt winds, very heavy seas.

She likes her Jordan. I hope she has found a way to recover it safely; so far she hasn't had much luck with getting them back aboard!

It will be interesting to read what she has to say about it.

[GILow]

Originally Posted by barnakiel

Our young friend and a great stunt biker undertook a long solo desert biking expedition. Once back home, he posted on his website that he was the first and only person to had done this and that. To his surprise, he received an email from a girl in Australia who told him she did the same thing a couple of years earlier, without all the media fuss. She sent him images and a description which clearly showed she was not joking. Even worse: she said she was not the first one either: some time back another guy did just the same.

And I know the "girl" in question. :^)


Sent from my iPad using Cruisers Sailing Forum

[DeepFrz]

Jeanne's drogue has broken loose on one side. She said in her blog that it is the next storm coming up that is the most worrisome although she is concerned about the cross seas coming up when the wind shifts.

[alctel]

Two solid days of 50kn+ winds - ouch.

She's tougher than I am.

[DeepFrz]

Being in that area of the Pacific must be like being in a washing machine.

[JPA Cate]

Wishing her well, hope she gets enough of a break to re-attach, recover and re-deploy the JSD.

A comment about her, and the radio. She has made a lot of ham radio friends, sorta like internet friends, around the world, and she is gregarious, she loves to "have a chat". For her that is "fun."

Getting pounced on by these lows, is something to get through. Best wishes, Jeanne.

Ann

[robert sailor]

That's a tough area to sail when the winds are really blowing, it's not to be compared to your typical trade wind sail. This area and north has a well deserved reputation for crap weather and large seas, who knows it just might be the worse weather she gets. She's one tough cookie, wishing her all of the best.

[Paul Elliott]

Jeanne gave a real nice update in her blog this morning. Drogue recovered, with damage, staysail ripped. She's heading west while she can, I think to get towards the calmer center of the approaching low, and then to get a ways south before the headwinds resume.

I'm posting a running "Nereida" commentary on my Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/paul.elliott.98434

Here's Jeanne's blog: S/V Nereida Blog

[Polux]

Everybody is free for doing what one wants but all this seemed crazy to me. It seems that her goal is already lost and she has to begin again due to shredded sails.

Not even professional sailors doing racing circumnavigations risk 50k winds. They avoid them with the help of good routing, taking shelter if needed.

[buzzstar]

Her recent reports suggest (to me) that an opportunity for improvement may exist for the JSD. If if recall correctly it is open to development (essentially a benefit bestowed on sailors by the "inventor").