Jessica Watson

[Artful Dodger]

I just was reading Jessica Watson's blog with the announcement she was pushing off on her attempt to sail around the world none stop. Jessica Watson - Youngest Around the World Sailing Attempt. Then this morning I was then shocked to read of her accident at sea this morning Solo yacht girl collides with bulk carrier - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

[blu]

Read 'Yachting Fail' on the forum. The self righteous have already crucified her.

[s/v Moondancer]

John 8:7

"He that is without sin among you, let him cast the first stone upon her."

Not that I approve; it's just that I understand how it happens.

quote: "Remember experience only means that you screw up less often."

Phil

[Talbot]

It is the nightmare of singlehanding,

If the lass was constrained in timeslot and exhausted by the media attention, this was an accident waiting to happen. I suspect that a 25 year old would probably have been in the same trouble. As it is, she will probably now be crucified by the media, and then they will turn their attention on the even younger girl in the Netherlands.

[s/v Beth]

If Jessica is reading this- Just do what is in your heart and ignore the world. The media will get over their self righteousness. Follow what is inside and take time to heal yourself. It works for a lot of us.

[Wotname]

Another way of saying it: "What others think of me is none of my business".

[sarafina]

I think Talbot is correct in his evaluation of the situation, however at 25 I would feel more comfortable with Jessica having made that decision with a fuller understanding of what she was letting herself in for and being of a legal age where she alone would be responsible for the results of her decision...

Oh, bty, I asked my 16 year old about it and her response was "is she crazy?"

[Artful Dodger]

Well it seems there are happier times ahead for Jessica she has made Sydney on her second try, so looks like good times ahead, will be nice to hear from her on how her trip went, not to mention her equipment.

[Artful Dodger]

Well I read this morning that Jessica is on her way of around the world, wish her lots of luck and great memories. I will follow her daily as I did Zak and Mike. It seems although she has had a lot of exposure, that she is not the only young one out there, there is also a young lady in the Canaries right now and trying to find more about her. Where Next? - Bob Williams is where I found about her. Seems she and Bob exchange some talk which led me to believe she to is on a solo non stop trip, have sent Bob an email and asked if he knows anymore. Might there be some members who know of her. Would be nice to have some local links as well from news papers who might be covering Jessica's daily reports.

[Hirophant]

Final report is out from the ATSB (Australian Transportation Safety Bureau) about young Jess v. Silver Yang: ATSB final report
- as well as the summary there's a full 48 page report you can download as a PDF.

Lots of new light shed on the freighter crew: they thought she was a buoy 3–5 miles away when in fact she was a girl 0.6 miles away! It didn't occur to them to check their AIS or radar or examine the green light with binoculars. after the collision, they didn't try to find out if she was ok or even tell the ship's master about the collision until 26 minutes later.

Lots of creative reasons are also produced as to how a solo yachtswoman can not see a 200m long ship at 1 mile either visually or on her radar or AIS. They manage to avoid the obvious one of "maybe she wasn't looking"!

Some interesting observations on the visibility of Class B AIS transmissions: in tests, 8 out of 9 ships said they couldn't see Pink Lady on their AIS! Moral: upgrade your AIS to Class A!!!

[Hud3]

There's an established thread on the collision report here: http://www.cruisersforum.com/forums/...out-42294.html

Please go there for any further discussions on the topic.