Jeanne Socrates
Welcome to my Journey
My solo, nonstop circumnavigation starting October 2009
Nereida under sail
Click to enlarge
The new "Nereida" was initially commissioned on the River Hamble, near Southampton Water over April to June 2009, after being built in Sweden at the beginning of the year. She's a lovely boat - a Najad 380, which is the updated, re-designed, faster version of my previous Najad 361. I've made many changes and additions, so she's not a 'standard' N380 (one obvious, major change is that she's cutter-rigged, not a sloop). I hope she'll work well for me. (See 'Boat Details' page)
My plan was to trial her thoroughly around the Solent and Guernsey, with both long and short passages, before setting off from Guernsey towards the Canaries in early August, ready for more seatrials. Unfortunately, due to an error in ordering the correct anchor chain from Italy, the resulting long delay in its delivery has meant that I'll only be fully sea-trialling the boat on the 10 to 12-day offshore passage in early September from St Peterport (Guernsey) down towards Puerto Calero in Isla Lanzarote (Canaries). There I'll need to check/repair everything thoroughly again, ready to leave soon after the end of the month …. towards the end of the Southern winter.
I'll head down to South Africa and around again.... but this time I'll be sailing east-about nonstop .... via Cape Horn.... We'll see how it goes, but this time I hope to get all the way around!! It'll be totally different from my previous circumnavigation.... starting from the Atlantic, heading east in higher latitudes, passing south of the Five Great Capes.... I expect the journey to take 6-7 months. It'll be a definite challenge but “Nereida” sails beautifully, is a good sturdy boat and I'm looking forward to it.
(See Travels for links showing both where "Nereida" is now and also my path since leaving England in June '09)
My Previous Solo Circumnavigation, 26 March 2007 – 19 June 2008
On 15th August 2006, I completed a 'NE Pacific Loop' by sailing to Sitka from Hanalei Bay in Kauai after the finish of the Single-Handed Transpac Race to Hawaii from San Francisco (which I started on 24th June 2006).
I'd left Sitka the previous year (2005) as part of a cruise of SE Alaska, sailed down the Inside Passage to British Columbia and on to Puget Sound, where I was forced to stop for the winter months, and then on to San Francisco offshore in May 2006.
As a result of these ocean passages, and having to overcome the varied problems that cropped up en route, I gained in confidence tremendously and set my sights on sailing around the world.
I sailed down from Sitka in September '06 to San Diego, via the Inside Passage & the West coast of Vancouver Island, making the journey from Neah Bay singlehanded offshore to San Francisco for my third time in October '06. After some necessary work there, it was on to San Diego for a lot more work on the boat with my circumnavigation in mind. Then came a fast journey offshore down the Baja (Mexico) in February, ending eventually in Zihuatanejo (Mexico) from where my solo journey around the world finally started on Monday 26th March '07.
I reached Cairns (Australia) on 11th July '07, Richards Bay (South Africa) on 16th November '07 and left Trinidad for Panama on 1st May '08. After reaching the west coast of Mexico from Guatemala, I was making for San Francisco for the start of the 2008 Single-Handed TransPac Race but was then incredibly unlucky to lose "Nereida" on a steep surf beach north of Acapulco, less than twelve hours and about sixty miles short of completing my circumnavigation, on 19th June '08. (See 'Travels' page for more details of my route and for maps showing my position as I sailed around.)
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