She's off! Jessica Watson departs Australia - but for what record?
by Nancy Knudsen on 18 Oct 2009
This is the AFP photo of the lolly-pink boat which is being flashed around the world as Jessica Watson paraded down Sydney Harbour on her way to the open sea and an attempted non-stop unassisted circumnavigation of the world. The boat is called ’Ella’s Pink Lady’ SW
After attracting world wide publicity in the mainstream media for hitting a cargo ship on her first night at sea, Australian 16-year-old Jessica Watson set out this morning from Sydney on her quest to be the youngest sailor to circumnavigate the world non-stop and unassisted.
She is leaving just two days before the preliminary report from the Australian Traffic Safety Bureau's on her skirmish with the bulk carrier.
Encouraged by a good forecast, Jessica paraded down Sydney Harbour, officially passing the start/finish line at Sydney Heads at 9.49am. to turn left and north to skirt the top of New Zealand. New South Wales Maritime enforced a strict exclusion zone around her yacht as she sailed out of Sydney Harbour.
What record she is going to beat is anyone's guess though. Fellow Australian Jesse Martin holds a record with the World Speed Sailing Record Council(WSSRC) for being the youngest to sail
non-stop and unassisted round the world, and this is the body that traditionally verifies and records sailing achievements. However, they have discontinued the category of 'youngest' for any sailing feat, and will not be recognising Jessica's journey, no matter how well she finishes it.
British Michael Perham set out recently to better Jesse's non-stop journey, but only reached the Canary Islands before he had to stop with autopilot problems. He continued on solo, but the non-assisted category was not his.
Michael had his round the world feat recognised by the Guinness Book of Records and his Californian counterpart Zac Sunderland by the American Sailing Association, neither of them non-stop or unassisted.
Californian teen Abby Sunderland, a little younger than Jessica, and Zac's sister, is still hoping to acquire an Open 40 to depart in November for a circumnavigation, and is also wanting to achieve her journey
. The third teen girl to express a desire to sail a circumnavigation (though more as a cruising journey, similar to Zac Sunderland's) is 13-year-old Dutch Laura Dekker, who is cooling her heels in court custody after the authorities put a two month stop to her planned voyage. Once the two months is over, it is anyone's guess as to whether she will be given permission to commence her journey.
Everyone from experienced round-world sailors to over-protective mums have been expressing their opinions about Jessica Watson's voyage, by far the majority of them in the negative. By painting the yacht bright lolly pink, Jessica - or her PR company who is advising her - are screaming simpering girlishness- the exact opposite of the qualities that Jessica will need for her venture into the Southern Ocean, where ten metres seas and 100 knot winds are common.
This concentration on the very femaleness of the expedition has no doubt encouraged detractors, who see her as a publicity-seeking dolly-bird, rather than a very determined and experienced sailor. Jessica, while not seeming to sport much in the muscle department, at least has more experience than Jesse Martin, who had not sailed out of his home waters of Melbourne's Port Phillip Bay before he set off for his circumnavigation.
By the time Jessica has to face the Southern Ocean she will have her sea legs, as the plan is to sail north to cross the equator, which the WSSRC would demand if they were going to recognise her record, which they are not. Her media management team are calling this a 'quality' circumnavigation.
Having crossed briefly into the northern hemisphere, probably by rounding Kiribati, she will then head southwards again for the big test, arriving in the area of Cape Horn in full summer, when the seas around Cape Horn are at their calmest.
After rounding the Horn, she intends to 'take a rest', by travelling a little north to get out of the Southern Ocean, which she must enter again to round the Cape of Good Hope and then set off across the Indian Ocean on her 'home stretch' to Australia and back to Sydney.
Solo circumnavigators are unique breed, spending long periods of time at sea with only the dolphins to talk to, and those who undertake such a journey non-stop are an even rarer breed, without the solace of a cup of coffee with another human occasionally. She expects to 'talk to mum every day', but it will still be a serious test for the young adventurer.
While she no doubt has the internal grit and emotional toughness to see it out, one must wonder if she has the physical strength to make a serious repair enroute.
Godspeed Jessica.
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Letters from Readers:
Sender: John Seipp
Message: Nancy Knudsen wrote well of Jessica --unlike the lies & snide comments ignoramuses have issued for weeks since her minor accident -- though obviously has not seen her in a 2 piece outfit & the tough looking stomach muscles & rippling arm muscles from hauling on ropes .
Anyone who has struggled with teenagers who exercise will know how amazingly strong & durable they can be .Note the durability of other sporting legends in more dangerous sports like Motor Racing where many take off top awards at a younger age & go on as top performers .
Who cares about the stuffed shirts & their record validity assessment ,the wave of publicityshe has created will drown those newts in their own stale backwater .
Jealousy is a curse !!
John Seipp
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