Miss Cooke and her spandex, lol.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vG8VLOvMbYM

Happy New Year

Dilip (a sailor nearby in the region of Cape Horn) wrote “Midnight of New Years eve, just as I was getting out to change the wind vane with the wind dropping, the phone rang. Finding it a bit odd to receive a phone call close to midnight, picked up the phone and what a pleasant surprise! Jessica calling to wish New Years! So very thoughtful of her! Amongst all the new years wishes I have received in all these years and at various places, I think I will cherish this, from this gutsy girl 350 NM away and the nearest human to me, as the most special! With wishes like these how can 2010 not be anything but great!”
Nothing more to say really.

Jessica Watson - From a book to the Horn

Tony L


At a very young age you listened to your mum reading ‘Lionheart’, the book about eighteen-year old Jesse Martin’s 1999 solo, non-stop and unassisted voyage around the world from Sandringham on Port Phillip Bay in a 34ft Sparkman & Stephens yacht he named ‘Lionheart’. You were captivated by this story and soon discovered another Australian, Kay Cottee, had completed a similar solo, non-stop and unassisted voyage from Sydney to become the first woman to complete this task.

The years went by and you learnt to sail, presumably on the waters of the inlet at Mooloolaba, a popular holiday place on the coast of Queensland not far north of Brisbane. Mooloolaba has a large Marina used by ocean-going yachts and no doubt the sight of their masts and rigging became an early fascination as you dreamed of following in the footsteps of Jesse and Kay.

Then, in May 2008, you heard about an opportunity to sail with an organization called Oceanwatch from New Zealand to Fiji and back to New Zealand on a boat called ‘Magic Roundabout’. You did that trip – to gain experience – and although you learnt much about the aches and pains associated with ocean sailing, your appetite for the sea became unquenchable so instead of flying home you sailed home to Brisbane on another boat.

By this time your mind was made up. You learnt how to use a spell-checker and worked on a proposal for obtaining sponsorship with assistance from your Mum and Dad, and a group of helpful friends.

By October (2008) you had reeled in a few businesses interested in sponsoring you and you continued to increase your sailing experience by sailing on a large catamaran named ‘Big Wave Rider’ which was owned by Bruce Arms who later became your Project Manager’. On this trip you experienced the use of a drogue (parachute) designed to slow a boat running downwind in a storm. You followed this trip with some racing with the Cairns Yacht Club before returning home to begin doing presentations to raise interest in your planned voyage.

On 2 December 2008 your new website “youngestround.com” was launched and you set a target date for departure as ‘late next year’ (2009). About the same time you acknowledged the efforts of Zac Sutherland and Mike Perham and became ever more determined to become the youngest female to sail solo, non-stop and unassisted around the world.

You again joined a crew on ‘Magic roundabout’ and set off from Mooloolaba to conquer the Tasman, known by Aussies and New Zealanders as ‘The Ditch’. It was a trip planned to give you hands on experience making all the decisions required to complete the voyage and you experienced a variety of weather conditions and learnt much from it. It was a voyage in which you learnt how to set a steering wind vane, how to tolerate little and no wind, how exciting it was to be accompanied by sea birds and dolphins, what it was like in a ‘bouncy’ 3 metre sea and strong wind, and what ‘living aboard’ a boat was really like.

During January 2009 you again joined the crew on ‘Big Wave Rider’ and learnt what it was like to fix rigging things while suspended from the top of a yacht’s mast.
Around that time too, you gained a number of sponsors and Bob McDavitt, a well known meteorologist from New Zealand offered his support and weather routing service for your voyage.

Early in February you departed Mooloolaba for Hobart, Tasmania, on ‘Big Wave Rider’ and on the way you called in at Southport and Sydney and sailed under Sydney Harbour Bridge for the first time. On this trip you experienced the use of a solo climbing system to climb ‘BWR’s’ swaying mast to fix a lashing on the radar reflector near the top of the mast while at sea. [to be continued]

In Hobart you met Don McIntyre, a very experienced solo sailor who was to become one of your most valued supporters, and who provided the boat in which you would sail to fulfill your dream. You then went to New Zealand to board a yacht called ‘Evohe’ for a trip to Campbell Island, at latitude 52 S, for experience in the cold conditions of the ‘furious fifties’, you recently referred to as the ‘fearsome fifties’. Back home again, and March became a month of looking for sponsorship and raising awareness of your plans.

During May your press conferences became increasingly frequent, you celebrated your sixteenth birthday, studied for your Ocean Yachtmaster certificate, learnt to use a sextant, gained your Australian Boat Licence, began sailing an S&S 34 referred to as ‘Youngestround.com’, and took it to the Sanctuary Cove international Boat Show on the Gold Coast south of Brisbane. After that ‘Youngestround.com was stripped down and one by one her numerous faults were fixed. Nothing was to be left to chance and a steady stream of new equipment was fitted to make her as safe as she could be.

In June you did a sea survival course, learnt how to maintain a marine diesel engine, how to diet on the trip, and listened to Don McIntyre and Mike Perham quiz you on how you would cope with numerous different sea scenarios.

In July ‘Youngestround.com’ was painted pink, and on 27 July 2009 she was renamed ‘Pink Lady’ and trucked to Sydney for the Sydney International Boat Show, and you attended many interviews with Don McIntyre, Jesse Martin and other supporters. ‘Pink Lady’ was then returned to Mooloolaba for more fitting out to make her ready for the voyage.

On 2 September 2009 Ella Bache stepped on board as your major sponsor and ‘Pink Lady’ became ‘Ella’s Pink Lady’.

It was time for action. On 8 September you departed Mooloolaba and the Sunshine Coast for Sydney. You overcame a hiccup caused when you didn’t give way to a ship and made an unscheduled visit to Gold Coast City Marina for repairs before again departing for Sydney on 1 October.

Ella Bache ‘launched’ their involvement as major sponsor on 12 October and ‘Ella’s Pink Lady’ was readied for departure. Those of us who were following your progress began to sense your building excitement, and interest in the date of your departure from Andrew Short Marine at
The Spit on Sydney’s Middle Harbour increased.

Then, on 17 October 2009 you announced: “Tomorrow I’m going to get up and sail around the world!”

Since then you have done just that. You stepped up to the mark and set off to fulfill your chosen task, and as time went by you ticked the boxes and wrote ‘job done’ as you passed each goal you set to achieve your dream.

And now, at the end of 2009 you have Cape Horn in your sights and have accumulated a large following of International supporters who communicate with you via your blog pages and think of themselves as part of your ‘extended family’, and an even larger collection of blog-readers interested in your daily progress.

You have become renowned as a wonderfully descriptive writer, a photographer who teases us with the beauty of all that the sea and sky has to offer, a video commentator with a unique sense of understated humour, and Australia’s most famous “Chocaholic”!
Thanks to Tony L (Mt Martha VIC) for his insight so far.

Jesse Watson,1000nm to Cape Horn 31/12/2009

Seems like when ♣Tracie Lynne Hall wrote..."I'm clenching my eyes shut and praying fervently until you've rounded that puppy (cape horn)..." she knew what was coming.
The Horn seems to have all the attributes of a scary ride.
Go Jesse and Hoist up the JW Sail!!! Good to see that your 'Flipper mate' is making it look easy by keeping you company.

.....¨¨¨¨¨¨Sound¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨
...........the Horn..............."""\__
....._Jesse’s_comin’ thru______)<
........!(@)'(@)""""**!(@)(@)****!(@)

(Sorry ♣Sally I couldn't resist to tread on your turf as well, lol)

Check out this picture of Jessica entering the Roaring forties in style.

Plus...Just a few tid-bits from the blog of Jessica Watson.

From... ♣Richard in Maryland, the proverb about little things that matter most:

For Want of a Nail
For want of a nail the shoe was lost.

For want of a shoe the horse was lost.

For want of a horse the rider was lost.

For want of a rider the battle was lost.

For want of a battle the kingdom was lost.

And all for the want of a horseshoe nail.

♣ Laurei sums it up best though, lol. "You're a mad woman, I'm super impressed, you're talented!"...This was after Jessica encountered a squash zone with no serious storms.

Sail on Silver Girl???

I wish people would stop quoting this lyric.

The last thing on Jessica's mind is second place. Lol.

epl before and now shots.

Here's some pictures of the yacht Jessica Watson is on.

Here's the new model cruising to the start line in Sydney.

This was before Don McIntyre bought her as 'Shanty' in Queensland. Don lent Jessica the yacht and this was refitted and painted in preparation for Jessica's record attempt.

Surfs up in Hawaii

Meanwhile the waves are rising further south with Jessica.
By the way the Biggest wave event (Pro surfing) is on in Hawaii, The Eddie Akau memorial (First time the waves have been big enough for 7 years, lol), There was never anything that Eddie wouldn't have a go at riding. That lead to the famous phrase...Eddie would go.Hang Loosey.
More snaps:
December 9, 2009
http://www.examiner.com/x-28317-Net-Buzz-Examiner~y2009m12d9-Eddie-Aikau-2009-competition-videos-show-spectacular-waves-see-Eddie-Aikau-2009-videos

tiger tuff! Here's what I reckon.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nze8B39OB0k&feature=related

What a champ he was:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I1I55z-x6zc

Jack Nicklaus' record is now well and truly safe.
Tiger has never had to deal with this type of pressure.
When it's family and a baby is in the picture, things go awry for most celebrities let alone a bloke that needs to be alone to practise, practise, practise.
He'll be lucky to win a major again.

December 2 blog for jessica

Hi Jessica,Yay Grandma!!!
I'm glad you're not in the Gulf, the Iranians have arrested a sailing crew for venturing ONLY 500 metres into their waters. Now that is tough if the wind is up. Politics and sport are like oil and water.
I also notice that the blog tips are getting weirder as you head out of those dulldrums(sic) bound for the cooler climes...♥Samurai sounds like a rager, she even gives tips on throwing up, lol."I got to the point where I'd sussed out what tasted better on the way out and 2 minute noodles were up there along with Sao crackers." ♣Bruce from Brisvegas is still telling us to eat Kiwi Fruit, you have to eat them quick in summer before they bloat, lol. ♣Richard in Marylands' tip on holding down the ctrl key while hitting the plus key to enlarge a piccy was a beauty.This tip would've solved the query by many of what the present from Grandma was, lol. Mountains of swiss(ish) chocolate.
5000nm already! You are flying along, not much sitting around for you.I see that December 17 is the estimate for the roaring fortie. I betcha can't wait, catchya L8er.

Even more hints on Jesse's blog

The blog tips are getting wierder as you fly through those dulldrums(sic)...

♥Samurai sounds like a rager, she even gives tips on throwing up, lol."I got to the point where I'd sussed out what tasted better on the way out and 2 minute noodles were up there along with Sao crackers."

♣Bruce from Brisvegas is still telling us to eat Kiwi Fruit, you have to eat them quick in summer before they bloat, lol.

♣Richard in Marylands' tip on holding down the ctrl key while hitting the plus key to enlarge a piccy was a beauty.