She’s Back At It, Trying To Circle World By Herself

Thu., May 8, 1997

Associated Press

Karen Thorndike, resuming her attempt to sail solo around the world, has reached Argentina, where she will wait out the Southern Hemisphere winter.

Thorndike, 52, of Snohomish, arrived in Mar del Plata, Argentina, on Tuesday, about two weeks after leaving Port Stanley, the Falkland Islands, according to her publicist, Cathy Main.

Thorndike has logged nearly 11,000 miles of her 30,000-mile journey.

She will resume her solo circumnavigation in early November. She will head for Perth, Australia, rounding the Cape of Good Hope at the tip of South Africa along the way.

From there she plans to round New Zealand and stop in Tahiti and Hawaii before returning to the continental United States in July 1998, Main said.

Thorndike’s departure from the Falklands on April 23 came three months after she left Port Stanley for the first time Jan. 29. She was rescued at sea by the British Royal Navy some 350 miles northeast of the Falklands on Feb. 3 after experiencing chest pains.

Thorndike returned to Seattle for medical tests, and decided to resume her voyage after doctors gave her a clean bill of health.

Only seven women have successfully circumnavigated the world alone. Thorndike had hoped to become the first American woman to claim that distinction. But on Monday, Illinois native Pat Henry dropped anchor in the Pacific resort of Acapulco eight years and a day after she left the port.

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