{"id":871,"date":"2011-12-31T12:34:33","date_gmt":"2011-12-31T19:34:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lindacollison.com\/blog\/?p=871"},"modified":"2012-05-18T11:29:27","modified_gmt":"2012-05-18T18:29:27","slug":"world-class-teen-sailor%e2%80%99s-book-delivers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/madhatdesign.com\/newsite\/world-class-teen-sailor%e2%80%99s-book-delivers\/","title":{"rendered":"Jessica Watson’s True Spirit"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/strong>True Spirit: The True Story of a 16-Year-Old Australian Who Sailed Solo, Nonstop, and Unassisted Around the World<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

New Year’s Eve, 2009.<\/p>\n

\u201c\u2026I was just starting to think the wind was dying down and I was sitting at the nav table feeling calm and smug that we\u2019d ridden it out so beautifully when out of nowhere we took a really big wave.\u00a0 Water poured in from the vent right above me (which was closed), and I was covered in ice-cold water.\u00a0 The nav table isn\u2019t a great place to dump a whole lot of water, but after a few shrieks I checked it all out and everything was okay.\u00a0 The wind picked up and was sitting between 36 and 44 knots as the waves started to build again\u2026Finally the wind calmed right down to more like 20 to 25 knots, and after what felt like a few very long days I was pretty exhausted.\u00a0 I managed about three hours\u2019 sleep over twenty-four hours, and knew I had to watch myself.\u00a0 I made a list of things to do\u2026\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/em><\/strong> (Jessica Watson, from her first book)<\/p>\n

It\u2019s New Year\u2019s Eve 2011 and I\u2019m reading True Spirit<\/em> by Jessica Watson, the memoir of the 16-year-old sailor who recently circumnavigated solo in Ella\u2019s Pink Lady<\/em>, a Sparkman and Stephens 34 sloop.\u00a0 (Take a virtual YouTube tour of Ella’s Pink Lady<\/a>)\u00a0 I am decidedly “on board” with her in spirit as she tweaks sails, charts her position, chats with mum and dad on the radio, bakes chocolate cupcakes, sings karaoke with the dolphins for an audience, reluctantly does her school assignments, makes repairs underway, tackles big swells, is occasionally becalmed and was once, at the beginning, run over by a freighter!<\/p>\n

In reading her narrative Jessica’s single-mindedness and determination is very apparent.\u00a0 Ah, immortal, resilient youth!\u00a0 As a sailor I can relate to her experiences, some of which remind me of my adventures with Bob on Topaz.<\/em>\u00a0 \u2026”Life on board is really pretty simple with all the little things filling up the day, but when the sea is up, even the simplest task becomes an adventure<\/strong><\/em>,\u201d says Jessica, (reminding me of my own attempts to make pancakes while Bob had the helm, beating into a large Pacific sea, somewhere southeast of Hawaii…)<\/p>\n

Jessica was inspired by the adventures of young people who circumnavigated before and wrote of their adventures in books of their own.\u00a0 (And aren\u2019t we all inspired by books?)<\/p>\n

\u2026\u201dAfter all the usual chores, I spent the morning catching up on a few emails and reading.\u00a0 I\u2019ve been rereading Kay Cottee\u2019s book about her nonstop trip around the world and of course Jesse Martin\u2019s Lionheart.\u00a0 I love comparing my trip so far with their voyages\u2026Over the years I\u2019d read and reread these two books contantly, and as my own voyage slowly came together I began to understand many of the things that Jesse and Kay wrote about in a whole new way\u2026\u201d<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Sailors today have more gadgets at their disposal, to help them navigate, communicate, and to assist in rescue.\u00a0 Still, when you are sailing a boat you are essentially alone.\u00a0 Knowing where you are is a good thing but you still need to get to where you want to go, and safely.<\/p>\n

\u2026.”The only thing that had the ultimate power in my new world was the weather.\u00a0 I was a slave to that, and though it was something I struggled with at times, ultimately it was why I was there.\u00a0 I wanted to be pushed to the limit and have to find the strength and the knowledge within myself to get through the bad times.\u00a0 If it was all smooth sailing, I wouldn\u2019t be doing that.<\/strong><\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n

This pretty much sums up why she is doing it.\u00a0 And who can deny\u00a0 that challenge is what makes life worth living?\u00a0 It is how we mature, by taking on challenges.\u00a0 We are at our best when challenged.<\/p>\n

\u201c\u2026 All right, I\u2019m going to sign off because I\u2019m off to do something brave, daring, and possibly a little reckless.\u00a0 I\u2019m going to open the bag labeled \u201cSchoolwork.\u201d\u00a0 Okay, so maybe I\u2019m being a bit of a drama queen, but wish me luck on this one!\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Ah, she is a teenager, a very human being after all…<\/p>\n

See Jessica’s homecoming on YouTube.<\/a><\/p>\n

I\u2019m still reading Watson\u2019s True Spirit<\/em>, on boat time (slow time), I\u2019m in no particular hurry to finish it.\u00a0 For me, that is the mark of a good book.\u00a0 If I skim it, I\u2019m not in love with it, it\u2019s a one night stand.\u00a0 My favorite books remain on my night stand for months on end.\u00a0 But Jessica, who is now 18 years old, isn\u2019t resting on her laurels.<\/p>\n

UPDATE<\/strong><\/p>\n

December 30, 2011:<\/strong>\u00a0 \u00a0Skipper Jessica Watson\u2019s team of young sailors \u2013 the youngest crew ever to compete in the famed Sydney-Hobart race — finished second in their class, the Sydney 38 division, aboard Ella Bache<\/em>.\u00a0 I\u2019m delighted that the teen circumnavigator has not retired from the sea after her accomplishment, but has found a new dimension for her drive and competitive spirit.\u00a0 Read about it on this link<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

On the last night of 2011 my thoughts and dreams are with the youth, for they are the future.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

True Spirit: The True Story of a 16-Year-Old Australian Who […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[105],"tags":[144,145,58,146,60],"class_list":["post-871","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-women-sailors","tag-circumnavigation","tag-ellas-pink-lady","tag-jessica-watson","tag-sidney-hobart-race","tag-teen-sailors"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/madhatdesign.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/871","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/madhatdesign.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/madhatdesign.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/madhatdesign.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/madhatdesign.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=871"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/madhatdesign.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/871\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":879,"href":"https:\/\/madhatdesign.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/871\/revisions\/879"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/madhatdesign.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=871"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/madhatdesign.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=871"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/madhatdesign.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=871"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}