Teen sailor home after epic voyage
Source: Agencies |
May 16, 2010, Sunday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
A 16-YEAR-OLD Australian girl who spent seven months at sea in her pink yacht sailed across the finish line of her round-the-world journey yesterday, becoming the youngest sailor to circle the globe solo, nonstop and unassisted.
Thousands of spectators erupted into cheers as Jessica Watson sailed into Sydney Harbour, the finale to an epic adventure in which she battled 12-meter waves, homesickness and critics who said she'd never make it home alive.
"She said she'd sail around the world, and she has," a tearful Julie Watson said as she watched her grinning daughter cruise past the finish line from a nearby boat.
Watson docked at Sydney's iconic Opera House. The teenager burst into tears and gasped in relief as she stepped off the yacht and into the arms of her parents, whose decision to let their daughter attempt the feat had been called an act of insanity by critics.
She hung onto her father and brother as she walked slowly and tentatively along a pink carpet rolled out in her honor - her first steps on land in 210 days. Fans screamed and waved as she walked by, many wearing pink clothes and holding pink flags in a nod to her 10-meter yacht, Ella's Pink Lady.
"People don't think you're capable of these things - they don't realize what young people, what 16-year-olds and girls are capable of," Watson told the raucous crowd. "It's amazing, when you take away those expectations, what you can do."
Watson, from Buderim, north of Brisbane, sailed out of Sydney on October 18 despite protests by critics that she was too immature and inexperienced.
Her journey took her northeast through the South Pacific and across the equator, south to Cape Horn at the tip of South America, across the Atlantic Ocean to South Africa, through the Indian Ocean and around southern Australia.
Australian Jesse Martin holds the current record for the youngest person to sail around the world solo, nonstop and unassisted in 1999 at the age of 18.
Martin boarded Watson's boat to take over during her cruise toward the Opera House so she could relax and wave to fans.
Watson's feat will not be considered an official world record because the World Speed Sailing Record Council discontinued its "youngest" category.
Prime Minister Kevin Rudd greeted Watson at the Opera House with a grin and a hug, dubbing her "Australia's newest hero" - a description Watson dismissed.
"I'm actually going to disagree with the Prime Minister," she said, as the crowd laughed.
"I don't consider myself a hero. I'm an ordinary girl who believed in her dream."
Thousands of spectators erupted into cheers as Jessica Watson sailed into Sydney Harbour, the finale to an epic adventure in which she battled 12-meter waves, homesickness and critics who said she'd never make it home alive.
"She said she'd sail around the world, and she has," a tearful Julie Watson said as she watched her grinning daughter cruise past the finish line from a nearby boat.
Watson docked at Sydney's iconic Opera House. The teenager burst into tears and gasped in relief as she stepped off the yacht and into the arms of her parents, whose decision to let their daughter attempt the feat had been called an act of insanity by critics.
She hung onto her father and brother as she walked slowly and tentatively along a pink carpet rolled out in her honor - her first steps on land in 210 days. Fans screamed and waved as she walked by, many wearing pink clothes and holding pink flags in a nod to her 10-meter yacht, Ella's Pink Lady.
"People don't think you're capable of these things - they don't realize what young people, what 16-year-olds and girls are capable of," Watson told the raucous crowd. "It's amazing, when you take away those expectations, what you can do."
Watson, from Buderim, north of Brisbane, sailed out of Sydney on October 18 despite protests by critics that she was too immature and inexperienced.
Her journey took her northeast through the South Pacific and across the equator, south to Cape Horn at the tip of South America, across the Atlantic Ocean to South Africa, through the Indian Ocean and around southern Australia.
Australian Jesse Martin holds the current record for the youngest person to sail around the world solo, nonstop and unassisted in 1999 at the age of 18.
Martin boarded Watson's boat to take over during her cruise toward the Opera House so she could relax and wave to fans.
Watson's feat will not be considered an official world record because the World Speed Sailing Record Council discontinued its "youngest" category.
Prime Minister Kevin Rudd greeted Watson at the Opera House with a grin and a hug, dubbing her "Australia's newest hero" - a description Watson dismissed.
"I'm actually going to disagree with the Prime Minister," she said, as the crowd laughed.
"I don't consider myself a hero. I'm an ordinary girl who believed in her dream."
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