Official Jessica Watson Blog
Subscribe to Blog RSS feedYoung Australian of the Year & Germany!
I’ll admit I’ve been finding excuses to avoid writing this blog for quite a while now. I just couldn’t think of where to start, there’s just too much to tell! I suppose the big thing that has happened since my last blog (actually make that massive or monumental thing) was being named Young Australian of the Year. Standing up on stage with the Prime Minister to receive the award was totally humbling and an incredible end to a day that started with a flight from Germany! So a huge thank you to everyone at Australia Day Council who were just wonderful.
And I’d better start by telling you about the trip to Germany where I launched the book over there. It was cold, very cold! Mum came with me this time and although the schedule was non-stop, we had lots of fun, staying firstly in the city of Hamburg then Dusseldorf. Hamburg was an amazing old city built around one of Europe’s biggest ports, meaning there was lots of interesting maritime history which we had the chance to hear about, while spending an afternoon filming in the local maritime museum.
But while exploring the museum made the interviews and filming more fun, I can’t say I was so thrilled about spending another morning riding a local ferry up and down the river doing interviews for other TV stations. When the journo (journalist) first suggested that we use the open upper deck, I quite rudely burst out laughing thinking that he must be joking. Let’s just say that without my Musto gear, I’m a bit of a wuss!
Well, that along with the fact that as a typical Queenslander, packing closed in shoes didn’t cross my mind. So after a few days and with snow forecast I got taken to a shoe shop and strongly advised to buy a pair of closed in shoes and socks. I will admit things went better after that!
Then it was on to Dusseldorf for the Dusseldorf Boat Show. The show was massive, so it was pretty exciting. I was surprised at how popular True Sprit proved to be. As always, my favourite events were the ones at a local school and particularly a yacht club, where all the junior sailors came along.
The publishing house, Delius Klasing, did an amazing job of translating the book and an even more incredible job of looking after Mum and I while we were over there.
On arrival back in Australia there was no getting over jet-lag with a nice long sleep in. Instead what was to be a huge week, started with a flight straight from Sydney to Canberra, then a cup of tea at The Lodge with Prime Minister, Julia Gillard.
It was only after meeting and spending time with all the other nominees that I really realised how much of an honour being named Young Australian of the Year was. Every one of the State finalists are incredible people, all with amazing achievements to their names. I know that if it were up to me, I’d certainly never have picked myself!
The title also comes with a lot of responsibility…., well I don’t like to think of it as responsibility, more an opportunity to put my weight behind as many things and causes as possible. It’s sure going to keep me busy!
This week the pace has slowed down for a few days, meaning that I’ve been able to make a start on some study for a school course I’ll be starting in March. I’ve been doing some writing again for another chapter of True Sprit that will be released as a new edition by Hachette Australia later this year.
And while this has all been happening, poor old Queensland has faced yet another natural disaster. I don’t think there’s anyone in the State that doesn’t have friends or relatives affected by Cyclone Yasi, particularly the yachting community in North Queensland who I have been thinking of. Only in Australia could we have two natural disasters in as many months while the rest of the country is suffering heatwave conditions!
Jess
Recent Posts
- Only Six Weeks Until Our Exciting Campaign Starts!
- The Mini Fastnet, Turning 18 and World Food Programme Youth Ambassador
- Our Youth Should Have A Voice!
- Study, Ella’s Pink Lady and New Zealand
- Introducing The New Project!
- Bilbies, Bike Rides and Other Events
- Jessica the Bilby!
- Young Australian of the Year & Germany!
- Lion’s Club Fundraiser for the Flood Appeal this Sunday
- Happy New Year, Sailing & QLD Floods
Comments
I hope you all got some lovely red roses...
Cheers...
Clint - Melbourne Townshippy
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Last year some other bloggers wrote:
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The whole world has fallen in love with you. (SC from NZ)
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You are the whole worlds sweetheart. (Dan, Portland Oregon US)
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with love and admiration, from Jack
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@ Billy (William/Stuart Watson) 9-Feb-2011 10:11 pm.....
Thanks for your kind comments about fellow bloggers. Please accept my condolences on the tragic loss of your sister Willow. I hope that you will look after your health and be strong.
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@ blog family: As supporters of a brilliant young woman you might like this classical trumpet soloist, arguably at 23 the best in the world: Tine Thing Helseth - Fanfare (Nobel Peace Prize Concert 2007) ......
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UE6VtJ7h0xI
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Best to you, Jack in Canada 44.24N 76.49W ................................
canadanorth3 at gmail dot com
Cheers,stevep
You look so Pretty with the Bilby.
YOU ARE MY HERO!
From Julia.
You are an ispiration to everbody.
Set another Goal even bigger than this one
set of acheive it and you will a superstar
you are already a Hero
Proud to be a Aussie
what did I have to read yesterday, after I haven't visited your blog for some time ?
Jessica Watson's book is published in German. And for promotional reasons she went to the german boot show in Düsseldorf.
I thought about visiting it, too, not knowing you were there.
But I procrastinated it, because it wasn't on my calender and too late, thinking about going there next year.
If I had realised your presence earlier, I definately would have gone there to use the perhaps unique opportunity to make your acquaintance and thank you personally for all your inspirations and to express my admiration.
But now it's too late, the train has left =
:-((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((
Believe it or not, but I was cursing around the whole afternoon being angry with myself because I didn't read your blog for this essential period of time and hence missed this crucial information. Grrrrrrrrr. Damn !
That's really bad luck !
Anyway !
Congrats to your "Young Australian Of The Year" - Award.
By the way, it's quite funny that I commented your blog last year, that for me you are the Australian of the year.
At that time I actually didn't know that there is such an award :-)))
Life can be quite curious sometimes ;-)
Now it has come true and in my opinion you still absolutely deserve it.
As I wrote you last northern hemnispherical summer (yes there really is summer) that I did my sailing class at the german baltic sea in and around Heiligenhafen, I will go on with it this summer and will acquire further knowledge and abilities in order to become a real good sailor traveling the seas. I promise !
If I were to put the most important lecture that I learned from you in a nutshell:
Life is definately too short to dream.
Thus I have to go for it and live my dreams.
In this spirit: Thank you, wise Jess !
All the best to you and your family.
Take care,
Cheers,
Markus from Bremerhaven / Germany
(who still hopes to meet you some day :-))
Discovering the brain and that's about the best news there could be... Anyone who does not have a thorough, holistic grasp of the brain's architecture, purposes and main ways of operating is as far behind the times as an automobile designer without a full understanding of engines." ... http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/video/flv/generic.html?s=frol02sfa9q392&continuous=1 ... The Neuro surgeons are only starting to learn about the human brain and how it works Jess. They have found this through years of research and have only found as concrete as glowing to be true and in every human beens life. Have the studies been done to see if older people are still pruning and could this link to early age old timers disease???.... I hope you save the Bilby Jess, I hope with their breading programs they are soon released into their natural habitat where they will thrive and survive for ever. I hope you have the corridors through out Australia to release them realistically. (Funny looking buggers)... I read back the comment I wrote last night and the only regret I have is at the end where I was trying to be funny about you with maths. To me it sounded like I was calling you stupid. My god that's so far from what I was thinking. You'd probably get an A in maths just to prove it to your self. For me to do algebra I'd need to pass English just so I could spell it. Sorry about that Jess!
Billy!
Congratulations to the newest YAOTY, well deserved. I am really glad that I had the chance to meet you here in Duesseldorf, honour and pleasure alike!
While most of your fans, including myself, admire your voyage mainly because we are taken aback by the sheer size of the venture itself, only those who have actually done the same thing can really understand what went into it. People like reknown circumnavigator Bobby Schenk.
When I read his article about meeting you at Duesseldorf, I contacted him to ask for permission to translate it, so here´s what Bobby had to say:
A Gal named Jessica
My eyes are scanning the booth of the venerable, 100 years old by now congratulations!), publishing house Delius Klasing.
What is taking her so long, the heroine of the seas? The one who has been forced to fame and taken advantage of by her parents? The minx who claims to have sailed around the world, even though she did not sail the compulsory 25,000 nautical miles? That female, who had herself run over by a tanker right at the start of the voyage Well, all of us knew already that there was quite a lack of seamanship, of maturity.)? This virago, who finally made it around the world somehow? Who claims, at the age of 16, to be the youngest woman to have sailed around the world - see above?
Then someone pats me. I stammer: " Are Yooouuuu Jessica Watson?" No, I do not address this gal with "Miss Watson". It is impossible that this little thing is the Great One.
A young girl, whom you would like to have a school crossing guard at her side just to get her across the street safely. That is what she appears to be anyway.
I learned from her environment that she is not a morning person, a morning grouch. And in the evenings, when her mother, who accompanied her from Australia, needs some time-out and rest, she behaves just like most in the meantime) 17 year olds and wants to escape to the disco. My publishing house Delius Klasing, responsible for bringing mother, daughter and friend Circumnavigator Mike Perham, the former age record holder - very young looking) here from Australia, is well aware of their resposibility and provides two ladies as - sorry - "Nannies" for the night at the club. Who are on the edge of a nervous breakdown when the "girl" gets "lost" in the crowd for three hours.
During the days the focus is on Jessica. Signing books, in between a quick few words into the microphone of a radio reporter, then those waiting for a signed copy of her book are shoved aside to make room for the tv cameras, followed by the next stack of books that she signs "To Frank", "To Werner", and yes, "To Bobby" as well, in sweeping handwriting.
Patient, without a hint of grouchiness. She does not seem to be affected by being the superstar these days at BOOT, probably the biggest boat show in the world, but definitely the most important one, or being asked to cut the ribbon at the opening ceremony, an honour normally reserved for the Lord Mayor or a minister.
Isn´t this a little bit over the top? The whole fuss just for a little girl who sailed in one direction for 210 days on her yacht, until finally coming full circle?
Long story short: If I had to do a ranking of the most admirable achievements in sailing history, taking into account all factors like age, financial backing, size of vessel, duration, gender, type of vessel, and so on, I would definitely put Jessica Watson in First Place!
Sure, Joshua Slocum was the first to sail around the globe, Sir Francis Chichester was the first to circumnavigate the world with just one stop He has been knighted for this by Queen Elisabeth II. upon his arrival in front of a quarter of a million spectators.), Sir Robin Knox-Johnston the first to go non-stop, the great Wilfried Erdmann achieved rounding the world in both directions non-stop and solo in a small aluminium boat, and the tiny Ellen McArthur did the fastest non-stop circumnavigation of her time. But Jessica Watson?
At age 14 she organised her first press conference. She, not her parents! In order to collect money, because she had her mind set on sailing around the world. Not for outfitting the boat, which would not have been possible anyway, as she did not own a boat then and – technically speaking – did not “own” it during her voyage either.
The yacht had just been lent to her by her foresighted supporters Margie and Don McIntyre. She came up with the necessary dollars less than 50,000 Euros) after !) her journey to buy the just over 10 metres long, 25 year old Sparkman & Stephens S&S 34), the “Pink Lady”, that had been constructed based on half a century old blueprints.
Anyway, with this old borrowed sled the little girl, who is not yet allowed to drive a car, but is capable of astronavigation, sailed around the world non-stop.
On the most difficult of all routes, beyond the three storm-tossed capes. Mountaineers would call this the seventh grade – non-stop.
Her achievement becomes even more apparent when considering the huge number of failed attempts of this type. One abandoned his highly publicised non-stop circumnavigation after a few miles due to toothache, one barely made it to the equator, still far away from the roaring forties, and gives up because of a broken metho stove, a third just made it to Cape Town, and twice-around-the-world sailor Bernd L. - no, we will not even mention his name here.
And the story "Laura Dekker" is only kept alive by the media´s and other non-experts´ inability to comprehend how little this planed !) circumnavigation along the trade wind route, including innumerable stops for yacht maintenance, has in common with a non-stop voyage down in the roaring forties. Provided this puerility, promoted to the general public as a heroic achievement, will become a circumnavigation at all.
Of course, Jessica was lucky to have the big one only taking down her rigging while she was asleep and not sinking "Pink Lady" altogether.
Which was no reason for keeping her from starting the venture again once the repairs were done. In any other respect her voyage was painstakingly planned and she was perfectly prepared. In her book "SOLO mit Pink Lady" Delius Klasing) one reads about how she participates in offshore races while being just a mere chit of a girl, subjects herself to sailing tests, exchanges experiences with other circumnavigators. All of this only to carry out this venture smoothly, not to be pushed away from that concept followed for years by several knockdowns, not to lose her goal. Great seamanship!
"As youngest woman"! Sounds like a battle of the sexes, as if Jessica had to prove that she is able to sail as well as the men. And yes, she has indeed caused a lot of damage with her voyage.
Because she put the male gender, traditionally the ruler of the seas, to shame. Anyone sailing non-stop around the world and making it home again) in the future will hear this: "Great job, but there is this little girl who..."
Rightfully so, since, based on an old seaman´s proverb I simply cannot refrain from this remark, "Jessica hat dem Teufel nicht nur das Ohr abgesegelt!" Jessica did more than just sail the devil´s ear off! / Did the unthinkable.)
This does not seem to fit inside some male brain. How else could some "Board of so and so" come up with the statement that Watson has not sailed around the world because the world is actually 25,000 nm and she only did 24,285 nm. I do not accept being told by some grey haired - nautically speaking - keelsons how big the world is. Typical! Significant as well is the fact, even with all this appraisal for the female society we do not want to keep quiet about it, that this envious discussion was originally triggered by a woman.
As a member of another generation I may conclude: Currently and maybe forever the Number One of the sailing world!
And above all: A really cute gal.
For the male society I probably talked to the wind.
Bobby Schenk
Source: http://www.yacht.de/schenk/n004/inwind11.html )
Couldn´t have said it any better!
Kind regards
Andreas
Duesseldorf, Germany
Not ignoring you, just busy with a soldier in the house! WooHoo! :) -------------------------
Our boy arrived home safe and sound!-----
I know your mum and dad can relate to how we're feeling right now! :) -------------------Hope all's going well for you since the YAOTY award. I'm guessing 2011 is going to equally full and busy for you as last year was! -------------------------------------------
What a year it was too! -----------------------
Keep up the good work, Jess, and continued best wishes for the future. -------------
Cheers ..... Soldier's Mum xxx
Congratulations on being chosen Young Australian of the Year! A wonderful honor, one which your fans, me included, had no doubt that you would be chosen. That should clinch it for the forgotten naysayers and how wrong they were. True Sprit reigns! I am happy for you and your family and indeed all Australia to have such a person as you.
It has been painful to see the destruction that has occurred in Queensland and the lives that have been so adversely affected. I wish them a speedy recovery as difficult as that will be.
On a lighter note, did you ever get your drivers license so you can legally solo around the block? I haven't heard anything.
Steve from SCalifornia
Was so elated when you won The Young Australian Of The Year Award. So well deserved and many congratulations on that win. I have both your book and dvd and have found both exceptionally interesting. I read in your blog that you are writing a new version with a new chapter. Look forward to it coming out. Good luck with all your new duties that come with your award, hope it leaves enough time for you to plan your new adventures.
Cheers,
Gavin.
Can you post a picture blog when you get time?
Can you post a picture blog when you get time?