Official Jessica Watson Blog

My 16th birthday was my best yet, no presents needed when you have a boat...and a licence to drive it! Yes I’m now the proud holder of a boat licence and we immediately celebrated by setting off from Brisbane into the rain to sail the boat down to the Gold Coast, I enjoyed every minute but it wasn’t exactly the nice evening sail we’d expected.

After clearing the river we were met with 25 knots of wind right on the nose and short chop that reduced our speed to a frustrating 3 knots. The slow going meant that we missed the evening tide and had to spend a few hours anchored before I set off again in the morning ,this time by myself.

It was amazing to finally be on youngestround.com alone even though we had to again motor. As the autopilot stubbornly refused to steer the boat in a straight line I had my hands full particularly when we reached a shallow part of the channel, a rain squall came through and a local radio station rang to do a phone interview, multi tasking!

I finally arrived looking very windblown in time to do 5 minute filming segment for a Sunday morning sports program. Everything was back in order after a few hours in front of a computer catching up, birthday cake to celebrate my brother Toms 14th and a good sleep.

From tomorrow you’ll be able to see us at the Sanctuary Cover International boat show before youngestound.com comes out of the water for the much needed refit.

See you at the show

Jesse