Sailing around the world

[Lynlee]

http://yachte.com/news/story.asp?story=29084
So near to home and yet so far....

[OKay]

Good Morning!

Solo boating around the world.....WHOA!! What an adventure! I can't imagine the challenges she is facing.

Out the door to payroll. *POOF*

[lucylee]

And there are TWO of them! Two teenage girls who are brave enough to try this and whose parents are allowing them to go on this incredible adventure! WOW. I am just in awe. (I posted a link to the other girl on PWYC Tues. night. Thanks for showing us where to find this one, Lyn!)

[Lynlee]

This one comes from near here (relatively), ran into a freighter badly damaging yacht 1st night on way to start from Sydney. The yacht got fixed and amid huge contoversy she set out.
Now there are the mountainous seas keeping her from turning the corner to run up to Sydney again. The 2 girls are in contact on the web.
Thanks for posting the link lucy. It encouraged me to search for Jessias blog. I think she is doing well.

[Lynlee]

News report just in:-

A tear in her main sail has slowed teenage adventure sailor Jessica Watson as she heads to Sydney Harbour to finish her round-the-world voyage.

The Queenslander had been due to sail through the Sydney Heads at around 11.30am (AEST), but now wasn't expected to enter Sydney Harbour until closer to 12.30pm.

The 16-year-old, who has spent seven months alone at sea aboard her pink yacht, is preparing for a hero's welcome in Sydney on Saturday morning.

She is due to pass through Sydney Heads about 11.30am (AEST) and dock around 12.30pm at Sydney Opera House, where she will be met by her parents and Prime Minister Kevin Rudd.

Tens of thousands of fans are expected to converge on the foreshore for the event, with many already starting to gather hours ahead of her scheduled homecoming.

Watson's heroes and fellow round-the-world sailors, Perth's Jesse Martin and Britain's Mike Perham, will board her boat after she crosses the finish line.

The pair will take over the helm, allowing her to relax and enjoy the celebrations after enduring a 23,000 nautical mile (about 38,000km) odyssey.

As Watson covers her final stretch along the NSW coast, the Bureau of Meteorology (BoM) forecasts winds up to 45 knots (83km/h) and waves up to seven metres offshore.

Water police have warned of dangerous conditions, urging boaters planning to catch a glimpse of the celebrations from the harbour to ensure they have sufficient safety equipment aboard their vessels.

[Lynlee]

"I don't consider myself a hero. I'm an ordinary girl who believed in her dream," she told a large, cheering welcome-home crowd.

"You don't have to be someone special to achieve something amazing. You've just got to have a dream, believe in it and work hard."

Watson said she hoped her voyage proved what could be achieved by setting your mind to it.

"Anything really is possible."
Jessia Watson

Inspiring me to deam of a cleaner house.

[BookSaver]

Very impressive. I can't imagine doing something like that as a teenager.

I always wonder when I hear of these type of voyages, what do they eat? Where do they get fresh water? How do they know how much to take? It's not as if they can pop in to a 7-11.

Most modern day people don't even have to know how much food to put by for winter the way our grandparents needed to know how to plant, harvest, can and preserve. We're so spoiled by the convenience of local grocery stores.

[Lynlee]

BookSaver - The short answer is they have lots of expert help.
After they talk their parents around to what they want to do in Jessica's case.
And the help is /was beyond their parents resources so they need get it from all around wherever. Like a specially purchased/ outfitted yacht to suit the size/abilities of the sailor provided by a benifactor. Or the repairs needed after that altercation with the bulk carrier before she even started the round the world thing - her first solo overnight voyage....
Lots of experts on the end of a computer connection or satelite ph - but she had to do/repair whatever was needed.

I just heard snippets in interviews. Drinking water - Not sure - think it is taken along in storage. Someone was thanked who had packed bags each with a weeks supply of food. Some of it at least needed cooking so it wasn't all spaceage suck out of a tube / dehydrated food. If you look at her blog there are descriptions of the everyday, as well as the scarier times.

Reports are that she turned down a $275000 offer to have reporters at her 17th birthday party. One benefit of having a media manager (sry - not sure of their name) is it keeps the media at bay so hopefully she can get back to a more normal life.
Only todays report was she wants to go in Sydney to Hobart Yacht race but isn't allowed until 18yo. That can be a really hairy race and has taken lots of lives on yr w huge storm that rewrote the rules. Personally - I hope she forgets that one.

And personally - I wouldn't be supporting my daughter/s of any age to go sailing alone round the world ... or any other way out at sea destination.

[Lynlee]

Prayers for US teen sailor in trouble.
http://au.news.yahoo.com/queensland/a/- ... n-trouble/

[Nancy]

amen