[eherlihy]

You really have a lot of following to do before airing your totally unfounded opinion. You don´t want to follow Jessica´s trivials; still your next post goes on about sponsoring etc. - from a cursory check of her website I guess. I am not sure what the value of that particular post is. Again: you have much research to do.
For your information: Jessica is NOT going for any RECORD. Just showing to HERSELF what she can do. So far she has done quite succesfully what she set out to do.
Never mind the records: No doubt she will turn up on various lists of accomplished sailors. On top of that she seems (from her blog) to be a very kind person showing an extreme capacity to overcome physical and psycological hardship.

First of all - Welcome to SailNet! Because you are new (1 post), I recommend that you read this post.

Second - I have an opinion, and a right to air it. Just like you! That's kind of what this category General Discussion (sailing related) is about.

Third - I hope that Abby and Jessica, and Zack (Zach?) grow up to be fine upstanding members of what ever community that they decide to be a member of. If anyone wants to sail around the world, I would tell them to shut up and do it - but don't ask for coast guard assistance, and please don't promote the attempt before you've done squat - and that includes selling hats, shoes, T shirts, and/or making a reality TV show out of your attempt.

However, her STATED goal "to become the youngest person to sail solo non-stop and unassisted around the World" (spelled out on the side of her boat) does strike me as irresponsible. A 17 year old kid did it, that encouraged a 16 year old to try it, which then encourages a 15 year old, and so on, and so on... Somehow, these kids get the impression that if they can be the youngest to complete a solo circumnav. that they'll be famous. I would argue that the public display of irresponsibility of their parents, and the exploitation of their attempt by sponsors should make them notorious!

I noticed that you claim to be from Copenhagen. Perhaps you remember the Laura Dekker fiasco? I would argue that the Danish courts agree with me, that this "quest to be the youngest" is irresponsible. In case you missed Laura's story, here is a refresher - thanks to NRC in the Netherlands:

It could be the ultimate reality TV show: 14-year-old girl sails around the world solo, navigates the islands of Indonesia and the Panama canal, braves the pirate-infested waters off the coast of Somalia, faces rough storms, dead calms, loneliness and physical exhaustion. Her reward: the Guinness world record for becoming the youngest sailor ever to circumvent the planet solo.

TV stations have been competing for the rights to Laura Dekker's story ever since it made headlines last August, when a Dutch juvenile court grounded her just as she was about to set sail in her 8-metre boat. Laura was temporarily placed under the supervision of a youth welfare organisation pending a decision by the juvenile court, which is expected by the end of this week.

No so lonely now

After considering several proposals, 'Team Laura Dekker" has agreed to go into business with one, as yet unnamed TV station. In a bizarre twist the TV coverage is being used as an argument before the juvenile court. After all, sailing around the world with a TV crew in tow, hardly qualifies as a solitary experience.

The media attention for Laura's case has gained her offers of support from around the world. An experienced sailor has put himself forward to follow Laura during the entire trip in a faster boat. Laura's website has received offers of free hotel rooms and private accommodation. Someone has proposed to be her spokesperson free of charge, and she will be met and taken care of at every port of call during her trip.

All of this could help sway the three juvenile court judges as they weigh their decision this week. In a hearing behind closed doors on Monday they listened one more time to the arguments presented by Laura, her father, the investigator appointed by child protection services, Laura's lawyer and her mother.

'It's all about the sailing'

The court-appointed psychologist's report on Laura is 35 pages long. The judges have studied it, as well as the report by the child protection services, an IQ test, Laura's proposed route and the security plan she drafted herself. A decision could be reached as early as Friday. [The court decided NOT to let her go, so she ran away - to St Martin How does a 14 year old "run away," all by herself, to a Dutch/French island in the Carribean? ]

According to Laura's lawyer Peter de Lange, in rare interview with NRC Handelsblad, the court has kept an open mind about the trip. "The judges agreed to proceed swiftly, because it is important, given the weather conditions, that Laura leaves as soon as possible." And if she wants to be the youngest sailor to sail around the world she has to leave before she turns 15," de Lange said. A 16-year-old Australian, Jessica Watson, is now under way to break the current record.

De Lange is confident the court will come round to his arguments. "Everyone says she is quite able to make the trip. It is no longer dangerous now that she will be followed and there will be someone to meet her at every port," De Lange said.

Another major objection is the trip's impact on Laura's education. Child services used the fact that Laura would be missing school as the main argument to have her placed under supervision. But De Lange said Laura plans to study on board and interrupt her trips to take exams.

Meanwhile, Laura herself is completely unfazed by the media attention, said De Lange. "For her it's all about the sailing."

However, the need for corporate, and in Zach's case private sponsorship [some readers may remember that there was a link on SailNet that would allow readers to contribute to his adventure] to complete their undertaking is a grab for MONEY...

I believe that the Guinness people removed this category to dissuade people from attempting to gain their 15 min of fame through solo circumnavigation attempts, but I may be wrong there. However, the most current Guiness record holder is Mike Perham, who completed his solo circumnav on the 18th November 2008 aboard his 50ft yacht TotallyMoney.com at the age of 16 years 247 days. Um, did I mention that this was about MONEY and publicity? Thank you Mike!

It does not take a lot of following or research for anyone to decide that this is about publicity, and money. I believe that I have made both points. If you feel that these attempts are about something else, the burden is on you to present your case and prove it.

"It's all about the sailing"... 'Cha-right

 

[Freerider]

OK, so now I've visited her website, and the whole thing makes me sick.uke

Sponsors : Check

Merchandise : Check

And it seems that her mission, "to become the youngest person to sail solo non-stop and unassisted around the World." went out the window after she and the freighter "came together," and her mast and deck were damaged.

haha makes you sick? You shouldn't let things that don't involve you, bother you so much. She's out sailing, so what?

 

[eherlihy]

You shouldn't let things that don't involve you, bother you so much.

You are absolutely right.

This whole topic reminds me of the longest duration at sea record "adventure." That sparked the wish i could find a 23 year old thread where we sorted the whole thing out. (BTW - He made it January 10 of this year.)

When will I learn....
< unsubscribe in 3, 2, 1, ... >

 

[theartfuldodger]

I would say that even though there's lots of people and teams involved in making it possible for both Jessica and Abby to seek out their quests, I would susggest there's others out there who support their adventures for other reasons. I say good on them to get out there and use the corporate world to aid them so it is safer for them. Maybe the corpoarte world will see that these types of investments are good and will flow over into other areas of local communtiy involvements. But saying that I have to say Jessica has done a down right good job thus far in showing she is very capable of this task.

 

[eherlihy]

Now I get it!

[edited out dialog with a poster who's posts were deleted]...

Nope - I really don't care about the issue, other than being frustrated by continually hearing about these kids and their exploits, or attempted exploits at getting into a record book. I would tell these kids; "You wanna sail, go and sail. Come back and tell me where you've been. And don't ask me, or anyone else to pay for it." And to their sponsors; "I will not buy your products because you have sponsored some foolhardy 'youngest sailor expedition,' but despite it.

Ironic, but if Ms Dekker did not have the publicity / PR / sponsorship machine behind her (Team Laura Dekker?), and, instead, had simply set sail, she would probably be doing it right now. She could then come home and give lectures, or write a book about it. Heck, I would even buy her a beer
- But, that would have to be in her country, and not the US. Because it's illegal for a 14 year old to procure or drink alcohol in the US.

'Scuse me, but now I have to go & unsubscribe again.

 

[Boasun]

Well they could have been trying the Northern route across the top of Canada in their boats...
You could hear the howling of the critics, as they became ice bound and all alone up there...Except for a couple of very hungry polar bears.

 

[theartfuldodger]

Here is a link for those interested in Abby Sunderlands progress with respect to Jessica's and in comparison to how their parents met them off of Cape Horn. Where Next? - More Engine Nonsense

 

[tdw]

Well the Watson girl is pretty much on the final leg as she moves towards Tasmania, where she'll turn left and head up the east coast towards Sydney.

She's by no means home and hosed yet, cos the seas south and south west of Tasmania are not the friendliest plus she still has Bass Strait to contend with but nevertheless you have to give her a pat on the back. Sure I find the parental watch, the whole sponsorship BS and indeed the chasing of silly records somewhat offputting but it doesn't demean her achievement.

I was a naysayer , particularly after that absurd incident with the ship off Moreton Bay but even a grumpy old sceptic like me has to admit that she's done well, certainly better than I imagined.

 

[Melrna]

In the end, it doesn't really matter how old, how many sponsors or anything else, She is doing something no one here has done or will ever do, period. Good on her.. She is sailing her dream while the rest of us armchair sailing!. Go Jesse Go!

 

[smackdaddy]

I was a naysayer , particularly after that absurd incident with the ship off Moreton Bay but even a grumpy old sceptic like me has to admit that she's done well, certainly better than I imagined.

I was a "sceppo" as well. I'm glad she's getting close to home. A true adventure.

 

[Omatako]

I've done my own share of single handed voyaging and I have to ask myself "who would want to?"

She is doing something no one here has done or will ever do, period. Good on her..

Yep, I was a naysayer too and like others, I take it back - Jessica has done good. I really hope her voyage continues well to the end.

 

[Yado]

Jessica is nearing Tasmania and blogs that her weather adviser says she may be in for some rough weather:
Official Jessica Watson Blog

I'm going to follow her run around Tasmania and up to Sydney and keep an eye on passage weather, Australia map.
PassageWeather - Sailing Weather - Marine Weather Forecasts for Sailors and Adventurers

I'm both impressed by and happy for this young lady, and relieved that she's made it this far. She may be looking at 40+ knots here shortly, I hope she can avoid it but it's nothing she can't handle.

 

[tdw]

Developing bunfight.......looks like the JW support team didn't bother to read the rules.

Sail-World.com : Jessica Watson: Keeping the Record Straight

Yes I know she has never claimed to be out to officially break the record but to muck up the distance travelled seems inexcusably careless.

Some wag in this morning's Sydney Morning Herald has suggested she should go round Fort Denison (a small island in Sydney Harbour) a couple of thousand times which will give her the necessary miles.

 

[Bene505]

IMHO, sHe should do a "Victory Lap" around Australia. That would do it. That would show them!

 

[chall03]

As someone who works in the Media here in Sydney, I have been following this story pretty closely as it becomes bigger and bigger news locally with her impending arrival around the corner, and well I still don't quite know what the go is.....

The record she is trying to break, firstly is unbreakable after 'the youngest ever' record was officially stricken from the books amongst the controversy of Laura Dekker last year. The record remains held by Jesse Martin, and will be forever......regardless of how far Jess sails.
Secondly those in her camp also claim to have been aware of the distance technicality all along....however don't seem to have a good answer as to why she didn't comply with it, you think they would of if for no other reason than to stop this kind of controversy....

At the end of the day, it seems silly though to say that she hasn't sailed enough miles to break the record that officially she can't break anyway....

So what remains is that a 16 year old girl wisely or otherwise has sailed a 34ft yacht around the world. For that my hat is off to her.

As an aside, I had occasion to speak to her a couple of times before she left, albeit fleetingly and as a person she does impress me.

 

[smackdaddy]

Developing bunfight.......looks like the JW support team didn't bother to read the rules.

Sail-World.com : Jessica Watson: Keeping the Record Straight

Yes I know she has never claimed to be out to officially break the record but to muck up the distance travelled seems inexcusably careless.

Some wag in this morning's Sydney Morning Herald has suggested she should go round Fort Denison (a small island in Sydney Harbour) a couple of thousand times which will give her the necessary miles.

Bunfight? I LOVE a good bunfight!

Congrats to Jess.

 

[tdw]

Bunfight? I LOVE a good bunfight!

Congrats to Jess.

Record or no record is quite irrelevent really...she has achieved a great deal, far more than I have and I'm over three times her age.

Reality is however that her PR brigade have been portraying this as an attack on an official record, a record that in fact does not even exist anymore and they knew that right from the start. While only going public last week, Sail World reckon they had contacted Team Watson in April last year re this query.

I'm also liking the brouhaha re the infringement of the Pink Lady copyright.

She is good, no doubt about it and she has done so much better than I ever gave her credit for but her PR crew appear to be a bunch of scumbags who could comfortably nap on a corkscrew.

To be honest I don't really care other than the fact that I have something of a complete loathing for this kind of PR bovine excretia.

 

[chall03]

TD. Well extrapolated as always

I don't have the links/quotes at hand, but yeah early in her blog she was fairly clear about setting out to 'break the record'.

To take nothing away from what she has done, there seems to be some very confusing rhetoric coming from her camp......Oh and I always get worried when I hear the words.....book deal and manager....

 

[calden]

She is good, no doubt about it and she has done so much better than I ever gave her credit for but her PR crew appear to be a bunch of scumbags who could comfortably nap on a corkscrew.

Ha ha ha! Is this a peculiarly Australian exrpression? Love it! I'm going to pull it out and see how they respond here in the States.

Also - I'm with you about "the record" nonsense. As far as I am concerned, she and Abby Sunderland both deserve a ton of credit and fanfare for their accomplishments, along with any other young-ish person who has the maturity and forethought to undertake something like this. Parsing it down to mileage or months just to win a competition is missing the point of what this is about. Really.

And I'm totally disgusted by Sail World magazine (is that the name?) Sure, if they want to question the specs and mileage it's their right, I guess, but it's awfully tacky and catty to bring this up RIGHT NOW as Jessica is preparing to arrive. It's so condescending: "Oh, yes, you've done something MAHVELOUS but, oh dear, it's not QUITE up to snuff, too bad, so sad, I guess now you won't be so happy arriving at the Opera House." They certainly could have raised this point a month or two down the line. It smacks of personal crap and just makes them look bad.

Carlos

 

[blackjenner]

She did something I'll never do.

She did so it, she circumnavigated alone, and she's in an elite club. I think it was said that more people have gone to the moon than have done what she has done. She deserves that credit.

As for SailWorld? Screw them.

As for the the naysaying pikers who pick at the technicalities of what she has done, screw them too.

As for her PR team, yeah, them too.

I'll bet not a one of them has done this and never will.

“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again; because there is not effort without error and shortcomings; but who does actually strive to do the deed; who knows the great enthusiasm, the great devotion, who spends himself in a worthy cause, who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement and who at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly. So that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat.” -- Teddy Roosevelt