Jessica Watson's Round-the-World Voyage

[CharlieCobra]

I agree with Erika, it's the Southern Ocean and knockdowns are the norm, not the exception. This mere slip of a girl put to bed the naysayers quite well and showed a toughness way beyond her years. I would be the last to speak badly of her as I've not sailed around the world in the Southern Oceans, have you? Go the Jess in whatever lies ahead in your young life...

[boatman61]

Originally Posted by Puddlefish

Oops, I didn't realize that this was the "admiration only" thread. Apologies and feel free to remove my posts without contacting me to tell me why.

LMAO... its not admiration only... neither is it just a slagging thread..
Solo sailors view things differently to the average crewed cruiser.
Having done a 4000+mile solo crossing of 47 days I feel that the fractional time, compared to her voyage, that I experienced gives me some insight as to what she went through.. bar the Southern Ocean..
furthest south I've been is 20 miles off rounding L'Aghulas, S. Africa... gorgeous weeks sail.
Post away.. you have as much right as me to post.. just a different perpective.. and different waters and experiences.
Come on Puddle... keep the corners rounded...

[Stillraining]

And Along those lines of thought...Another one of my Heroes puts it across quit well indeed.

YouTube - Ellen MacArthur - motivation, preparation & communication p1

[Jim D]

Originally Posted by Puddlefish

I watched the videos with a certain amount of "gee, that's impressive" but also with a healthy amount of "gee, that was needlessly reckless." ... I don't expect wisdom from a 16 year old of course, so I have to then question her parents' sanity/motivation/etc. ... I don't want to see a 14 year old or a 12 year old attempting this in the future.

Pfish, I read your comments to be an indictment of solo-sailing in general. If you take that position, then there is no need to weaken or confuse your argument by raising the issue of age.

BTW, as I approach the final 20-25 percent of a normal lifespan, I seriously doubt I have a better risk profile than did JW at 16. I see it as totally mis-directed to take shots at her age and preparation, and her selected undertaking, and ignore all the other crazy, risky, ill-considerd, and non-condoned activities that almost all teens get into at some point or other.

Jim
~

[sabray]

this should probably get thrown to a new thread. But boatman reminded me of something. When I was working in the yards we occasionally crossed paths with sailors who's experience offshore created an altered demeanor. It was readily apparent to us and we had name for it. Probably not so differnt from post traumatic stress disorder. In no way do mean that Boatman has this. once Im done being stressed i expect to experience this. I hope Jessica can adjust and enjoy going fwd.

[Puddlefish]

I'll start a new thread.

[Mariness]

Originally Posted by sabray

this should probably get thrown to a new thread. But boatman reminded me of something. When I was working in the yards we occasionally crossed paths with sailors who's experience offshore created an altered demeanor.

J has told me about some of the things he saw on some of his boat-time...he says it changes you after you realize, "hey there's something going on here that could actually kill me". And then after that, it isn't really scary anymore, even though you're still aware of the risks.
I'll bet Jessica knows that feeling!

[boatman61]

STRESSED>>>:f ight:
I'm not stressed out or mixed up... whatever gives you that idea...

[sabray]

good lord man I know my eye sight is faltering. for all the icons youv'e got hollering about I think I saw a squid fornicating with a horse that appears dead. Its when you go back ashore that we diagnose you as nuts. Doesn't count while you slack about on the boat. Which is why I am on a mooring.

[slomotion]

Originally Posted by boatman61

Every solo sailor relies on luck out there...

Watch the Australian TV videos and you will see Jesse Martin say the same thing - "there's always luck involved." I figure his seamanship is pretty good and he probably knows what he's talking about.

[Hirophant]

Originally Posted by osirissail

her "team" has already acquired contracts paying her a million dollars or more for publicity and endorsement along with a book about her journey which is due in the stores in July - my that is awful fast considering she has just arrived back - unless - somebody else wrote the book before she got back.

The book contract was in place before she left: Hachette have always been listed as one of her sponsors. Clearly the bulk of it is going to be edited down from her blog entries, several of which are set piece entries about various aspects of her voyage which could serve as introductory sections to the book, appendices etc. When you consider the quality of writing in her blog, the publishers could actually get away with simply getting an editor to merge them into a single narrative. (And before anyone calls the use of an editor cheating, you should note that all authors are assigned editors by their publishers, it's just that most don't publically acknowledge the often substantial help they have received in beating their works into shape.)

Having said that, it's clear that she has already written more than is recounted in the blog, which definitely holds some things back. For instance back in March Don McIntyre was clearly excited by something she had just done, yet there was nothing noteworthy on her blog at the time, and Don himself merely said (rather annoyingly!) of whatever-it-was "you'll just have to read the book".

[Hirophant]

Originally Posted by Puddlefish

I suspect that an average of one knockdown a month is an indicator that safe sailing principles are not being followed.

Talk about "damned lies and statistics"! Averages here mean nothing, the knockdowns occured not once a month but in two very specific parts of the voyage: a single 8 hour storm in the South Atlantic with force 12 (hurricane force) winds (4 knockdowns), plus a couple more knockdowns in the Southern Ocean where she encountered a protracted sequence of storms.

In both cases she was unable to follow her normal safe practice of skirting round the edge of the storms because in the first case the storm was not adequately forecast (she had only been told to expect force 7 (near gale) and the corrected forecast came far too late), and in the second case there was nowhere to run to because Australia was in the way. She did however take what precautions she could, such as deploying her drogue to sit out the high seas in the Australian Bight until it was safe to make a move.

I think the only thing she might have done differently was to deploy her drogue in the South Atlantic (the pros and cons of which were discussed at the time a few dozen pages back in this thread I think); and possibly make a run through the Bass Straight like Jeanne Socrates did (again, there were pros and cons to this, and she came to a different conclusion to Jeanne as to what to do).

[bengtinge]

I think Nancy Knudsen (the woman who wrote the article on the formal length of Jessica's journey) personally don't like Jessica.

Now she has written an article saying that she does not look right to be accepted as a sailor. She is too thin.

Sail-World.com : Jessica Watson and the image of a hardy sailor

[GordMay]

Originally Posted by bengtinge

I think Nancy Knudsen (the woman who wrote the article on the formal length of Jessica's journey) personally don't like Jessica.

Now she has written an article saying that she does not look right to be accepted as a sailor. She is too thin.

Sail-World.com : Jessica Watson and the image of a hardy sailor

And goes on to say:

"... The sixteen-year-old teenager has just destroyed forever the image of what makes a hardy sailor ..."

[Mariness]

Well, that could easily be taken as complimentary. At least, that's how I would infer it if it were directed at me.