Jessica Watson

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Jessica Watson

Jessica Watson OAM (born May 18, 1993 in Gold Coast , Queensland ) is an Australian sailor . She became internationally known mainly because she was the youngest single-handed sailor to sail around the world without stopping . Jessica Watson reached the starting point of her circumnavigation in Sydney Harbor on May 15, 2010, after having covered almost 23,000 nautical miles (around 43,000 km) and 210 days at sea, three days before her 17th birthday.

Early resume

Jessica's mother Julie was an occupational therapist , the father a real estate agent . They married in 1986. In 2004 the family home was sold. From then on, the family lived in a converted double-decker bus . At the same time a 52 foot motorboat was bought. The family lived on this boat from 2004 to 2010. The four children were taught partly by distance learning and partly by their mother. From 2006 to 2007 the family traveled around Australia in their bus.

Circumnavigation

Circumnavigation route
Watson's boat Ella's Pink Lady at the Australian National Maritime Museum in Sydney
Ella's Pink Lady

On October 18, 2009, Watson started a circumnavigation of the world in Sydney - eastwards and thus with the main wind direction. She crossed the equator on November 19, 2009 and passed Cape Horn on January 13, 2010 . Watson reached the Indian Ocean on February 24th when she left the Atlantic about 400 nautical miles south of Cape Agulhas.

Watson's boat Ella's Pink Lady is an S&S 34 that is 10.23 meters long and 3.08 meters wide. This type of boat from the early 1970s is considered very seaworthy and was also used by Jon Sanders , David Dicks and Jesse Martin for their circumnavigations , among others .

The journey ran from Sydney to the Line Islands , Cape Horn , the Falkland Islands , Cape Agulhas , South East Cape ( Tasmania ) back to Sydney. Since, in addition to circumnavigating the earth, at least two crossings of the equator are required to be officially recognized as a circumnavigation, Watson circled the island of Kiritimati, just north of the equator .

For the circumnavigation of the world, a total distance of about 23,000 nautical miles (42,596 kilometers) was estimated to take about 240 days. In fact, it only took Watson 210 days, which is an average of 110 nautical miles.

Around US $ 400,000 was raised for the circumnavigation of the world.

She arrived at Sydney Harbor on May 15, 2010 at 2:00 p.m. local time. However, it is still controversial whether the desired record for the youngest single-handed circumnavigator will find general recognition without stopping and outside help.

controversy

Criticism of the record attempt was expressed, among other things, because of a collision of Watson's boat with the Korean freighter Silver Yang shortly before the start of the circumnavigation. Jessica Watson's sailing skills were questioned. Furthermore, like the Dutch Laura Dekker , she was described by critics as too young.

The World Sailing Speed ​​Record Council (WSSRC), founded to recognize sailing records, complained that the distance traveled by Watson was too short to sail around the world. The rules of the WSSRC require an orthodromic distance between the waypoints of 21,600 nautical miles , but Watson's distance was less than 20,000 nm.

Another résumé

After participating in other sailing regattas in 2011, she studied marketing and communication science . From 2015 she held the position as communications manager at deckee.com , an online forum, and as commercial director for the boating community.

Publications

Web links

Commons : Jessica Watson  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ www.goldcoast.com.au Sailor Jessica Watson in collision off Coast
  2. ^ Australian Times: Jessica Watson completes historic round-the-world voyage
  3. ↑ ABC: Jessica Watson sails in search of record
  4. ↑ Jessica Watson: Jessica crosses the equator ( Memento from November 21, 2009 in the Internet Archive )
  5. ↑ Jessica Watson: Jessica conquers cape horn ( Memento from January 17, 2010 in the Internet Archive )
  6. ↑ Jessica Watson: Another Cape Down and into the Indian! ( Memento from February 27, 2010 in the Internet Archive )
  7. ↑ a b Jessica Watson: The Yacht, Route & Rules ( Memento from October 26, 2009 in the Internet Archive )
  8. ↑ Jessica Watson: The Yacht, Route & Rules ( Memento from August 28, 2009 in the Internet Archive )
  9. ↑ a b Die Welt: 16-year-old crosses the equator while sailing around the world
  10. ↑ Spiegel Online: 16-year-olds sailed around the world , accessed on May 22, 2010
  11. ↑ Frankfurter Rundschau from May 19, 2010
  12. ↑ The Courier Mail: Solo sailor Jessica Watson hits ship, forced to turn back, September 2009. - On June 1, 2016 Page no longer available.
  13. ↑ Die Welt : 16-year-old insists on circumnavigation after an accident , September 28, 2009, last accessed June 1, 2016.
  14. ↑ 16-year-old circumnavigator: Jessica Watson's record controversial , FR-online from May 7, 2010, accessed on February 28, 2011
  15. ↑ Dispute over sailing record by Jessica Watson , Abendblatt.de of May 7, 2010, accessed on February 28, 2011
  16. ↑ [1]
personal data
SURNAME Watson, Jessica
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Australian sailor
DATE OF BIRTH May 18, 1993
PLACE OF BIRTH Gold Coast , Queensland , Australia