Teen sailor nears record
Source: Agencies |
May 14, 2010, Friday
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Print Edition
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AFTER seven months at sea, an Australian teen is just one day away from reaching the finish line in her bid to become the youngest person to sail solo, nonstop and unassisted around the world.
Thousands are expected at Sydney Harbour tomorrow to greet 16-year-old Jessica Watson, who has battled 12-meter waves, multiple knockdowns and critics who called her too immature and inexperienced for the treacherous journey.
"You've got to have a goal, you've got to go for something," Watson said last June, a few months before she set out in her pink 10-meter yacht for the nearly 23,000-nautical-mile voyage. "I have the experience, I have the team. I think I can do it."
Many thought she couldn't, and her parents faced withering criticism from those who believed allowing a teenager to attempt such a feat was foolish. But the couple repeatedly defended their decision, even after their daughter, who has been sailing since she was eight, collided with a merchant ship during a test run.
Watson, from Brisbane, sailed out of Sydney on October 18. She traveled northeast through the South Pacific and across the equator, then 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. She has survived on prepackaged meals, occasional freshly caught fish and a steady supply of chocolate.
Another Australian, Jesse Martin, who was 18 when he completed the journey in 1999, holds the current record for the youngest person to sail around the world solo, nonstop and unassisted.
But Watson's feat will not be considered an official world record, because the World Speed Sailing Record Council discontinued its "youngest" category.
Thousands are expected at Sydney Harbour tomorrow to greet 16-year-old Jessica Watson, who has battled 12-meter waves, multiple knockdowns and critics who called her too immature and inexperienced for the treacherous journey.
"You've got to have a goal, you've got to go for something," Watson said last June, a few months before she set out in her pink 10-meter yacht for the nearly 23,000-nautical-mile voyage. "I have the experience, I have the team. I think I can do it."
Many thought she couldn't, and her parents faced withering criticism from those who believed allowing a teenager to attempt such a feat was foolish. But the couple repeatedly defended their decision, even after their daughter, who has been sailing since she was eight, collided with a merchant ship during a test run.
Watson, from Brisbane, sailed out of Sydney on October 18. She traveled northeast through the South Pacific and across the equator, then 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. She has survived on prepackaged meals, occasional freshly caught fish and a steady supply of chocolate.
Another Australian, Jesse Martin, who was 18 when he completed the journey in 1999, holds the current record for the youngest person to sail around the world solo, nonstop and unassisted.
But Watson's feat will not be considered an official world record, because the World Speed Sailing Record Council discontinued its "youngest" category.
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