After 85 days at sea, Dee Caffari, is off bottom of New Zealand’s
South Island, and has passed the half way stage in her attempt to become
the first woman to sail westwards around the world unassisted and without
stopping.

“I now know that every mile is now a homeward mile rather than a mile further away,” she said.

Caffari added that she was “back in the windy stuff again”, Aviva
Challenge reefed down in 35 knots of wind and settling into the second
portion of the Southern Ocean.

She is tackling the westabout, upwind, up-current route negotiated by Sir
Chay Blyth in 1971 with British Steel in 392 days.

Since then two others have tackled the route in yachts from Blyth’s
Challenge fleet. Mike Golding set a time of 161 days in 1994 and Samantha
Brewster managed 247 days in 1996, but with a stop and help for repairs.
The best time is 122 days, set by France’s Jean Luc van den Heede.