Jeanne sails into my miracle zone

'Ahoy, sailing vessel, Nereida,' we might well shout if we encountered courageous Brit sailing star, Jeanne Socrates, in the Tasman as she approaches Stewart Island at the foot of the long streak of New Zealand tonight.

Hailing her from the deck might be just about the only sure way of contacting Jeanne, 76, had tonight happened at the time I was sailing towards Cape Horn alone.

Of course, had the windmill on the stern of the schooner put enough charge into the batteries, VHF might well have worked.

Surrounded by sharks

(It was VHF that saved my life and the life of my lady shipmate in a shark-surrounded liferaft near the Roaring Forties on another voyage, so I'm certainly not knocking VHF.)

Jeanne is attempting to win records as the oldest woman to sail solo nonstop unassisted around the world . She wants, too, to be the first woman to sail solo nonstop unassisted around the world from North America. That very brave lady has been out there alone in the watery wilderness for 220 days.

I felt it was time to signal the admiration of this blogger and followers of the blog.

A foggy pea-souper

I wanted to send her a 'Take care' message because when I was close to her position on my circumnavigation, I found myself suddenly wrapped in a thick peasouper of a fog.

The wind dropped. Spirit of Pentax bobbed around for several hours.

Suddenly, a mighty wallop resounded through the 12-foot keel. The schooner had been caught in an invisible tide and swept onto an equally invisible beach.
Continues on the blogs for my ocean adventuring book, Sailing to Purgatory, at  http://sailingtopurgatory.com/index.php/feeds/391-jeanne-sails-into-my-miracle-zone