Solo yachtswoman Dee Caffari celebrated Burns Night deep in the Southern Ocean aboard her yacht Aviva last night, with a special box of supplies from her mentor, sailing legend Sir Chay Blyth.
Solo yachtswoman Dee Caffari celebrated Burns Night deep in the Southern Ocean aboard her yacht Aviva last night, with a special box of supplies from her mentor, sailing legend Sir Chay Blyth.
Caffari is following in Sir Chay’s footsteps, who became the first person to sail solo and non-stop round the world against the prevailing winds and currents in 1971. Known as the Aviva Challenge, she is in the tenth week of her attempt to become the first woman ever to complete the feat. She has only just passed Point Nemo - the furthest point away from land in any ocean - so of all the Burns Night celebrations around the world, hers was arguably the most remote and loneliest.
A break in the weather has allowed her to celebrate Burns Night, but last week it would have been impossible. Dee was battling upwind in violent seas against the notorious belt of westerly winds and her 72ft Challenge yacht was launching from the top of waves into the trough of the next, landing with a chilling crunch.
“We stowed a traditional menu on board before she left Portsmouth,” said Sir Chay, originally from Hawick, “including Haggis, neeps and two bottles of whisky, one for the haggis and one for the traditional gravy. We also gave her a book of Burns and some Scottish music - it doesn't matter where you are in the world, Burns Night should always be celebrated, even in the Southern Ocean.”
Talking about her traditional Burns Night supper Caffari, said: “Although a newcomer to Haggis and a firm believer of 'don't knock it, 'til you try it', I can safely say it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be … A wee dram later and a good fill, Aviva and I are doing well.”
Asked about Dee’s progress, Sir Chay said: “She is going great overall but has slowed down recently. But it is not the speed that is important; it’s the success of the whole voyage that is the key. Dee is not racing anybody or trying to beat a record, she is attempting a world-first, and all being well she will become the first woman to achieve a single-handed non-stop circumnavigation against the prevailing winds.
“She still has over 15,000 miles to go, but she is approaching a major psychological milestone. In roughly three weeks she will pass south of New Zealand and hit the halfway mark, then she’s on the downhill run. It will feel like she is sailing toward home instead of away from it, which will be a huge boost.”
Caffari first met Sir Chay when she was selected as a Global Challenge skipper, the only female chosen to lead one of the amateur round-the-world racing crews in last year’s race. They quickly formed a relationship over above that of employer and employee and while at a stopover in Cape Town, Sir Chay suggested the Aviva Challenge to Caffari. By the end of the next leg to Boston Caffari had started planning how to modify the 72ft Challenge yacht so she could sail it single-handed, without the usual complement of 17 others on board with her.
This is Caffari’s second circumnavigation against the prevailing winds in two years, but sailing the hard way from east to west alone has not been easy. During the first ten weeks of the voyage she has faced extreme sleep deprivation, violent storms and mountainous waves. Just before Cape Horn the voyage was close to failure when the autopilot system developed a serious fault. With the help of her shore-based technical team Caffari eventually fixed the system and was given the green light to continue past Cape Horn and into the Southern Ocean.
Dee is posting regular logs and you can follow her progress and send her messages at www.avivachallenge.com.
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Enquiries:
Karen Earl Sponsorship
Georgina Spring +44 (0) 207 202 2854
Caroline Ayling +44 (0) 207 202 2840
Aviva
Hayley Stimpson +44 (0) 207 662 7544
Notes to editors:
Aviva and The Aviva Challenge
- www.avivachallenge.com includes a voyage tracker, Dee’s daily logs, an image library, profiles of Dee and her shore team, the yacht Aviva and further information about The Aviva Challenge
- Aviva is the world’s sixth-largest insurance group based on gross worldwide premiums and market capitalisation (at 31 December 2004); it is one of the leading providers of life and pensions in Europe and has substantial businesses in other markets around the world. Aviva’s main activities are long-term savings, fund management and general insurance, with worldwide total income of Ł40 billion and assets under management of Ł280 billion at 31 December 2004
- Aviva is sponsoring Dee Caffari’s "Aviva Challenge" as part of its "Forward thinking" pan-European advertising campaign. The print, on-line and television corporate campaign, targeting Europe’s opinion-former community, will run until April 2006. As part of the campaign, Aviva has also commissioned RSA Films to make five film shorts for CNBC TV, featuring people who have a particularly powerful vision of the future and celebrating the remarkable achievements of these individuals
- The current world record for a non-stop single-handed circumnavigation of the globe against the prevailing winds and currents is 122 days, 14 hours, 3 minutes and 49 seconds and is held by Frenchman Jean Luc Van Den Heede.
Challenge Business
- Challenge Business is the organiser for "The Aviva Challenge", co-ordinating the shore team and logistics behind Dee Caffari’s solo, non-stop circumnavigation
- Challenge Business is a market leader in creating, managing and promoting World Class events - providing the opportunity for ordinary people to do the extraordinary, for the professionals to reach for the extreme and visionary businesses to achieve amazing results
- Challenge Business uses the participation and passion of adventure sport to create integrated marketing programmes for innovative businesses and has a sponsorship community of many hundreds of blue chip companies worldwide.