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Jeanne, 76, prays for wind in the world's wildest ocean
Brit sailing star Jeanne Socrates, a mere 76-year-old, sailing for more than seven months in her circumnavigation is - quite remarkably - being dogged by light conditions.
Taking a breather ... Sailing ship crews called Jeanne's location the Roaring Forties, for a very good reason, and one that I can attest to. However, the wildest ocean on our planet is being much kinder for this very brave lady.
In one of the notorious corners of the Southern Ocean, near Tasmania, south of Australia, instead of the wild conditions I experienced on my singlehanded circumnavigation in Spirit of Pentax, Jeanne bemoans a protracted becalming.
Her yacht, Nereida, is a fine seagoing vessel and like her captain, is certainly up to very strong conditions.
Trying to head south
Instead, as Jeanne logged at 0630 yesterday, 'Still trying to persuade the boat to head south in a very light wind. So difficult! The wind is now East-South-East, but very light so that it's difficult to make a close-hauled course.
'The best we seem to manage is 200° at under a knot. I want some more sleep but have to keep an eye on the self-steering and the heading.
'We've just gone around in a circle. The wind is just too light.
'I will have to furl in sail and just drift until some wind comes up again.
Taming a wild ocean ... A seascape wired by Jeanne from her yacht Neireida deep in the Roaring Forties.
'The wind generator blades are now totally still. They are not managing to turn even a little.'
At 1445pm, Jeanne logged, 'We're rolling about a lot and quite often towards the South-East in three-metre swells. Otherwise, there's hardly any movement. No wind at all.
Drifting at half a knot
'We're drifting South-East at around half a knot.'
'Fog lay west of us at sunset but we were away from it, under a cloudy sky, for quite a time. Still no wind...'
2300: 'Unfurled the genoa completely and we're underway finally - in a wind that is only up slightly so we're moving South-East at three knots in very fine drizzle.
'Maybe it's the thin fog. It's difficult to tell in the dark.'
Jeanne reports that she has sailed 18,757 nautical miles - by distance-made-good calculations - since she left Victoria, British Columbia, 217 days ago.
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An earlier story of Jeanne