Jeanne Socrates is gearing up to make her third attempt to become the first woman to sail unsupported around-the-world via Cape Horn. What sets Jeanne apart from other RTW sailors? She is 68 years old which means, if she achieves her solo RTW goal, she will also carry the honor of being the oldest woman to have done so.
Socrates is a veteran offshore sailor. Her previous two RTW attempts were thwarted just shy of completion. A rogue wave wrecked her boat and ended her first RTW attempt in 2008 just 60 miles of the Pacific Coast of Mexico which had been her intended destination. Her second attempt ended in similar disappointment in January of 2011 when an unintended stop for repairs from an ill-fated knockdown forced her to lose her weather window.
In October 2012, Socrates plans to leave from Victoria, British Columbia to make her third and final attempt at an unsupported sail around-the-world. She will travel aboard her Najad 380, Nereida. In the meantime, Socrates has kept herself busy sailing for 56 days from Cape Town to Hobart and for another 37 days carrying on from Hobart to Tahiti.
When Socrates arrives in British Columbia at the end of July to prepare for her RTW trip, she will have completed a RTW with stops via the Five Great Capes.