Jeanne Socrates’ Records

On October 24, Jeanne Socrates set sail from Victoria, B.C. aboard her Najad 380 Nereida bound for…Victoria. In the wee hours of Monday morning, she crossed her outbound track, thus completing her first nonstop singlehanded circumnavigation. This was Jeanne’s third attempt at solo circumnavigation — her first try ended just 60 miles from her goal when her boat was lost on a remote Mexican beach, and her second ended after a violent knockdown at Cape Horn damaged her new Nereida. 

This time around, Jeanne set her sights on a couple of records, one official and one unofficial. Solo circumnavigator Tony Gooch took her times for the World Sailing Speed Record Council, and verification should come soon that she is the first woman to have sailed solo nonstop around the world starting from North America. A possibly more impressive, but unrecognized, record is that, at 70, she has become the oldest woman to do so.

We’ll have a full report on Jeanne’s amazing accomplishment in the August issue of Latitude 38, but in the meantime, watch a nice Canadian news report on her journey and check out her log.