Jessica Watson Crosses Equater & Abby Sunderland to embark on circumnavigation at 16 yrs old

[Terri]

Jessica Watson crosses Equator

Jessica Watson crossed the equator last Thursday, a key milestone of her voyage that began last month in Sydney. Watson, 16, telephoned her support team by satellite phone to confirm she entered the northern hemisphere, according to a statement on her Web site. She now plans to head southeast through the South Pacific before trying to pass Cape Horn on the south coast of Chile, considered by the yachting fraternity to be the sailing equivalent of climbing Mount Everest. A few hours before crossing the equator, Watson wrote that she phoned relations in New Zealand who were holding a party in her honor, and dined on an omelet of “powdered eggs, tinned butter, bacon bits and dried parsley.” From: bloomberg.com.

Another Sunderland to circumnavigate solo

For her 16th birthday, Abby Sunderland of Thousand Oaks, California, didn't ask for a new car but the chance to fulfill a dream. Less than a year after her brother, Zac Sunderland, became the youngest person to circumnavigate the world solo, Abby will set out in Wild Eyes, a Category 0 Open 20 sailboat, to make sailing history. This December, Abby will embark on the journey of a lifetime. Alone aboard Wild Eyes, Abby will endeavor to become the youngest person in history to circumnavigate the globe unassisted and without stopping. The current world record holder for youngest unassisted solo circumnavigation is Jesse Martin of Australia, who earned the title over 10 years ago. Abby is currently training for the global expedition by sailing Wild Eyes with her father, Laurence Sunderland, and Zac on a 1,000-mile voyage from Newport, Rhode Island, to Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Once returning to Marina Del Rey, Wild Eyes will be outfitted with new sails, complete with room for names and logos for current and potential sponsors.

[Suky Cannon]

I like having it here as a topic for discussion.. more easily accessible.. though it could be posted in both places..... ~!~!*~ I wish there was more news of these two young women, I can't seem to get enough.
I must admit that I shiver when thinking about going around Cape Horn ~ who ever you are ~ I hope when both these young women return we get DETAILS.....
there's much to be said for youth attempting these feats... seems our modern culture is generally overprotective, especially Americans... in other cultures, especially indigenous ones and 100 to 200 years ago, mostly young men left home at 12 or 13 to go to sea and both sexes have no limits given the chance of what they can accomplish.

In my heart, age is really irrelevant, amazing feats are accomplished at any age.I was first busy with career, then family until I jumped off...to fulfill my dream, which feels quite modest in contrast.
Now, looking back, I wish I had gone earlier.

[Dan Vitale]

I agree Suky. I learned to sail at 59. Planning to cruise and liveaboard next year when I retire. Your last paragraph echoes my sentiments. However, to be honest, I was a dunce at 16. Those girls amaze me.

[Dave and Donna]

i agree I like them here Ben following her trip steady and doing well. Have a lot of support and phone, net, etc but still a learning adventure

[Terri]

http://www.jessica-watson.com/ Jessica Watson's page...blog, track, latest news

[Terri]

30 Knot Winds and Tough Conditions for 16-Year-Old Watson Dec.09

On day 51 (December 8) of her solo circumnavigation, Jessica Watson passed the 6000 nautical mile mark and is preparing to take on the Southern Ocean.

The 16-year-old is trying to be the youngest person to sail solo, non-stop and unassisted around the world. She hopes to do it in eight months.

As she heads south to Cape Horn, Jessica has been very busy in recent days, adhering to detailed checklists as she prepares her boat Ella's Pink Lady to take on the rougher conditions of the Southern Ocean. She changed over to a heavy weather staysail this afternoon. The 6,000nm mark also means Jessica has completed over 25 percent of her 23,000nm voyage, as the ever-decreasing critics remain eerily silent.

The past 24 hours has seen Jessica endure her toughest conditions to date on her solo circumnavigation attempt, with wind gusts of up to 30 knots and 3 a meter swell, courtesy of a low pressure system on her way south to Cape Horn. Despite the stronger winds, the low was not as bad as the predicted 40-50 knots initially forecast. The good news is that she is through the peak of the squash zone, which is a strange and unpredictable area between the tropics and the Southern Ocean.

"For all the concerned bloggers and supporters eagerly awaiting an update report, we can assure you that Jessica and Ella's Pink Lady are progressing well and she will update you all when she can. She is resting, eating well and well prepared should conditions rapidly change," her Blog stated. MORE: www.jessicawatson. com.au/.

[Terri]

http://soloround.blogspot.com/ Abby Sunderland's Blog. She left Marina Del Rey on Saturday, Jan. 25 th

[Terri]

http://www.youngestround.blogspot.com/ Jessica Watson's latest entry.....very brave young woman...I'd be under the covers speaking in tongues. :-) Also see http://www.jessicawatson.com.au/the-latest-news Nope, couldn't do it...ready to run a jack-line right here and attach my tether...holy #!!#@!!!!

[Terri]

http://www.jessica-watson.com/ Jessica has less than 6000 nm left to go!

[Terri]

16, who cannot legally drive a car but is two months into a quest to become the youngest person to sail around the world alone, on Tuesday will face by far her most daunting challenge yet: the rounding of Cape Horn.

While her friends back home in Southern California are savoring the pleasures of spring, Sunderland is pondering the treacherous passage between South America and Antarctica. With its mountainous, heaving seas and gale-force winds, Cape Horn is a mariners' graveyard, regarded as the Mt. Everest of the yachting universe.

Reached this week via email the budding adventurer from Thousand Oaks claimed she was not afraid.

"I understand very well how dangerous the ocean is, and especially where I am, and I sail carefully and never forget how fast things can turn bad out here," she responded, from a position west of southern Argentina and 700 miles from Cape Horn. "But fear would just get in the way. When things are going on, you don't have time to be scared about it; you have to just get your head around everything and deal with it."

If Sunderland is successful it will mark her first major milestone and the beginning of a long, easterly Southern Ocean traverse aboard a 40-foot yacht named Wild Eyes. Her voyage is controversial because of her age, but also because she'll be entering this notoriously inhospitable stretch as the Southern Hemisphere summer fades to autumn and savagely cold and stormy weather begins to set in.

"My biggest hope is that she has he maturity to wait out any nasty weather rather than push too hard for a record and risk getting into trouble," says Charlie Nobles, executive director of the American Sailing Assn.

Sunderland, who lives in Thousand Oaks, Calif., and embarked Jan. 23 from Marina del Rey, Calif., is one of two 16-year-old girls attempting nonstop, unassisted solo-circumnavigati ons, subsiding on freeze-dried food and desalinated water, while accepting only verbal or online guidance from home-based teams.

Australia's Jessica Watson began her odyssey from Sydney last October and rounded Cape Horn on Jan. 13. Soon afterward she endured 70-knot winds that threatened to capsize her 34-foot pink sloop.

Watson, now more than 18,000 miles along and crossing the Indian Ocean, is five months older than Sunderland, so Sunderland will become the youngest if she completes her trip within five months of Watson's ending date. (Abby's brother Zac, who completed his voyage at 17, briefly held the distinction as being the youngest sailor to solo-circumnavigate the planet but he made several stops. England's Mike Perham, who is slightly younger, stole that honor weeks later.)

Abby Sunderland's trip was delayed by about two months because of boat issues. Her parents assure, however, that she'll listen closely to weather experts and scurry to the nearest port if conditions become too harsh.

Meanwhile, the intrepid mariner is faring reasonably well. "I miss my family, and my dog, and my friends," she wrote, adding that thoughts often turn to her 5-year-old sister, Katherine. They share a bedroom and Katherine idolizes Abby, and has not slept in the room alone since Abby's departure.

Aside from bouts of loneliness, the eldest Sunderland daughter--one of seven children, with an eighth on the way--insists she's relishing the experience of a lifetime. "Everything around me is so amazing, just standing out on deck is exhilarating, " she explained. "Every day there are new experiences, and they always seem better than the last; everything from squalls to gales, to just racing along."

Her parents, on the other hand, are besieged by the same type of angst as when Zac was braving gales and encountering ghost ships carrying suspected pirates.

"I have definitely been recruiting the people in my life who pray," said the mother, Marianne, in reference to a recent convergence of severe weather fronts that were falsely predicted to slam Wild Eyes. "But I am super-impressed with how Abby has handled everything, from the boat and its workings to the loneliness and monotony of everyday life at sea. But I'll be glad when she has rounded the Horn and can get back up into some calmer waters."

Abby might get to see her father before she rounds Cape Horn. Laurence Sunderland has flown to Argentina and hired a captain to take him out to try to photograph Wild Eyes before his daughter attempts the passage, but that might prove difficult as 20- to 25-knot winds and large swells are in the forecast through Tuesday.

After she gets around South America's tip, Abby will turn to the north and attempt to outrun a building Antarctic storm. Ultimately, she'll cross the southern Atlantic and the Indian Ocean, pass between Australia and New Zealand and cross the Pacific on a northeast course toward home.

That's a lot of water to cover and, given her late start, perhaps a lot of icebergs to dodge as well.

-- Photo of Abby Sunderland aboard her vessel, Wild Eyes, courtesy of Gizara Arts

[Terri]

50 Knot Gusts and Tough Conditions Continue for Jessica
14-Apr-2010


The tough conditions of the Southern Ocean over the past week have continued to confront Jessica today, as she battled six metre plus swells, cold stinging rain and wind gusts of 50 knots.

After sailing south east in 25-30 knot winds earlier today, sudden gusts of 50 knots hit Ella’s Pink Lady, creating two large tears in the mainsail. Fortunately conditions have eased to 25 knots, but it has been another very challenging day for 16 year old Jessica.

This follows numerous electrical storms in her vicinity over the past 72 hours which have prevented her from getting much sleep and tested her endurance. So despite being closer to home, it's been a difficult week so far.

As usual, Jessica has a positive attitude and reports that all is well, as she has a spare mainsail and the prediction is for better weather over the next week as she heads east to Tasmania.

We are all wishing Jessica a fine run home over the next few weeks, as the anticipation of her arrival back into Sydney builds.

Once the weather settles, Jessica will provide a more detailed update for everyone on her blog.

-END-


The Latest News

[Terri]

Sunday, April 25, 2010 11:15am PDT
Teen sailor Abby Sunderland abandons nonstop around-the-world quest
By: Pete Thomas, GrindTV.com
Abby Sunderland, one of two 16-year-old girls on different quests to sail around the world alone, nonstop and unassisted, has announced she will head to Cape Town, South Africa, to repair a faulty autopilot system.

The high-school junior from Thousand Oaks, Calif., stressed on her blog that she will continue her journey after making repairs and seek to become simply the youngest person to solo-circumnavigate the planet in a sailboat.

Jessica Watson, Sunderland's Australian counterpart, is expected to complete her nonstop circumnavigation attempt in late May. Watson is enduring severe weather aboard her 34-foot pink sailboat as she travels beneath Australia en route to her finish point at Sydney Harbor. Watson, who is five months older than Sunderland, left Sydney last October.

Sunderland, who departed from Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, in early February aboard a 40-foot vessel, has been experiencing trouble with her autopilot system for the past several weeks, including during a precarious passage around treacherous Cape Horn at South America's tip.

Autopilots are supposed to hold a sailor's course but Sunderland's primary and backup units have been faulty. At one point recently, in rough seas and freezing temperatures, the intrepid mariner had to hand-steer from the stern deck for 24 consecutive hours.

She stated on her blog that it'd be "foolish and irresponsible" to transition from the South Atlantic to a long and potentially rollicking Indian Ocean stretch without fully operational equipment.

"I gave it my best shot and made it almost halfway around the world," she said. "I will definitely keep going, and whether or not I will make any more stops after this I don't know."

Laurence Sunderland, Abby's father, said in an interview that his daughter has "matured considerably as a sailor and a person" while working tirelessly to keep her boat, Wild Eyes, on course in the monotonously gray, topsy-turvy and bitter-cold region east of Cape Horn.

Laurence Sunderland will fly to Cape Town and help Abby with repairs when she arrives in 10-12 days.

The father added that Abby's older brother Zac made 13 stops "and still became a hero" during a solo-circumnavigati on he completed, at 17, last July.

Zac briefly held the distinction of being the youngest person to have sailed around the world alone. England's Mike Perham currently holds that distinction.

--Photo of Abby Sunderland courtesy of GizaraArts.com

To put these adventures into perspective, more than 3,000 people have successfully climbed Mt. Everest during the past 56 years. According to the American Sailing Assn., fewer than 250 people have sailed alone around the world since Joshua Slocum logged the first documented solo-circumnavigati on in 1898.