Lucky, plucky Jeanne's going really well

Lucky, lucky lone yachtsperson Jeanne Socrates ploughing across the Southern India Ocean, down in the Roaring Forties, remarkably without interference from the sea or the weather.

I say lucky, but much of her good fortune must be attributable to her skill.

 Well, she is a very experienced sailor, and no stranger to the anfractuosities of the Southern Ocean and its fringes.

 The Roaring Forties, though, is home to king-sized waves and extraordinarily powerful weather.

 Jeanne, 76, is determined to become the oldest woman to sail solo nonstop unassisted around the world , plus the first woman to sail solo nonstop unassisted around the world from North America.

186th day at sea

Early this morning, her navigation equipment put her at 40˚ 41' 23“ S 102˚ 17' 24“ on this her 186th day at sea and alone.

 On my 97th day, I was not far from her position. Of course, I sailed as most circumnavigators do, from Plymouth, UK, whereas Jeanne chose the unusual route from the Pacific coast of the US.

 The advantage is that the major, scary challenge of getting round Cape Horn comes early in the voyage.

 It allows Jeanne to believe that she has managed successfully the riskiest part of the immense voyage. Without a doubt, though, for a solitary person, the whole route is, as the expression goes, fraught with danger. One has only to slip, and topple overboard, for instance.

 I was near Jeanne's longitude, though a little further north as I aimed very slowly for Perth, in West Australia.

 The schooner, Spirit of Pentax, had been badly damaged when a storm turned her over not far from South Africa.

 The foremast was bent and cracked which left the yacht, which didn't have an engine, with quite a challenge. Continues on the blogs for my ocean adventuring book, Sailing to Purgatory, at http://sailingtopurgatory.com/index.php/feeds/375-lucky-plucky-jeanne-s-going-really-well