'Just hanging on': 76-year-old sailor hits milestone in race for round-the-world record

It hasbeen a solitary holiday season for a woman who is trying to become the oldest person to sail around the world alone, non-stop and unassisted.

But Jeanne Socrates, a 76-year-old British grandmother, has reason to celebrate.

Aboard the38-foot long S/V Nereida, Socrates has successfully navigated around Cape Horn.

The treacherous waters off the tip of South America are considered some of the most difficult on her route to circumnavigate the world.

"The weather there down in the Southern Ocean, that far down, you are not far from Antarctica of course, is just so strong and so very quick to change," she saidby satellite phone.

"Gusts up to 40 knots in big seas and just hanging on in there and thinking 'I've got to do this,'got to get around."

Socrates has used the satellite phone to stay in touch with family over the holidays. But the boat's radio has been her main companion during her months at sea.

She has only been able to see land for a few days during her journey.

• Rough seas force British sailor to abandon record-breaking trip launched in Victoria B.C.

Socrates left Victoriain October and hopes to make it back to the B.C. capital by early summer.

Despite the success of navigating around Cape Horn, Socrates said she has hit unfavourable weather conditions and hasfallen behind her planned schedule.

"Obviously my priority is to stay safe," she said.

Socrates wasforced to end her bid for the record during a trip in2016 when strong winds damaged her boat.

If she manages this time without setting foot on land or using the boat's engine, she will hold the record for the oldest person to sail solo around the world, non-stop and unassisted.

Socrates already holds therecord forthe oldest woman to make such a trip around the world. She setthat record over2012 and2013 with a 259-day journey that also started and finished in Victoria.

Socrates is using hertrip to raise money for for theRoyal National Lifeboat Institutionin Britain.