AT 16, SHE TRAVELS AROUND THE WORLD WITHOUT ANY STOPOVERS OR ASSISTANCE : FIND OUT WHAT YOU HAVE IN COMMON WITH HER
Through the porthole you see nothing, the waves of the Atlantic Ocean explode against the hull, lightning strikes the sky and dazzles you.
Your body is thrown against the walls of your cabin and objects fly in all directions. So you strap yourself to your bunk and hold on to whatever you find. You're upside down... The boat is upside down! Then you grit your teeth, close your eyes and stop your mind from telling you the worst-case scenario. Storm 12's gonna pass... it's got to pass.
JESSICA WATSON
NO ONE BELIEVES IN HER, SO SHE'S TAKING IT ONE STEP AT A TIME TO PROVE HERSELF...
While traveling on her parents' boat, little Jessica is making a dream of her own. It grows in her blond head, which then comes to confide in her mother. She who has always given a lot of freedom and confidence to her children.
She listens to what her little girl wants to accomplish. But she only gives her consent when Jess has shown by A+B that she can do it.
Then the young sailor starts to learn all the tricks of the great sailors' trade.
She has broken everything down into several objectives before achieving the great and unique "single-handed round the world voyage via the three capes".
When the Australian press got wind of Jessica's project, she headlined: "Parents unconscious! " " Murdering sponsors! "Accusations rain down and fail to drown the project in 2009.
But she gets into her bubble and continues to move forward despite the sideways glances and warnings. But Jessica knows what she's expecting, she's working on it and wants to get there, with or without their support.
She's scared. Of course she is. She's human, and a 10-metre wave rising up makes any sailor shudder. So she doesn't deny her anguish, she goes above it by accepting it. As if she has to be part of the journey.
It takes time to bring a project to the surface, but the important thing is to see it through to the end. And it doesn't matter how old you are, it doesn't matter what sex you are, if you want to make a dream come true, then it becomes accessible.
And that's what Jessica Watson is going to prove. Because tomorrow she's leaving. And she announces on October 17th, 2009, "Tomorrow I'm going to wake up and sail around the world."
...AND SAILS AROUND THE WORLD...
Her boat's called Ella's Pink Lady. It is 10 meters long and it's candy pink! The sailing world being very masculine, Jess made her mark by drowning out the preconceived idea that a woman brings bad luck at sea.
This superstition was born in the days when ships weren't as fast as they were then and the entire crew would be away from their families for months at a time. Women stirred lust, jealousy, passions and were manhandled by sailors. Whenever there was a problem on the ship, the woman was blamed.
So to avoid mental and physical frustration, women were not allowed on a boat and were made to look like they were bringing misfortune. This superstition continued until the 18th century.
So, yes, Jessica Watson is one of those women today who set standards and forged new ones. She's leaving Australia.
So the adventure unfolds like the crossing of the skippers who criss-cross the oceans of our blue planet. The elements are unpredictable. So this storm of force 12, she faces it with maturity and without cold, although fear twists her stomach.
Winds exceed 115 km/h and the raging sea makes 10-meter waves. That night, the boat capsizes four times. And when Jess pulls herself out of her cabin to repair the damage, two dolphins come to visit her. As if to make sure she made it through.
On several occasions, she will be lucky enough to be accompanied by these large cetaceans that play at the front of the boat. For despite the storms that she will still have to go through, the good weather will fill her batteries and she will start off again.
While the sailor had the opportunity, she never pressed the distress beacon.
She completely managed to overcome her fears and control herself as much as possible. At the age of 16, in the middle of the ocean, she lived her dream. And it lasts seven months. Sometimes she can't wait to get home to her family. And often she wants to stay longer, to sail further.
Setting out from Sydney Harbour on October 18, 2009, aboard her 10-metre pink sailboat, named Ella's Pink Lady, the young sailor covered 23,000 miles, or about 40,000 kilometres. From Fiji to Samoa, via the Equator, but also and above all via the three mythical capes Horn, Good Hope and Lewin, Jessica Watson has faced winds, icebergs and solitude.
She arrives a month ahead of schedule on 15th May 2010. After the shock of returning to civilization, she says,"People didn't think I could do a thing like that. They don't realize what young people... are capable of."
"I'm just an ordinary girl who believed in her dream."
She doesn't define herself as a hero. She fulfilled her dream of going around the world with 16 people, and is pushing us to try ours. She owes this feat to her entire team who accompanied her and to her family who supported her despite their fears and doubts. She gave herself the means to achieve it by cutting it into several small stages and remaining convinced that she could do it.
Sources and photo credits:
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2010/may/15/jessica-watson-sailed-world-home
https://www.parismatch.com/Actu/Sport/Jessica-Watson-la-nouvelle-fiancee-des-oceans-151226
https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jessica_Watson
https://www.toutpourlesfemmes.com/archive/jessica-watson-jeune-fille-et-la-mer
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