Watson Undeterred by Official Warning

The Australian paper The Courier-Mail has reported that the parents of Jessica Watson, the 16-year-old Aussie who wants to become the youngest person to circumnavigate, have received a letter from Maritime Safety Queensland assessing young Watson’s skills — and it wasn’t pretty. Watson had left the Sunshine Coast on September 8 on a shakedown cruise to Sydney. On her first night out, she was involved in a collision with the 738-ft bulk carrier, Silver Yang, in which her Pepto Bismol-hued S&S 34 Ella’s Pink Lady was dismasted but Watson herself was left miraculously uninjured.

In its report, MSQ determined that Watson had spotted the approaching Silver Yang on radar at 2 a.m., then promptly went below to take a nap. She’d noted "a target at about six nautical miles" and "determined the vessel was passing to starboard well clear and not in a crossing situation." Most experienced offshore sailors would have kept an eye on the ship, regardless of its ‘projected’ course, until it had passed. Instead, around 2:10 a.m., Watson’s boat hit and scraped down the side of Silver Yang.

Additionally, the MSQ inspectors found that an alarm on an unspecified piece of electronic safety equipment had not been activated that night. Most radars and AIS units feature proximity alarms, so it’s possible that Watson forgot to set hers before going below.

Investigators were also concerned that Watson kept an irregular log, didn’t plot her positions on a paper chart or chartplotter, and hadn’t developed a sleep management plan for singlehanding.

The agency’s official recommendation to the Watsons was that Jessica is simply too young and inexperienced to continue with her record attempt. But the Watson family is undeterred. A statement on her website says "Jessica Watson and her team wish to advise all of her supporters that she remains on track to achieve her goal of being the youngest to sail solo around the world." It goes on to bemoan the leaking of the "confidential" MSQ letter, claims that they "respect all of the maritime authorities and the important role they play in ensuring safety on the sea," and that Ella’s Pink Lady will be ready to continue on to Sydney next week.

Read more about the latest crop of young record-breaker-wannabes in the October issue of Latitude, which will hit all the usual spots on Thursday.