Reporter: Charles Wooley
Producer: Jonathan Harley
May, 2010
It was the good news story of the year. Back in May, after 210 days at sea, 16-year-old Jessica Watson swept through Sydney Heads to become the youngest person ever to sail solo and unassisted around the world.
Our Jessica conquered the great oceans of the world, facing down everything Mother Nature threw at her - ferocious storms, frustrating calms and skyscraper waves.
And that's just the start of this girl's own adventure story.
Story contacts:
For more information on Jessica Watson, visit: www.jessicawatson.com.au
Jessica's management is:
5 Oceans Media
Phone 02 9919 7555
Full transcript:
STORY -
CHARLES WOOLEY: Out of the wide, blue yonder and into the crowded embrace of new-found friends and fans in their tens of thousands, Jessica Watson is home - the 16-year-old heroine safe again in the calm waters of Sydney Harbour, sailing straight into celebrity... ..and stepping ashore into the arms of relieved parents.
CHARLES WOOLEY: You couldn't have expected this kind of welcome?
JESSICA WATSON: No. I expected a few people here to meet me but, ah, what we got coming in the harbour was just completely overwhelming.
CHARLES WOOLEY: We knew, because we knew millions of people around the world were following you. Did you know this?
JESSICA WATSON: There's no way you can prepare for it when you haven't seen a person in nearly seven months, and I always figured I'd just sort of wing it, and it worked out OK so far.
CHARLES WOOLEY: 210 days after setting off on her epic adventure and, in the process, sparking a furious debate about the rights and abilities of adolescents, Jessica has single-handedly prevailed over everything the sea could throw at her and, at the same time, redefined the boundaries and possibilities of youth.
CHARLES WOOLEY: We're taking the line now that you have really redefined what we think teenagers are capable of.
JESSICA WATSON: I'd like to think so.
CHARLES WOOLEY: And the rights of kids to do these things.
JESSICA WATSON: I would absolutely love to think that I have made a few people think that maybe teenagers are a bit more capable than some of the credit we give them for.
CHARLES WOOLEY: It all seems such a long way from last October, back on the other side of summer, where, when I first met her, Jessica was putting the finishing touches to her 10.5m vessel, 'Ella's Pink Lady'.
CHARLES WOOLEY: Jessica, she's beautiful.
JESSICA WATSON: Yes.
CHARLES WOOLEY: She's curvy and beamy and there's lots of room in there for you.
JESSICA WATSON: Yeah, yeah. Just the right amount of room, but yeah, a very cute boat.
CHARLES WOOLEY: But by my inclinations just right for a Sunday sail, but I don't know whether...
JESSICA WATSON: No, no, no.
CHARLES WOOLEY: ..I'd go around the world in it.
JESSICA WATSON: No, it's just the right size. It's just perfect for me to handle.
CHARLES WOOLEY: Because the point is handling, isn't it?
JESSICA WATSON: Yeah.
CHARLES WOOLEY: But for all the optimism of youth and her wholehearted faith in this trusty little vessel...
CHARLES WOOLEY: Bloody kids, they're a worry, aren't they?
JULIE WATSON: Yeah, she's a problem child.
CHARLES WOOLEY: There was no hiding the tears and apprehension when she finally pushed off.
ROGER WATSON: If anyone can do it, you can.
JESSICA WATSON: Well, that's the plan.
CHARLES WOOLEY: That this was a dangerous enterprise was already only too apparent. A month earlier, en route from Brisbane to Sydney, the 'Pink Lady' had collided with a Chinese bulk carrier.
JESSICA WATSON: No, no, it's alright, I'm OK, but - I lost half my mast, yeah.
CHARLES WOOLEY: But as she sailed out of Sydney Heads, farewelled by a flotilla of well-wishers, any arguments about whether or not she should go were left far behind. Jessica was now the skipper of her own destiny.
CHARLES WOOLEY: How did you get on with yourself?
JESSICA WATSON: Really well. I'm not sure if that means I'm really simple or not but I really did enjoy being by myself.
CHARLES WOOLEY: And did the crew never argue with the skipper?
JESSICA WATSON: No, never. It was great. I obviously really missed everyone. From the day, the minute, I sailed out of Sydney Harbour, something's missing - I missed everyone so badly. But, I did, I really enjoyed it. Once I got used to it, I enjoyed that freedom, the independence of being by yourself.
CHARLES WOOLEY: Jessica's adventure would take her from Sydney, across the Pacific Ocean, and briefly into the Northern Hemisphere. Then she plunged far into the freezing southern waters, eventually rounding the notorious Cape Horn, and then on through the high latitudes, past the Horn of Africa before re-entering the harsh Southern Ocean and back into Australian waters. All up - nearly 42,000km.
JESSICA WATSON: Across the Indian Ocean under Australia, under Tassie and back to Sydney. If you say it really quick and then it's...
CHARLES WOOLEY: Yes, yeah, sensational.
JESSICA ON WEBCAM: Day 5 out here, fifth day out here, it's pretty much like the first week has completely flown.
CHARLES WOOLEY: As daunting as it all seemed, there was a methodical plan, beginning by taking advantage of the Pacific Ocean's relative calm while Jessica found her sea-legs.
JESSICA ON WEBCAM: It's a real flat day - not much happening. We're just getting along slowly at 3 or 4 knots.
CHARLES WOOLEY: And, for now, at least, Mother Nature obliged.
JESSICA ON WEBCAM: It's my first time across the equator, so, ah, it's traditional to have a dunk of salt water as you go across. And I was going to go all-out and have a dunking of pink pudding but decided it would taste better as dessert and no-one else out here to make me, so, um, here goes. Ahhh!
JESSICA WATSON: My favourite part was probably the quiet days you're sailing along by yourself, and that's all there is, and you've got time to take it in, and that's what I loved.
CHARLES WOOLEY: Just the easy rhythm of the sea, when the sea is being nice.
JESSICA WATSON: Yeah. When it's being nice. And there's one thing I'm just so relieved about today - I don't have to worry about the weather any more. I don't have to be constantly thinking is the barometer going up or down, is the wind doing this or that, when is the next storm coming. That is just such a huge relief, just to not worry about the weather.
JESSICA ON WEBCAM: Hi. Monday 13 out here, and it's been a nice day. We're gliding along at 5 knots and I got this really beautiful sunset happening out beside of me.
CHARLES WOOLEY: It's the age-old fascination of the sea in its eternally changing moods. And for all its indifferent cruelty it's also true that the beauty of the sea can be sublime and embracing.
JESSICA ON WEBCAM: There's a huge school of dolphins around us. There are dolphins absolutely everywhere! It's amazing!
CHARLES WOOLEY: Even at the most frigid depths of the South Atlantic, off the remote and wild South American coast, the sea conjures wonders long marvelled at by mariners ancient and modern.
JESSICA ON WEBCAM: Happy New Year, everyone, from down here at 55 south, and it's quite unusual really 'cause we been becalmed for most of the day so it's been a bit of a treat to have clear skies for most of the day, and a couple of albatrosses circling around 'Pink Lady' and sitting in the water next to us. And, yeah, I will be counting in 2010 at midnight, my time zone, tonight. To be honest, I didn't have to put too much thought into my New Year's resolution - it was quite easy. I think getting back to Sydney is going to be challenging enough. So, Happy New Year to everyone!
CHARLES WOOLEY: Back home, on Queensland's Sunshine Coast, life had to go on. While Jessica lives her adventures oceans away, Julie and Roger Watson were left to cope with the agonisingly slow pace of normality, waiting, wondering and worrying.
CHARLES WOOLEY: When you walk along the beach and you look out to sea, you think of her?
JULIE WATSON: Yeah, yeah.
ROGER WATSON: I've had a lot of trouble doing that to start with. chow Really?
ROGER WATSON: Yeah, looking out to sea was almost too much emotionally for me for quite a while. I couldn't drive up onto the headland up there and look out to sea when she'd first gone. It was just, you know, far too much for me.
CHARLES WOOLEY: For Roger, Julie and the kids, this has been a painfully long seven months, redeemed only by daily contact on the satellite phone.
JESSICA ON WEBCAM: I'm just cooking dinner. I'm having spaghetti bolognese tonight, so I got spaghetti, freeze-dried mince - which I'm adding water to now...
CHARLES WOOLEY: In those days that must blur together, what did you do?
JESSICA WATSON: I always had something to do. I don't know what I did, but I always found something to do. There was always the boat to look after, bits and pieces of maintenance to do, people to talk to, blogs to write. Just sitting there soaking it in, reading, I read a lot. Did a little bit of school work...
CHARLES WOOLEY: This was always a marathon, not a sprint - success achieved through the slow and steady connecting of dots, rather than by some impulsive flourish. And, so, constantly the sea miles wash under the tiny hull of the 'Pink Lady' as the world is slowly measured out - another day, another cape, another childhood dream turned into triumph.
JESSICA ON WEBCAM: Well, how about this? It's January 13 and I'm sitting here looking out at Cape Horn, out the window. It's not the best sight-seeing weather, at all. We've got gusting 40 knots of wind, sea's a total mess, rain and overcast skies - hardly see a thing. But 10 nautical miles out there I can just see this beautiful, big outline of Cape Horn. It's just like the stories. It's just how I imagined it. Yeah, it's amazing. We've rounded Cape Horn. This is it. Yeah. Wow.
CHARLES WOOLEY: For all the challenges of her passage, nature saved the worst till last. As Jessica tucked in under the Great Australian Bight, three monster low-pressure systems in succession formed off Antarctica, surging through the Southern Ocean and generating monster waves up to 12 metres high, dwarfing 'Ella's Pink Lady'.
CHARLES WOOLEY: There's nothing more frightening to my mind than a storm at sea when you're in a small boat.
JESSICA WATSON: I can think of worse things!
CHARLES WOOLEY: Can you? You tell me one.
JESSICA WATSON: No, well, just being close to land, in not-so-bad weather, but unsure. That's a million times worse because at least, if you've got confidence in the boat, you just batten down and wait it out. Sure, it's a bit hard on the nerves, but it passes.
CHARLES WOOLEY: But even as Jessica was emerging from these horrific storms, at home, a new sea of controversy was rising around whether or not her 23,000 nautical miles actually added up to an officially recognised circumnavigation.
JESSICA WATSON: It really doesn't worry me because I've achieved so much and I've got so much support pouring in, it almost just breaks up the monotony.
CHARLES WOOLEY: Because I was annoyed on your behalf. You don't need to be Vasco de Gama, do you?
JESSICA WATSON: I could give you a million technical arguments. My trip is no different to so many people who have circumnavigated, and become very famous for doing it, but, like I said, it doesn't worry me. There's always going to be someone out there who says something, and possibly because they just don't want to believe that it's possible for a 16-year-old to sail around the world.
CHARLES WOOLEY: And so it goes - it's the classic cycle of adventure. Success begets the next challenge, and it's a certain bet that the young woman - who turns 17 this week - is not planning an early retirement from the world of danger and excitement.
CHARLES WOOLEY: Parents of teenagers, like me, all around Australia tonight will be saying to their kids, "For God's sake, switch off that bloody television set "and sail around the world."
JESSICA WATSON: I don't know about that but, yeah, it is an amazing feeling to have inspired so many people and just have shared the voyage with so, so many people.
CHARLES WOOLEY: And apart from ending up back in the same place that you left and heading in one direction, and proving that, indeed, the world is round, what do you think you've proved? What do you think you've demonstrated?
JESSICA WATSON: That anything really is possible.
CHARLES WOOLEY: Anything?
JESSICA WATSON: Anything.
