Almost the ridiculous towards the sublime ...

There I was lambasting the Brit media for overlooking the achievement of our elder sailing star, Jeanne Socrates, 77, when suddenly within days of her return surprise, surprise - heralded the magnificent achievement.

to dry land they –

When so many senior citizens seem to give up once they retire, it is hard to see how copy-tasters and editors weren't amazed the moment they heard of her goal and departure last October.

However, seemingly it meant little to them.

'Such a trend'

'Oh, a senior citizen going off to sea, to sail around the world absolutely alone in some of the most dangerous waters on the planet?

'It's such a trend these days. Hardly news.' And yet believe it or not, at the weekend Jeanne was the star of a media quiz. In the 'Test your knowledge of recent events' quiz in the Metro paper, the very brave elder was there as Question Number 1:

Jeanne Socrates, 77, has broken her own record by becoming the oldest person to do what?

Well done, Metro. But to add insult or injury by the media, listen – and probably look – at the attention given to a 37-year-old American lady swimming both ways across the Channel twice with escorting launches alongside just in case.

Higher rating

Good to laud the brave swimmer, but ….
Continues on the blogs for my ocean adventuring book, Sailing to Purgatory, at

http://sailingtopurgatory.com/index.php/feeds/443-almost-the-ridiculous-towards-the-sublime