Australian Hero
Jessica Watson
 

 A young determined and resourseful 16 year old lass from the Australian Sunshine Coast by the name of Jessica Watson set out on a daunting and very challenging Goal (to sail single handed around the globe) and amongst critisim and praises of courage she sailed out of Sydney Harbour on 18 October 2009 in her pink-hulled Ella Baché sponsored Ella's Pink Lady.18 days later, on 5 November, she passed Tonga, sailing clear of both New Zealand and Fiji.

As required for a full circumnavigation, she crossed the equator on 19 November 2009 (Australian date),near Jarvis Island at about 161°40'W longitude, and rounded Kiritimati on 22 November 2009 (Australian date) after 36 days. Then she crossed the equator again at 156°20'W longitude, and continued south-easterly towards Cape Horn. The sailed distance from Sydney to Kiritimati was about 3,900 nm. At Christmas she was near Point Nemo, the place located furthest from land.

On 13 January 2010 (9:40 UTC) she passed Cape Horn, having sailed around 9,800 nm in 87 days. This was 11 days ahead of the planned 100 nm per day schedule. Soon after her parents flew over her in a small plane in order to witness the passage.Just over a week later, on 23 January 2010, several days after passing the Falkland Islands, she suffered four knock-downs in a severe storm with 10-metre waves and 70-knot winds. The storm caused minor damage to her boat and her emergency beacon was accidentally activated as the mast hit the water.
The halfway point on the voyage was passed on 25 January 2010, her 100th day at sea, 11,500 nm based on the original calculation of 23,000 nm sailing route.

On 15 February 2010, she crossed the Prime Meridian, crossing from the Western Hemisphere to the Eastern Hemisphere.This placed her near the Cape of Good Hope, which she passed on 24 February, reaching Cape Agulhas, (the southernmost point of Africa), and crossing from the Atlantic Ocean into the Indian Ocean.[24] From southern Africa, Watson sailed more than 5000 nm towards Western Australia.

Watson arrived in the Australian economic zone on 10 April 2010, celebrating with crackers and Vegemite. There her parents and media flew over her in a small plane in order to welcome her.She passed Cape Leeuwin on south-western Australia two days later, with approximately 2,500 nm remaining.

When south of Australia, Watson suffered a lot of bad weather. In this part of the journey, she had at least three knockdowns (where the mast hit the water), one of them with the mast deep into the sea, luckily without any real damage or injury. The swells she experienced in the Great Australian Bight were up to 12 metres in height, higher than anytime before.

On 3 May, Watson rounded the South East Cape of Tasmania and began heading north to Sydney, her final destination.

At 1:53pm on 15 May 2010 Watson crossed the finish line in Sydney Harbour.

Watson completed her journey on day 210 of her voyage, 3 days before her 17th birthday on 18 May.

During the journey she had to do repairs herself to the boat and the equipment. Several of the repairs were reported on the blog: The battery monitor (Dec 18). The stove, the toilet and the mainsail (Jan 24). The toilet (March 11). Replacing some wind generator blades (March 30). The Kettle (April 10). The mainsail (April 18). The wind generator, replaced with a spare (April 21). The fuel pump of the engine (May 10).

Jessica will return home to a a Hero's welcome on the Sunshine Coast on Sunday 6th June 2010 where en estimated crowd of over 50,000 people are expected to line the coast to catch a glimpse and cheer Jessica home.

          Welcome Home Jessica Watson