Official Jessica Watson Blog

Looking at the chart today I actually got a bit of a scare when I realized how close we are to being half way across the Indian Ocean. All going to plan, as of tomorrow we should be closer to Cape Leeuwin, Western Australia, than Cape Agulhas, South Africa!

I keep telling myself that there's still such a long way to go but at the same time I can't help feeling excited about so much HVP (high visual progress). More and more of the familiar shape of Australia is sliding into view on the chart plotter screen as Ella's Pink Lady slowly sails closer.

The weather has calmed down since Tuesday and after dropping right out to hardly anything for a few hours. the wind has settled into a nice steady 20 knots from the North West. It's always slightly frustrating when the wind dies out right after a gale, because there's normally still a big swell leftover. Trying to keep us heading in the right direction with not a lot of wind and quite a lot of wave means a lot of disrupted sleep.

I talked to 'Captain Nick' of the Queen Mary 2 over the satellite phone today as they passed well to the north of Ella's Pink Lady. They were headed from Perth to Mauritius and Nick passed on the best wishes of all the Aussie passengers and left me thinking a little longingly of all the luxuries on board the QM2.

Mike Perham's book about his voyage titled 'Sailing the Dream' was launched today in the UK and Australia. I was lucky enough to be sent one of the final drafts to read (I read the whole thing in a few hours then went straight back to complaining about not getting enough new reading material!) so I can tell you that's it's definitely worth a read.

Oh and I've just heard that Jesse Martin has been nominated for Cleo's Bachelor of the Year in Australia. So for all the girls out there, come on we need your votes on this one!

Jesse