Dee Caffari and Aviva Challenge - week's update
by Sail-World on 22 Feb 2006
Current position of Dee Caffari in Aviva Challenge SW
Having passed the half-way point during last week, round-world solo sailor Dee Caffari is 92 days into her voyage, and has travelled 15,000 miles against the wind, much of it in the Southern Ocean.
Dee reports that she is “struggling with the voyage” psychologically, but Sail-World notes that the ‘wrong way’ solo sailor’s sense of humour has not abandoned her.
While it was a high point to reach half way, her ‘personal coach’ Harry Spedding reports that Dee has entered one of her ‘hardest psychological battles so far’, saying that ‘half a world still to go’ is a mentally draining prospect. In addition, the shallow waters of the South Tasman Rise are causing excessive sea state, and the latest bout of harsh conditions has forced Dee back into survival mode.
Dee’s own summary is that ‘I am struggling with the voyage at the present time.’
Thankfully, these conditions – that make life above and below deck so difficult – are predicted to give way to promising reaching conditions on Wednesday when a high-pressure system moves in and brings stable winds from the north-northwest. According to Harry Spedding, “at the moment it is sheer determination, and a healthy dose of bloody mindedness that is keeping her going. As her physical health, and thereby her strength, returns this should help to raise her morale.”
The conditions, too, will help Dee regain a positive state of mind as
she contemplates the mammoth task still ahead, but her diary entry on
Monday shows that even during difficult times such as these, she has not
lost her sense of humour:
“…we have sailed just over 15,000 miles. I have been onboard Aviva now
for 92 days from leaving Portsmouth and considering I have never been alone for even a week before, I am impressed that I still seem relatively sane!”
Dee in www.avivachallenge.com!Aviva_Challenge!same is attempting to be the first woman to sail solos non-stop round the world the ‘wrong way’ – against the winds, from east to west. Her journey started on November 20th, 2005, and is expected to take 150 to 180 days.
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