Jessica Watson – too young for 2010 Rolex Sydney to Hobart race?

by Sail-World.com on 17 May 2010 On arrival in Sydney back in Sydney on Saturday Jessica Watson stated her desire to do some ocean racing.

Don McIntyre the owner of the S&S 34, Ella’s Pink Lady, which Jessica Watson just sailed into Sydney Harbour after 210 days at sea, has proposed that the boat should be sailed in the 2010 Rolex Sydney Hobart race by an all girl crew.

Naturally discussion was who might go with Jessica in a very high profile entry, but there is one stumbling block, Jessica who turns 17 years old on Tuesday 18th May 2010 is too young to sail the 628 nautical mile race this December.

Whoops...

Since the tragic 1998 Rolex Sydney to Hobart race, in which six sailors died the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia (CYCA) has set a minimum age limit of 18 for crew members in the Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race.

There were until then, no age limits. Well known Perth yachtsman Rolly Tasker took his wife and daughter, then aged only four, to Hobart aboard his maxi yacht, Siska, back in the 1970s.

There have been quite a number of teenage boys and girls who have sailed with their fathers (and mothers), including Tasmanian Ken Gourlay’s 14-year-old son who sailed on Kismet in 1957.

A 12-year-old lad sailed aboard Aspect Computing in the storm battered 1998 Race.

The youngest recorded skipper is Sean Kirkjian (17) who skippered his parents’ yacht, Lady Ann, in the 1986 Race with his mother, Ann, as navigator.

While there have been many applications for sailors younger than 18, asking to be allowed to compete in the Hobart race based on their experience, these have been denied. But Jessica Watson certainly has more sea miles than any of the recent applicants

Now it seems the question is might the CYCA introduce an experience/age waiver clause?