Teen sailor update- Our Jessica matures...Abby back at sea
by Nancy Knudsen on 8 Feb 2010
Jess with her schoolwork midway between Capes Horn and Good Hope.JPG SW
There are many signs that Sunshine Coast teenager Jessica Watson is maturing as a cruising sailor as she approaches the 13,000th nautical mile of her circumnavigation.
There is a vast difference between the young girl who collided with a cargo ship on her first night at sea and the seasoned sailor that remarks in passing, 'Knowing that everything has been double-checked is the only way to get any peace of mind.' Yes, Jessica, good thinking.
Those who remember that she claimed to have spoken to the radio operator of the ship before the collision but then admitted that she 'may have fallen asleep' will also remember that according to Queensland Transport she had failed to log her position and did not have all of her instruments turned on.
What a difference now. Early reports of her voyage quoted gale conditions at 40 knots. Now she remarks, 'handling 40knots of wind has become pretty routine.' She also quotes 4 metre seas as being pretty tame, which will be true when the distance between crests is large - and it's not the following seas that knock a boat around, it's the small (hopefully small) rogue waves that come from the side, and for which the Atlantic is famous.
She checks and tapes her chafe points, tightens fan belts on the engine, carries out all these tasks that any good seaman will, and remarks how cautious she has become...and caution, not bravado, is a sure sign of a sailor you would want to go to sea with.
Apart from that, Ella's Pink Lady, in spite of its lolly-pink colour, is a good solid cruising boat that will support her in the worst of conditions, and has already proved its worth with previous Australian solo circumnavigators - David Dicks, Jesse Martin and Don McIntyre.
Going well, Jessica, going well....
Abby Sunderland from California, on the other hand, is racing against time, and that is not a good way to start such a mammoth task as sailing the Southern Ocean.
Forced back into port because her power generation was inadequate to the task, her valiant team, who headed to meet her in Cabo san Lucas in Mexico, have also completed many other tasks in the few days she has been back in port, four of them working 16-hour days.
They have improved her power saving ability, improved her AIS receiver and alarms, fixed some leaks, repaired a faulty plug which had downed her wind instrument readings and increased her battery bank to give her more power.
As she is already late in the season and will therefore encounter the beginning of winter weather as she passes under Australia, there was much pressure for her to be gone from Cabo San Lucas as quickly as possible, and she departed Saturday. (She will now begin and end her non-stop circumnavigation attempt in Cabo San Lucas)
Both sixteen-year-olds are attempting to be the youngest sailor to circumnavigate the world non-stop and unassisted. Jessica is older by five months, but started earlier in the slower boat (34ft Sparksman & Stephens). Abby is younger, starting later in the faster boat (Open 40).
If you were writing a novel, you couldn't have plotted it better.
Sail-World will continue to follow their journeys
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