Brave Jeanne's almost at Cape Horn

Our courageous Brit yachtswoman, Jeanne Socrates, is hardly more than a day's hard sailing from notorious old Cape Horn and seems set within the next few hours to become the only lady mariner to pass it twice.

It's the 77-year-old singlehander's 76th day since she left the US Pacific Coast.

It certainly seems very likely her ambitions will be answered.

She aspires to be the oldest woman to sail solo non-stop and unassisted around the world, and the first woman to sail solo non-stop unassisted around the world from North America.

A Calm Personality

Her messages home yesterday reflect a calm personality coping remarkably well with daily life as she nears 60 degrees South.

'Wind is back up to 30 knots,' she writes. 'Glad the third reef is still in place!

'Finished chatting on radio and made a nice mug of hot soup.

'A big wave came along and half the soup went all over the stove top.

'I had half what I had looked forward to, plus the job of cleaning up the mess in these rough conditions...
Continues on the blogs for my ocean travel and adventure book, Sailing to Purgatory, at SailingToPurgatory.com