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Youngest round the world sailor nearly home.


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Has anyone from outside of Australia been following this?

Jessica Watson aged 16, will be the youngest sailor ever to have sailed around the globe unassisted when she arrives in Sydney harbour next week. I think she will be lucky to stand up once she steps ashore after 7 months on a small boat.

 

jessica-watson-boat.jpg

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Though she was too young, too frail to handle it.

Then she had her accident with the tanker on the way to the start in Sydney. I thought her parents were irresponsible and feared it would end in tragedy. I have followed her trip every step of the way http://www.jessicawatson.com.au/ and will be there on Saturday to wave her home, eat my words and applaud her remarkable feat.

Never judge a book........

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Originally Posted By: deemacvee
Though she was too young, too frail to handle it.
Then she had her accident with the tanker on the way to the start in Sydney. I thought her parents were irresponsible and feared it would end in tragedy. I have followed her trip every step of the way http://www.jessicawatson.com.au/ and will be there on Saturday to wave her home, eat my words and applaud her remarkable feat.
Never judge a book........


I to was very concerned for her and thought her parents were insane letting her do it. BUT have also been following her trip. WELL DONE you GO GIRL!!!! She is one tough little cookie.
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I was so so wrong and she was so right. A true Aussie "I can do it and dont care what anyone else thinks" spirit. She isnt home yet though so fingers crossed. I watched a doco on the guy who paddled a canoe, almost all the way from Aus to NZ, sadly died within sight of land.....

 

Back on topic, just goes to show girls can do anything...

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SHE MADE IT !!!

 

Unbelievable achievement. A little girl who is not even old enough to drive a car across town has sailed solo, unassisted, non-stop around the world.

 

In the words of one veteran Sydney to Hobart sailor." We thought we were tough. She makes us all look like Doris Day"

158289-jessica-watson.jpg

 

 

Alt_Jessica_nears_South_Head1.jpg

 

 

Alt_Ella_moves_up_the_harbour1.jpg

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But a few good points have been raised - has she actually sailed around the world?

 

Been reading up on this journey, hence why I haven't commented. An amazing achievement for someone so young. But to sail around the world, I thought you had to reach an opposite point to where you started? I.e. starting in UK, you had to reach tip of NZ or somewhere?

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well it depends on whether she actually went AROUND the world. What was her route? Although still fantastic, but if she sailed up to the equator and back, thats not "around" the world is it? Also sailing to an opposite point on the world isn't "around" either, thats "across". Surely to be truely "around" you would have to sail to that opposite point and back again to the start??

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Well for example, the traditional circumnavigation from the UK is start in Portsmouth, the opposite side would be the North tip of NZ.

 

Like this:

CircumnavigationByCapes.png

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If someone where to sail around Antarctica, that would be around the world, but would you classify it the same as someone who followed the red line?

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Im pretty sure one of the rules is that you have to cross the equator for it to count. If you do that its Gold. Whilst many great sea fairing ventures started from the UK in the past,you surely dont have to visit the mother country to qualify smile

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Interesting article that Rob.

 

Basically it boils down to a WSSRC definition of round the world sailing, in fact it all comes down to the distance travelled and the method calculated.

 

Why the distance discrepancy? The different set of distance has popped up because media has been given Jessica's distance sailed by summing distances sailed from sat tracking or perhaps daily logs, therefore counting every zig and zag across the oceans. That of course has never been the way any sailing distances are calculated.

 

Also interesting that the WSSRC doesn't even recognized Jesse Martins record either and wouldn't recognize Jess Watsons no matter how far she travelled.

The WSSRC no longer recognizes the 'youngest' or 'oldest' in any area of sailing.

 

The truth is, the word 'record' is being used less and less in the media because people aren't really interested in that. The focus is more on the achievement.

 

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Somehow I don't think it will be the last we hear about that either. There's always controversy surrounding major events like this and the the old boys at the WSSRC are certainly entitled to their opinion.

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I was fortunate this weekend. A mates birthday party on a party boat on Sydney Harbour was set to depart a few hours after she was supposed to get in - but due to her delay in arriving we were right there as little Jess arrived at the Opera House. Was quite exciting! Good for her!

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