Yachting FAIL - Jessica Watson

[speakeasy]

The media circus she put herself through or was subjected to, before departure, probably exhausted her and she may have just yearned for a good sleep.

Whether she's serious and has a real vision with inner tenacity and endurance is unclear. If she does, and can pull herself and boat together, then this near fatal incident might be a good enough slap across the chops to get her through the next 6 months. But I imagine there will be more than one, as there is for anyone. It may well just be a case of group fantasy.

[MarkJ]

Originally Posted by cat man do

A bit of a bummer but gee whiz, how the hell did this happen?

How did it happen? Because her parents and the authorities are cretins.

And let those idiots that support these fools remember this incident.

Mark

[cat man do]

Some totally ridiculous comments here
Reader's Comments: Solo sailor to keep going - The Courier-Mail

It is not correct to say that Jessica hit another ship. The law of the sea says that all sail has right of way over other vessels. The headline should have said Jessica Hit by Rogue Tanker. Those huge tankers do not have right of way just because they are huge. They are supposed to have people on watch for other boats plus the technology to see small boats in the dark. The captain of the tanker should be charged and disciplined for this life threatening incident quite severely. So also should the sailor who should have been on watch. This is actually not about Jessica, her age, or whether she is sailing solo round the world. It is about Maritime Safety and the rules all ships must obey at sea. It is obvious by many of the negative comments about Jessica here that most people are quite ignorant of these rules. All of us that take to the sea in boats, whether large or small, have to obey the law of right of way for sailing ships as they cannot manouevre as well as a motorised vessel can, owing to the normal vagaries of wind.
Posted by: pepper of qld 7:49am today
Comment 35 of 69

The real question this incident raises is why are bulk carriers allowed to rip along at high speeds close to our coastline when there are increasing numbers of small craft sailing around our shores particularly in South East Queensland waters? There are too many cowboys in charge of these tankers who are being allowed to get away with bullying other boats. As far as Micks comment number 16 about having grave fears about Jessicas competence, hey, wouldnt it be more to the point to have grave fears about the competence of the captain of the huge bulk carrier? She is under sail, he is in charge of a motor vessel which is supposed to avoid sail. I didnt know the law of the sea gives dispensation to bulk carriers. Jessica did not collide with the tanker, the tanker collided with her.
Posted by: pepper of qld 8:04am today
Comment 50 of 69

LMAO

[TOM]

Oh Dear.

Solo yacht girl collides with bulk carrier - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

[canuck1955]

for sailing ships as they cannot manouevre as well as a motorised vessel can, owing to the normal vagaries of wind...

My boat is quite maneuverable as long is there is a wind and I have headway. Failing that I have an engine. Gee am I doing something unique, I can turn 360 in just over a ships length and come to a dead stop in the process.....

My motto has always been (in addition to sailing, I ride a motorcycle), I may be dead right, but will give way rather than be DEAD and right.

[roverhi]

I would hazard a guess that she nodded off. Only takes a few minutes to get from first sighting to collision by a ship going 20 knots. We came within about 10' of getting run down by a freighter in the Santa Barbara Channel. My wife was on watch and saw the ship coming but didn't realize how fast it was moving. By the time she woke me up, I just had time to tack the boat and surf down the bow wave. Never a sign that the ship saw us and we were lit up with running lights for a 60' class sailboat.

Coastal sailing is the most dangerous time for a single hander. Something as simple as setting up a pot of water to boil for coffee or just rummaging around to get a snack is enough time to put you in harms way. If she went through the last minute pressure of going on a voyage, doubtful she left with full nights sleep behind her.

My only question is why was she so close to shore after more than a 1/2 day of sailing. Even in light air, an S&S 34 should have been able to 2 or 3 times further off shore.

[Pblais]

If she can walk away unhurt - she done good. Solo sailing is not for the timid.

[Christian Van H]

Guys, there's already a thread started on this...See: "Yachting FAILS"

[MarkJ]

From newspaper quote

Originally Posted by cat man do

The captain of the tanker should be charged and disciplined for this life threatening incident quite severely.

You see? Theres the other thing with these imbicle children and their dreams. They f#$% up other people lives. Yes a 60 year old career seaman who has risen to captian of a large ship has his career and reputation put on the line for a fools errand.


Mark

[MarkJ]

And what about the media? If this child was a dog or male would she get the attention of the 'before' articles?

And should a child be posing like a Playboy centerfold?



It sickens me!

[Pblais]

CF isn't about a public trial about actions and inactions at sea. In all cases in the past great tragedies always follow great speculations. Needless to say the speculations exceed realities. We are not here to debate publicly about the real actions taken and not taken. This is not TV. The consequences of all this take time to play out publicly yet the Internet is live now.

CF will not be used as a forum to, debate the actions and inactions of real people in public. We are better than that. This set of events has to play out in more appropriate forums before we are going to entertain rash speculations by arm chair sailors here.

[MarkJ]

Hi Everyone,

It is Nicolle here (not Mark - using his login again......lol...!!!!!)

Well as a young female on a boat who enjoys doing passages and who just successfully crossed the Singapore Straits yesterday I have something to say about this 16 year old girl.

How could she have crossed an area as busy and complicated as the Singapore Straits?

We were both on deck, with binoculars and checking the navigation all the time from about 9am until 6pm yesterday, no time for a nap or time to relax even with the two of us, who are experienced (having been through Panama and the busy shipping/fishing areas of the Great Barrier Reef and Indonesia also).

If she couldn't even sail at sea safely for less than 24 hours she would have been in grave danger (but also putting others lives at risk) in most of the places Mark & I have cruised around the world.

I am 26 and I have done some long and challanging passages, passages that I am greatful to have had Mark with me. Going solo would be very hard work, something I would not do unless I really had to.

As cruisier, speaking to people we meet around the world, 99% of the accidents (especially involving ships) we hear about are solo sailors. So a girl who is still not legally old enough to buy alcohol in Australia or drive a car as a fullly licenced driver is trying to do solo passages???????

I had a look at her website and from looking at her blog and photos etc I thought, she looks like a lovely young girl who is brave and will do well in life........but she still comes across as a little girl, a young, in-experienced girl.....a girl who should be having fun with friends, listening to the latest pop song, and talking about trendy things like clothes, boys and the latest hollywood hottie.......not trying to 'shatter' another world record.

Her boat is called the Ella Pink Lady...??????? which she thinks is "Very cool and totally cute".??????????

That sounds like a young girl speaking to me, not a mature, experienced young women who can handle everything the ocean and the weather will throw at her. She could have been killed or killed someone. It is not just fun and games as we know.......

Now if she came to you and said "Hi I am 16 and have sailed dinghies etc since I was 8, now I am going on a 34 foot boat from Brisbane to Sydney in 10 days would you like to come with me?" Most people would be a tad bit worried, I know I would.

Mark and I did Sydney to Queensland earlier this year, and it was some of our more difficult passages with lots of squalls, strong winds, rough seas etc. Now, she was trying to go South, against the wind? There is also lots of navigation to consider when going along the Queensland and NSW coast, it is not easy.....

I think she should be proud of at least trying to have a goal and setting out and trying to do it, but I think she is just a sweet 16 year old wasn't quiet ready yet. Australia is difficult cruising, not easy or straight forward like the Caribbean for example. So it was a big challenge she set herself.

I feel sorry for her, it must have been very scary to hit the ship, and it must have been terrible for the captain of the ship too. I guess a mistake was made and it is a real shame, because it didn't need to happen. If both parties were alert and been careful, then this should not have had to happen.

I think solo sailors are very brave people, but it is not safe, they can't be awake and on watch the whole time...........I think you need at least 2 people on a passage to cover watches all the time.

I didn't like the mention of Joshua Slocum on the website either, I adore him and just love him. We have a copy of his book and we read it all the time. Now he was not a 16 year old, he was an experienced sea captain, a mature man with life experience and a family........he is my hero (well besides Mark........ he is my modern day sailing hero), he was brave but also sensible.

I think Jessica's situation is the sailing worlds version of a Brittney Spears, all the media attention and been so young, it is a a bad combination..........and those photos of her posing..........do not look like a mature young sailing girl to me........what kind of image and publicity was she trying to create?????

Have a wonderful day everyone!

Smiles & hugs,

Nic xx

[unbusted67]

Originally Posted by cat man do

Some totally ridiculous comments here
Reader's Comments: Solo sailor to keep going - The Courier-Mail


It is not correct to say that Jessica hit another ship. The law of the sea says that all sail has right of way over other vessels. The headline should have said Jessica Hit by Rogue Tanker. Those huge tankers do not have right of way just because they are huge. They are supposed to have people on watch for other boats plus the technology to see small boats in the dark. The captain of the tanker should be charged and disciplined for this life threatening incident quite severely. So also should the sailor who should have been on watch. This is actually not about Jessica, her age, or whether she is sailing solo round the world. It is about Maritime Safety and the rules all ships must obey at sea. It is obvious by many of the negative comments about Jessica here that most people are quite ignorant of these rules. All of us that take to the sea in boats, whether large or small, have to obey the law of right of way for sailing ships as they cannot manouevre as well as a motorised vessel can, owing to the normal vagaries of wind.
Posted by: pepper of qld 7:49am today
Comment 35 of 69

LMAO

Yeah this is ridiculous what is more likely that the 16 year old out for her first sail or the experienced ships captain was not keeping a good lookout?

[unbusted67]

Originally Posted by cat man do

Looks like she can always fall back on a modeling career

Originally Posted by Morgan Paul

That guy in the video was talking
gibberish.



I agree she is a nice looking sailor.

She is also a 16 year old sailor. Don't be pervy.

[Pelagic]

I am not commenting on the individual just some observations and questions about the kind of situation this solo sailor developed.

Experience teaches you that if you have had a very busy pre-departure period a solo sailor needs to take a quiet day or two for them selves to rest, prepare the little things that will help them get over the first 5 or 6 days of acclimatizing. Did the media coverage prevent this?

If I remember correctly there can be quite a strong southbound current (+3knts) off Stradbroke, increasing Deep sea ship’s overtaking speed and developing quite a slop even in relatively calm weather. 15nm off is also a busy location. So with reduced visibility and small craft awareness time, would not a powerful masthead strobe and even a “Security-Security” position report on a regular basis, help get the solo sailor thru this danger?

Experienced sailors know that a bottleneck zone develops off Stradbroke, as large ships also want to get a kick from the current while slowly adjusting west to pass close to Byron, before further Westing. Is planning to Transit this area at the most dangerous time of 2:30am prudent? When both you and other ship’s crews are at their weakest?

Solo Sailors develop sleep patterns where they sleep more during the day and are alert at night. Did PR coverage dictate the timing of her departure?

She has obviously been given a tough lesson that it is the little decisions that can add up to an “event”.

Seems to me we all go thru this even at the tender age of 16, which I still feel should be the legal minimum age to let someone try this.

Hope she shakes off the scare and decides whether to continue for the right reasons.