Jessica Watson
I am amazed at all of the Hoo Ha about this girls upcoming adventure and I wish her well not the least because may daughter finds her so inspiring as do so many young people.
Cheers Comrades
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Jessica Watson
Iain Hall's SANDPIT
Bringing light into the darkness…
There’s not a lot of ‘Hoo Ha’ about her down here, Iain, so It must be a Qld thing. The rest of the world just thinks she’s too young and her parents are idiots.
Ray
that is precisely sort of Hoo Har that I am referring to here. personally I think that she can do it and that her parents are probably better placed than either you or I to know how capable she is.
Any 16 year old who has that much determination deserves support in my book.
Iain she and her parents are attention seeking idiots who dont have the slightest clue what she is getting in for. I dont think she will end up going but if she does she wont come back and her blood will be on their hands.
Would you let your daughter do this if she was 16 and had very little clue about long haul sailing, as young Jessica seems to?
One step at a time Iain, lets not get too carried away here, she is lucky to be alive and she hasn’t even managed to make it to the starting line yet. Let’s just hope and pray she can make it to Sydney in one piece.
Alan
My daughter is very smart and capable of doing anything that she sets her mind too and I very much doubt that Jessica’s parents are as naive as you seem to think that they are. It will be tough but its not like Jessica is setting out to do this in a trailer sailer now is it? She has all the right gear and from my understanding of these sort of voyages the biggest problem is the isolation. I really believe that young people (even 16 year olds) are far more capable than many people give them credit for.
They probably are but not this one. I know more than a little about the sea and I have read about her “preparations” for this trip, they are a joke. She sounds completely naive and unaware of what she will face. Having the right gear is only a part of it, you need to be mentally prepared and have continengy plans for all eventuality. Isolation will be the least of her problem, she needs to think about things like navigation, 10-15 metre waves, adverse winds, wear and tear on rigging and winches, what to do if her boat “rolls”, collisions with whales and shipping containers, food and freshwater rationing, fatigue management, pirates, etc. etc.
I appreciate your support for a young person “having a go” at something Iain and yes they can do amazing things, but in this case you are wrong, if she goes then she will die.
Hasn’t Jessica already collided with a ship, while she was below, asleep? I too genuinely fear for this girl’s safety and there is no way I would encourage my daughter to do it, and she’s an adult.
Glad one of us here has got some common sense Ray. Of course if your daughter was an adult and she wanted to do it then you couldnt stop her but if she was 16 and you gave her the “green light” then you would be morrally culpable if anything happened to her. Also I think Jessie Martin was 18 when he went round the pond, mind you he actually had a clue – and he nearly died twice.
Yes Ray, she forgot to turn on some warning device that would have told the ship she was about.
It does look as if she is not up to this, given that she could have been killed if her boat had been snagged by the ship she hit. It could have been pulled under and smashed to bits. Lucky for her it just broke the mast.
Following that example, I think her parents are stupid to let her go,at this stage.
Why is my memory ringing of Jesse Martin here ? Was that his name ?
You go girl !
What a surprise, “Len” agrees with Iain. If I didn’t know better…
Jesse Martin was an experienced “long haul” sailor who trained for 18 months before starting his trip, this girl decided over her last summer hols she’d give this round-the-world thing a burl, and apparently has done bugger all research or work on it. They had a scan of her emergency plan in one of the papers, apparently it was half a page long and had flowers doodled all over it!!
Yeah you “go girl”, just know that you won’t be coming back.
Jessica Watson had my support, until she got hit by a ship, at night, in the shipping lanes, before leaving Australian waters, before departing on the record-breaking trip.
I am concerned for her safety.
Hallelujah, Kae. Another voice of reason to balance the ‘just go for it’ blind support of Iain & Len. I wonder if the authorities should intervene here … or even if they can.
I am concerned about her safety too, but as there is no way that she can be stopped (in legal terms) then I prefer give her my support rather than get all patronising and say that she should be wrapped up in cotton wool.
Sorry guys can’t play.
Any aircraft capable of traveling the distance has been ordered to Samoa. Especially us.
See you whenever.
Good on You Len
Fly-boy to the rescue. Perhaps you could bring a few Samoans back as refugees? Got the uniform on?
The Samoans might start drifting in on fishing boats as “refugees” only for Iain to announce that “we’re full”. And they might even pass Jessica Watson on the way
Ah yes, Alan, the Samoans, with their history of religious and political extremism – on par with Sunni Afghans and LTTE Tamils. Great analogy Alan, great analogy. You got Iain a beauty there.
But they’re “skilled” Abu and, according to Len & Iain that’s the type of immigrants we need – rugby players & wrestlers.
(And if Jessica comes back with any Samoans on board will Iain be singing her praises then?)
Abu I was taking the piss out of Iain, not making any kind of political point. You really are a fcuking twit.
I wonder if Len has now been dispatched to Indonesia as well. He could pick up a few boat people and drop ‘em back.
From a height, no doubt. I’ve got this picture in my mind of Len in his Biggles flying cap yelling ‘bombs away you fckrs’ as he drops another load of Afghans, Sri Lankans & Iraqis on Indonesian soil. He’s a one-man air force, a crusader – TOP GUN.
Here he is:
http://alpineopinion.wordpress.com/files/2009/10/len1.jpg
What a maroon. Abu was taking the piss out of your dumb political points-scoring, Alan.
Another sock puppet with no name *yawn*
I reckon this web site has about three people who post as themselves, including Iain.
And me 2!
Len, Iain
I fear for this girl. Remember when she hit the ship a while back? Couple of points.
1. That wasn’t a minor incident and it could easily have been much worse. If she had been travelling a few metres ahead she would have been run down and sunk
2. (following from point 1). There are quite a few people around the world who are spending their retirements sailing exotic climes. Here’s what those people almost universally never do:-
– cross a shipping lane at night
– cross a shipping lane without being above decks and keeping a lookout
3. As far as I know, sail does not have right of way in a shipping channel.
So apart from being lucky (1) and blindingly stupid (2) she was also in the wrong (3)
I remember that about 10-12 years ago a family were run down by a cargo vessel off New Zealand and the husband and both kids were drowned when they were
a) crossing a shipping channel
b.) at night
c) asleep below decks without a lookout.
The mother was in the water for a couple of days before being washed up on a rock in New Zealand with a broken back.
They were roundly condemned for being idiots.
What’s different with this girl (and her parents)?
Any news from Len? How’s he going with ‘the rescue’. You go, fly-boy.
As for Jessica, I heard the mother on ABC radio’s PM show … oh … my … God. She IS an air head.
Poor Jessica.
This open letter from a chap who has done what Jessica is planning is most pertinent to our discussion here and i note that Mark Carlile puts loneliness and isolation at the top of his list of things that make this voyage hard…
Right now, the best NavAid for Jessica is a Drone Chopper with remote controls to 50 Km radius (minimum), several cams for day & night viewing & video transmitter. Fitted with defence gear ie machine gun, RPG & rockets, flares, epirb with automatic messaging.
Can you imagine Jessica becoming a Pirate Queen against her will?
Has naval security been requested to watch for chatter?
John