Jessica Watson's Round-the-World Voyage

[SvenG]

Finally got to watch the whole thing, pre-recorded in pieces at TEN Video Player: Watch Full Episodes and Exclusive Video Interviews

A pretty classy broadcast with the statement "it is not about records" instead of red herring excuses like "not recognized because of age".

She is a hero, not just in Australia.




-Sven

[Factor]

Originally Posted by Hirophant

Overall I was disappointed at the slender coverage, ...

It was wall to wall coverage in Australia. Every station radio and TV were carrying something and some actually based their broadcasts from on or near Sydney HArbour

[boatman61]

Jessica Watson Rocks.....

Slag her down all you want... she did it all the way round... solo...
Armchair critics and Yottie Bar Fly's may nitpick but she's done it...
they have not...

"I'm not a hero... I'm just a 16yr old girl who had a dream.. all I've done is live my dream and prove you don't have to be 'Special'.... anyone can do it, you just have to work hard to do it".

Good on her... I hope she makes a bundle... she's got a lot more balls than 99% of her critics... most of whom lets face it... have turned the original aims of the 'adventure' into a Commercial Money Spinner crewed by Professional sailors and Mega-buck Sponsors..... They've pushed out the Knox-Johnsons, Motessiers etc...
That's more likely the reason they're crying... they're not getting any of the cash...


Rock on Jessica.....

[hoppy]

I just watched all of the videos and thought she handled herself very well in the press conference, especially when she was asked about the critics who say she did not meet the criteria for a RTW record.

She is a hero and at her age has achieved more at her age in her journey than probably most of her critics.

[RichardInMd]

Watching all the video coverage was great.

Jessica Watson has come back a beautiful, articulate, and fearless young woman. (She left that way as well!) All I can say is wow ! In her interview with the foreign press, she mentioned what she liked most in the RTW trip. It was the little everyday aspects of being at sea, like Moitessier wrote about that she enjoyed the most.

Richard

PS One last swipe at SW. It is obvious that Sail World was pissed because they were not allowed to dominate the coverage. They were the ones that raised the distance question, not the WSSRC. They were not invited to the party so they tried to spoil it. Remind me to never read Sail World.

[Ocean Girl]

I just found myself yelling at the radio like a madwoman. NPR a.m. broadcast started with this story "a young girl just finished a solo sail" they proceeded to list the capes she rounded, never mentioning it was non-stop and unassisted! But they did note that it was said to fall short of an official RTW sail. Lord, what a crazy world we live in.
Oh well, Jessica sailed around the world non-stop unassisted and she did it with style and grace, Dang, she made it look easy!. Good on ya Jess, welcome home and Godspeed to your next adventure.
Erika

[RichardInMd]

Originally Posted by Ocean Girl

I just found myself yelling at the radio like a madwoman. NPR a.m. broadcast started with this story "a young girl just finished a solo sail" they proceeded to list the capes she rounded, never mentioning it was non-stop and unassisted! But they did note that it was said to fall short of an official RTW sail. Lord, what a crazy world we live in.
Oh well, Jessica sailed around the world non-stop unassisted and she did it with style and grace, Dang, she made it look easy!. Good on ya Jess, welcome home and Godspeed to your next adventure.
Erika

Erica,
Make sure to watch all the videos at Full Episodes & Videos | Channel Ten there are about five hours of viewing. Get this, on two hours of sleep, she beats through swell and adverse tide and spectator boats, addresses the crowd. Even through she had kept the Prime Minister waiting, she clarified why she had undertaken the RTW voyage. After a short break, she then answered the International media's questions with more skill than a politician!

The US media is a joke. I don't watch TV at all. It is moronic.


Richard

[John A]

MSNBC's website gave a very balanced report of Jessica's journey on their main page.
Perhaps some of us also indulge in selective cynicism.

[Jim D]

Originally Posted by John A

... Perhaps some of us also indulge in selective cynicism.

What's that mean? Even with the whistling smiley, I can't figure it out.

~

[John A]

Originally Posted by Jim D

What's that mean? Even with the whistling smiley, I can't figure it out.

~

It means that some of us (me included) find fault with whatever we disagree with.
It was an attempt to sugget that we should stop being pissed all the time.
Sorry if I ofended.
regards John

[RichardInMd]

Originally Posted by John A

MSNBC's website gave a very balanced report of Jessica's journey on their main page.
Perhaps some of us also indulge in selective cynicism.

If you read my post, I was referring to TV and radio. US TV and radio rarely talks about anything outside the country. Would the average American even know what a circimnavigator is?

Richard

Party Time with the Circumnavigators

[TaoJones]

There are news organizations that purport to have a worldwide view, but the reality is that most news is covered in an almost infinite number of smaller and smaller locales. Wherever news is made, that is, temporarily, the center of the universe - and from there, the news spreads out like ripples from a stone thrown into a pond.

It takes an extraordinary event to push the ripples out very far.

A bank robbery in a tiny, isolated town may be the biggest news there in decades, but ten miles away - not so much. Two hundred miles away in the state capital, the "big bank robbery" may be a one-paragraph item buried deep inside the paper, if it's covered at all. Beyond that state or province, it probably isn't even mentioned at all.

Scale that phenomenon up and you begin to get an understanding of why the Jessica Watson story was absolutely huge news in Australia and New Zealand, but on the other side of the world in England - not so much. Be assured, however, that when Mike Perham sailed back to England to take the then-record for youngest-'round, it was also huge news - in England.

In Australia - not so much.

On a single-interest Forum like this, with an obvious link to the story, Jessica's feat is, once again, "huge news." But on another Forum, with a single-interest in something unrelated to sailing, or teenagers, or Australia / New Zealand, the story will probably not be mentioned.

It has been said that all politics is local - the same idea can be applied to news.

TaoJones

[hoppy]

For the sake of it I thought I would check out the websites of the major Stockholm news papers (ok one is a crappy tabloid) and all 3 carried a photo of Jessica on their (cluttered) front page and an article (one video)

Jordenruntseglande tonåring hemma - DN.se

TV | Aftonbladet

Jordenruntseglande tonåring hemma | Utrikes | SvD

Even the tax payer funded Government TV stations website carried a story
Sportnytt | svt.se

So from the opposite end of the world, she has made the news. I suppose that since Swedes are big on boating it would be of interest here.

[Ocean Girl]

Originally Posted by RichardInMd

Erica,
Make sure to watch all the videos at Full Episodes & Videos | Channel Ten there are about five hours of viewing. Get this, on two hours of sleep, she beats through swell and adverse tide and spectator boats, addresses the crowd. Even through she had kept the Prime Minister waiting, she clarified why she had undertaken the RTW voyage. After a short break, she then answered the International media's questions with more skill than a politician!

The US media is a joke. I don't watch TV at all. It is moronic.


Richard

I think I was more disappointed because it was NPR radio, they usually avoid the silly hype stuff. But in their defense, later this morning they did run a quick story about her sailing RTW as the youngest non stop but left out unassisted and did not mention the "official" crap stuff. So they must of heard me yelling at them through the radio (it works, I will be yelling at my radio more ) BTW I don't own a TV so appreciate the links so I can see some JW stuff.

John A, I think you are right on, me included. I was thinking about the complete 180 in my attitude about a 16 year old girl, who loves her "pink" boat, to sail RTW via the southern capes. A very strange observation about human nature or maybe it is an observation of a strange mind . I have more to say but I don't want to clog up this thread with that stuff, this is Jessica's day (s) and man what a fantastic example of what you can achieve if only you put your nose to the grindstone and push forward. Talk about sea stories! that is one book I can't wait to read.


Cheers,
Erika

[SvenG]

Originally Posted by Ocean Girl

"official" crap stuff.

Sorry, but I take great exception to refer to it as "crap", to do so is to demean all of those who have set or broken records.

I think the following from YachtPals sums it up very nicely, unless you think Dee's official accomplishments are "crap" too:

Everyone, of course, is entitled to their own opinion. At YachtPals, the opinions we respect most are not from armchair experts and self-appointed pundits, but from those people who have 'been there, and done that.' So who better to turn to in this matter than the first woman to have officially sailed around the world in both directions solo, unassisted and non-stop (something she did transparently, by the book, and under the scrutiny of the WSSRC)? In our opinion, nobody! That's why we called on Yacht Pal "Tenacious" Dee Caffari for a true expert's perspective, and we'll close with Dee's words of wisdom about Jessica Watson's voyage:

"You can't take away what she's just done, and the same with Zac and Mike, but the stringent rules to make a circumnavigation are there for a reason, so that we know the framework for it. Accept the rules, and celebrate her achievement as a stand-alone effort! Without doubt she's crossed every line of longitude, and she has - on her own - sailed around the world. So, I think she deserves credit for what she's done - a phenomenal achievement at such a young age. I don't think I could have done it at 16! But as far as the issue of the record books, with the World Speed Sailing Record Council and the yachtie environment: Well, I think after a few months of hype it will all be forgotten."

-Sven