Official Jessica Watson Blog

A big thanks to Mum for holding down the fort (or blog!) while I’ve been out having a particularly crazy week. And another thanks for everyone for all your comments! I think I also owe an apology for being such an inconsistent blogger. 

Read More

Jess is on her Sea Survival course this weekend, here she is in the pool, sorting the old liferaft that was on her yacht when Don brought it.  

Read More

That’s a lot of gumboots! From the port Neil, Bruce, Suzanne, Ed, Ricky, Richard and Pat standing in front of the ‘Ark’.  

Read More

If you read yesterdays feature titled ‘Jessica’s Dream’ in the Weekend Australian Magazine you’ll understand why I spent all of yesterday being teased about not being able to find a razor! To my horror and with the help of a once trusted source (Mum!) comments such ‘Pretties herself up, can’t find a razor’ ‘Alone in the ocean swells, shaven legs or not!’ found their way into national media! But other than being described as Pippi Longstocking, the article was another good read. 

Read More

One day seems to roll into the next in a blur, life seems to revolve around a dusty shed, overflowing email account and constant phone calls but even when things are looking really tough, I’m still thinking wow, this is really happening, slowly but surley were getting there! 

Read More

Believe it or not ‘moping’ is an important part of sailing round the world, every week it’s completely essential to spend a couple of hours being completely un productive, just vegging out by yourself, not letting one single important thought cross your mind, also known as recharging your batteries. This week my batteries were well over due for a recharge, pressure levels too high and energy levels too low! I spent Saturday evening watching mindless TV and rereading my favorite books while my amazing little sister Hannah made all the toasted sandwiches I could eat, forced second helpings of desert on me and sent me off to bed early. Result = ready to take on the next week! 

Read More

It took a round of hot drinks first thing this morning to get any work happening, I’ll never say that it doesn’t get cold on the Sunshine Coast again. Before the sun got high enough, the shed acted as a giant fridge, a cold one too at 2 degrees! Talking of cold, keeping me warm while I’m down south has been a big smoko conversation topic lately. While I’ll not be experiencing severe below freezing conditions because I’ll be rounding Cape Horn (my most southerly point) in the height of summer, cold is a pretty huge issue. Statistics point out that teenagers and females are the first to suffer from exposure. 

Read More

On arriving at the shed first thing this morning after a Sunday spent regrouping and planning, I wrote out the days jobs on a huge big bit of card and pinned it up on the wall. I returned only a few minutes later to discover that my carefully planned out work list had been brutally vandalized! In between every item on the list completely absurd jobs such as smoko, tea breaks, coffee brakes, union meeting, team bonding session, sundowners… to name a few had been added. I can name a chief vandal but I suspect input from all the team. Tea breaks, union meetings how absurd!  

Read More