Jessica Watson
Jessica Rose Watson is an Australian sailor who was awarded after attempting a solo circumnavigation at the age of 16 from 18 October 2009 to 15 May 2010. Although she circled the planet, she did it in a narrow range of latitudes that resulted in her voyage falling short of the distance criterion of for a circumnavigationthe equivalent of the circumference of the Earth at the equatorby nearly ; Watson was nevertheless named 2011 Young Australian of the Year and awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia in 2012 for "...service to sailing and to youth through the achievement of sailing solo and unassisted around the world , and as a role model for young Australians"., she resides in Melbourne. Netflix produced a film, True Spirit, about Watson's voyage.
Early life
Jessica Rose Watson was born on the Gold Coast, Queensland. The second of four children of New Zealand–born couple Roger and Julie Watson, who moved to Australia in 1987, she has dual Australian and New Zealand citizenship. She has an older sister and younger brother and sister. All four took sailing lessons as children, and the family went on to live on board a 16-metre cabin cruiser for five years, the children being home schooled via distance learning. Later they lived on a purpose-built double-decker bus for some time. When Watson was eleven and they were still living on the boat, her mother read Jesse Martin's book Lionheart: A Journey of the Human Spirit to the children as a bedtime story. This led to Watson forming the ambition, at age 12, to sail around the world too. She started sailing when she was 14 years old.Voyage and publicity
In planning her trip, Watson conferred with an official of the World Sailing Speed Record Council for the criteria for a global circumnavigation: "a vessel must start from and return to the same point, must cross all meridians of longitude and must cross the Equator.... The shortest orthodromic track of the vessel must be at least 21,600 nautical miles".Officially announced in May 2009, the journey was expected to take eight months with an estimated sailing distance of. To fulfill the plan of sailing non-stop and unassisted, during the journey no other person would be allowed to give her anything and she must not moor to any port or other boat, although advice over radio communication would be permitted.
Watson's planned circumnavigation route was to start and end at Sydney and to pass near New Zealand, Fiji, Kiribati, Cape Horn, Cape of Good Hope, Cape Leeuwin and South East Cape. According to the circumnavigation criteria set by the International Sailing Federation's WSSRC, one of the necessary conditions is crossing the equator. Such a crossing was carried out near Kiritimati, though it is not clear whether the planned voyage took the WSSRC's orthodromic distance criteria into consideration. Watson arrived back in Sydney Harbour at 1:53 pm, Saturday 15 May 2010.
The Los Angeles Times reported Watson's reason for her journey: "I wanted to challenge myself and achieve something to be proud of. And yes, I wanted to inspire people. I hated being judged by my appearance and other people's expectations of what a 'little girl' was capable of. It's no longer just my dream or voyage. Every milestone out here isn't just my achievement, but an achievement for everyone who has put so much time and effort into helping getting me here."
Watson wrote a book about her experience, True Spirit, published by Hachette Australia. The book was released 29 July 2010.
Watson filmed a documentary about her solo trip before, during and after completing her journey. It was narrated by Sir Richard Branson and premiered on One HD on 16 August 2010, before being released on DVD along with a CD album on 20 August 2010.
Preparation
As training, Watson crewed on a number of vessels, including OceansWatch's Magic Roundabout on which she acted as skipper during a crossing of the Tasman Sea. At the time she left on her voyage, Watson had the following qualifications:- RYA/ISAF Offshore Safety course Cat zero
- RYA Diesel Engine course
- RYA Radar course
- YAs Safety and Sea Survival certificate
- OMTC-issued Certificates of Competence for Apply First Aid HTLF301B
- IMO-compliant Elementary First Aid Table A VI/1-3 STCW95
- Yachtmaster Ocean theory certificates
- Radio operator's licence
- About 6,000 coastal and 6,000 ocean miles experience.
Boat
Test run and collision
During a test run sailing from Brisbane to Sydney, on her first night after leaving Brisbane, Ella's Pink Lady collided with the Silver Yang, a 63,000-tonne bulk carrier at about 02:00 am on 9 September 2009 near Point Lookout. Watson's boat was dismasted in the collision. She was able to retain control and return the boat to Southport under motor.The Australian Transport Safety Bureau's preliminary report on the collision found that Watson had been taking a five-minute nap during the event, and that while she had checked her radar prior to lying down, she had failed to spot the Silver Yang. This led to the accident four minutes later. The report also found that the Silver Yang had been aware of her presence and had attempted to change course, but that this had been insufficient to avoid Watson's boat.
The final report was released in June 2010. The report stated that both Watson and the Silver Yang watchkeepers had failed to maintain an adequate lookout and that both had failed to properly employ the navigational aids. In addition, the report found that the watchkeeper on the Silver Yang had failed to offer assistance to Watson after the two vessels had collided.
Journey
Watson sailed out of Sydney Harbour on 18 October 2009 in her pink-hulled Ella Baché–sponsored Ella's Pink Lady. Eighteen days later, on 5 November, she passed Tonga, sailing clear of both New Zealand and Fiji.As required for a full circumnavigation, she crossed the equator on 19 November 2009, near Jarvis Island at about 161°40'W longitude, and rounded Kiritimati on 22 November 2009 after 36 days. Then she crossed the equator again at 156°20'W longitude, and continued south-easterly towards Cape Horn. The sailed distance from Sydney to Kiritimati was about 3,900 nmi. At Christmas she was near Point Nemo, the place located furthest from land.
On 13 January 2010 she passed Cape Horn, having sailed around 9,800 nmi in 87 days. This was 11 days ahead of the planned per day schedule. Soon after her parents flew over her in a small plane in order to witness the passage. Just over a week later, on 23 January 2010, several days after passing the Falkland Islands, she suffered four knock-downs in a severe storm with 10-metre waves and winds. The storm caused minor damage to her boat and her emergency beacon was inadvertently activated as the mast hit the water.
The halfway point on the voyage was passed on 25 January 2010, her 100th day at sea, based on the original calculation of sailing route.
On 15 February 2010, she crossed the Prime Meridian, crossing from the Western Hemisphere to the Eastern Hemisphere. This placed her near the Cape of Good Hope, which she passed on 24 February, reaching Cape Agulhas, and crossing from the Atlantic Ocean into the Indian Ocean. From southern Africa, Watson sailed more than towards Western Australia.
Watson arrived in the Australian economic zone on 10 April 2010, celebrating with crackers and Vegemite. There her parents and media flew over her in a small plane in order to welcome her. She passed Cape Leeuwin on south-western Australia two days later, with approximately remaining.
When south of Australia, Watson suffered a lot of bad weather. In this part of the journey, she had at least three knockdowns, one of them with the mast deep into the sea, but escaped serious damage and injury. The swells she experienced in the Great Australian Bight were up to 12 metres in height, higher than at any time before.
On 3 May, Watson rounded the South East Cape of Tasmania and began heading north to Sydney, her final destination. She completed her journey on day 210 of her voyage at 1:53 pm on 15 May 2010 when she arrived in Sydney Harbour. Her 17th birthday was three days later.
During the journey Watson had to repair the boat and the equipment. Several of the repairs were reported on the blog: the battery monitor, the stove, toilet and mainsail, the toilet again, replacement of wind generator blades, the kettle, the mainsail again, replacement of the wind generator with a spare, and finally the fuel pump of the engine.