Jessica Watson
Born 18 May 1993
Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia
Residence Buderim, Queensland
Nationality Australian New Zealander
Occupation Sailor
Jessica Watson, OAM (born 18 May 1993) is an Australian sailor who was awarded the Order of Australia Medal for completing a southern hemisphere solo circumnavigation at the age of 16. Departing Sydney on 18 October 2009, Watson headed north-east, crossing the equator in the Pacific Ocean before crossing the Atlantic and Indian Oceans. She returned to Sydney on 15 May 2010, three days before her 17th birthday, though the voyage was ultimately shorter than the required 21,600 nautical miles to be considered a global circumnavigation. In recognition of her achievement Watson was named the 2011 Young Australian of the Year, and the following year was awarded a Medal of the Order of Australia. She currently resides in Buderim, Queensland.
Watson was born in Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia. The second of four children of New Zealander couple Roger and Julie Watson, who moved to Australia in 1987, she has dual Australian and New Zealand citizenship. She has an older sister (Emily) and younger brother and sister (Tom and Hannah). All four took sailing lessons as children, and the family went on to live on board a 16-metre cabin cruiser for five years, the children being home schooled via distance learning. Later they lived on a purpose-built double decker bus for some time.[8] When Watson was eleven and they were still living on the boat, her mother read Jesse Martin’s book Lionheart: A Journey of the Human Spirit to the children as a bedtime story. This led to Watson forming the ambition, at age twelve, to sail around the world too. When she first tasked around the world she almost drowned.
Circumnavigation and publicity
Watson had been planning to complete a solo non-stop and unassisted circumnavigation since at least early 2008. Officially announced in May 2009, the journey was expected to take eight months with an estimated distance of 23,000 nautical miles. To fulfill the plan of sailing non-stop and unassisted, during the journey no other person would be allowed to give her anything and she must not moor to any port or other boat, although advice over radio communication was permitted.
Watson’s planned circumnavigation route was to start and end at Sydney, and to pass near New Zealand, Fiji, Kiribati, Cape Horn, Cape of Good Hope, Cape Leeuwin and South East Cape. In accordance with the definitions for circumnavigations set out by the International Sailing Federation’s WSSRC, the equator must be crossed; this crossing was carried out near Kiritimati. However, the WSSRC criteria also stipulate that a global circumnavigation must have an orthodromic distance of 21,600 nautical miles. Watson’s journey did not meet this requirement.
Watson arrived back in Sydney Harbour at 1:53 pm, Saturday 15 May 2010.
The Los Angeles Times reported Watson’s reason for her journey: “I wanted to challenge myself and achieve something to be proud of. And yes, I wanted to inspire people. I hated being judged by my appearance and other people’s expectations of what a ‘little girl’ was capable of. It’s no longer just my dream or voyage. Every milestone out here isn’t just my achievement, but an achievement for everyone who has put so much time and effort into helping getting me here.” After the journey she continued a relationship with Michael Perham, the continuing youngest circumnavigator. They met during a stop he made in Australia during his circumnavigation, and they had several phone conversations during her journey. Watson has also been seen with Australia’s youngest ever federal politician, Wyatt Roy. Jessica’s mother insists they are just friends, and that Jessica’s schedule—which takes her around the country and world—is currently preventing her from “dating boys.”
Watson has written a book about her experience, True Spirit published by Hachette Australia. The book was released 29 July 2010.
Watson has also filmed a documentary about her solo trip before, during and after completing her journey. It was narrated by Sir Richard Branson and premiered on ONEHD on 16 August 2010, before being released on DVD along with a CD album on 20 August 2010.
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