around the world voyage

i read what i could and no mention of a second boat
if you got info please post link




however this is another huge mommy and daddy ego trip
i have got a son 21 and a daughter 18 and all the frikken buddies and parents and stooopid neighbours, i see parents trying to live their senseless meaningless fu3kedup lives through their children everyday. i wish some of these parents would catch a wakeup, they were born stooopid and will die stooopid, live your own life and let the kids grow up to be themselves.

 

Sometimes true but also a little unfair. Take my case as a for instance. With no family background/interest in that area at 15 I decided I wanted to learn to fly. When I got my private Pilots license I was (for a day) the youngest licensed pilot in Australia.
My parent supported my interest, they did not push me to it. So maybe this girl just has salt water in here veins.

Mychael

 

Run Jessica, run!

I was a problematic child myself. I did my first mountain climbing at 4 years, and still here i am at 30. A lot of "mature" people has gone in mountain climbing accidents in this time... not me.

I believe at 16 a child is able to undertake most of the mature people out there in any sport. With all my experience now, i am far bellow to my body capabilities at 16-20 years. There are cultures where at 16 a child is able to support a family better than a 30 years old man can do.

I know it sounds crazy this Jessica trip ... but i believe in destiny. There is nothing in this world to stop your destiny or to cheat your death. You can stay home and die of cancer or a car accidents. Statistically speaking I believe it's more dangerous to drive a car than a boat. I also believe that the most dangerous thing in this world... are other people. Not nature. The safest place in this world is the one far away from big urban areas full of: violence, guns, burglars, sexual offenders, stupid people, bad people.

However my good thoughts are with you Jessica. I hope you will reach your goal and your dream.

 

Edited: This was a double post... sorry... somebody to delete this.

 

Jessica left Mooloolaba harbour this morning 10-30am EST on the first leg of her around the world voyage .She left for sydney ,where the record attempt begins, she looks very relaxed and confident ....an amazing young lady
.......cheers Hartley

 

From Jessicas log

"I took a leaf out of Jesse Martin's book and brushed my hair with a fork (I forgot a hairbrush!). Then, I finished up by checking my work with a mirror from my tool kit."

Typical kids.

I wonder if she will spend two weeks crying like Jesse Martin ?

 

Lest we forget.

Most of our esteemed ancestors had effective monarchs of around that age.

We are probably more coddled than our ancestors. We grow up slowly. And that's usually because we want to.

This young lady may be deciding to buck that trend.

I have great faith in the ability of mid teens to withstand adversity and learn quickly from experience.

When we get into to early teens or even pre teens, Where I'm sure we'll end up, sooner or later, then I have to wonder.

 

our ancesters died in their 40's

 

Apparently, she hit a freighter(that didn't stop) and is on her way back to port with a broken mast and damaged deck. She's ok.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/09/09/2680368.htm

 

A bit OT and no meaning to prejudge this particular freighter but.. How long the world lets those b******* to terrorize boaters.. they even let those sc "pirates" to embark freely bcs they just don't have anyone awake at watch.. AIS makes them even more arrogant than ever before..

 

You go girl!!! its realy good to see young people doing things that older people are too chicken hearted to do, if that were my daughter (and it could be in afew years) i'd support her all the way. obviously i'd make sure she had all the proper training and was phisicaly able. i would'nt let her go if i knew she was'nt prepared. I think that young people need a chalenge to help them develope into a usefull human being, you see far to many young people these days just sitting around wasting there life, smoking, drinking, doing drugs, disrespecting authority, not having a goal in life. i know what kind of person is rather my daughter to turn out like. even if she did'nt sucseed in making it round. i'd still be emensly proud of her just for taking on the challenge and giving it her best shot. and please dont make it sound like "shes just a girl, she cant hack it" girl or boy it does'nt matter, its the persistence, the will power, the tenacity, self belief that counts. you can do anything, so long as you set your every energy towards acheiving your goals. so dont doubt the girl, she'll do it if she realy wants too. i think we should encourage our young people to take on a challenge, it will improve their life and the life of those around them.

 

She barely started and almost got killed. Like driving a car - if one makes it to adulthood without ending any lives, a good driver probably emerges from the larval stage.

 

You have to admire the spirit, but I think its a fools task.

The rules are, you are supposed to keep watch. You cant if you are a sole sailer.

The chinese captain probably had little seaway to avoid a non piloted craft that was a lot smaller than he was. Imagine the stick he would get losing tens of thousands of dollars trying to stop (takes a few miles) to render assistance to some ditzy teenager who ran into them. They probably did the 7 toots etc, but she would have been asleep.

Jesse Martin and Tony Bullimore and dozens of others were all playing russian roulette. In many cases we fund their "spirit of adventure" and risk other lives saving their asses.

 

Unfortunately I think we are going to here a lot more of this particular incident and Australians may have to worry about future new "rules".

Exactly what happened is still a bit unclear, below is an excerpt from the newspapers

"Trouble struck at 2.30am on Wednesday when Jessica’s 10.4 metre sloop, Ella’s Pink Lady, and the north-bound Japanese vessel collided in shipping lane 15 nautical miles off North Stradbroke Island

Mr Watson said Jess made several attempts to avoid the Sliver Yang, including repeated radio requests, but ultimately braced herself in her bunk for impact.

He said the silver Yang disappeared off AIS tracking moments after the collision."

http://www.thedaily.com.au/story/2009/09/10/jessica-watson-was-victim-ocean-hit-and-run/

I'm thinking that maybe they forgot the tiller. Perhaps forcing your right away on a big ship in the dark is not too smart. I hope she gets her old mast back and gives it another go. Unfortunately there is to be an investigation so anything could happen.

 

Okay,

First she tried a good one for her. Second she tried to make contact with the boat that hit her and did not, bad on the boat as i can bet very good money the person on watch was either asleep, eating below decks, or playing on their video game (these have all been confirmed to me as habits of some crew members on watch by three different chief officers of Merchant vessels).

I personally know of four 14 yr olds that together did their first century on back roads unsupported and one of them later did a double century with support in which there where six teenage girls riding as well. I know this as I was there. we where all called crazy by those who did not see it as reasonable or possible.

There is an old saying "God protect the Weak from the Strong and the Mighty from the Small." We live in a society of rats, who will tear down anything that shows how small and hateful they really are. As I told my wife and she has told more than a few people herself, IF you die doing what you love and take on the responsibility of it, than you died well. Modern society fears death some much it is crazy.

May she find new sponsors sue the living crap out of the shipping firm as COLREG gives her under sail the right of way and they KNEW they where in the wrong which is why they turned of a trackable transponder. She tired to avoid according to the story and that is what she is required to do and tried to make contact. Sounds like she did very well for a young sailor and I wish her the best of luck.

Godspeed and Fair winds.

Michael