Yachting FAIL - Jessica Watson

[sarafina]

easier ta beat a dead one.. the live ones are hard to keep up with and bite back!

[MarkJ]

This thread wont die as Jessica is going again in a few days time. The 13 year old Dutch girl has just arrived in New Zealand to start from there and an 11 year old is starting from the USA!!!

[sarafina]

people are nuts. maybe we need to start a *prayer and much white light* thread and hope that they all get home safely.

[cat man do]

Originally Posted by handmer

Sorry, I am just catching up on this thread and trying to sort fact from fiction.

cat man do, where did you read she was asleep / had her eyes closed at the time of the impact?

Her blog says this on the night she was hit
Jessicawatson.com.au

Ok, I better go and fire the radar up, turn the navigation lights on and have one last check of everything on deck before it gets dark. Then I might think about some dinner before grabbing some cat naps of sleep.

[David M]

Eleven eh? What responsible parents!

[Ocean Girl]

Originally Posted by Artful Dodger

So I guess you who are commenting are free of guilt and are free to through stones, one should be careful as to what they sew, for they know not what they might reap, we are all human and do make mistakes.

It does seem like we are coming down hard....but ya gotta understand, for some of us this is like watching a train wreck in slow motion. To me the collision was a warning shot over her bow. I sure hope I'm wrong, but really, can we at least dip our toes in reality here? There are few ADULT sailors that have single handed the route she wants to go, we are talking about the Horn and the Cape of Good Hope. Gales, ice bergs, and mountain sized waves are the norm.
So yes, we are being tough, its tough watching a girl risk her life just to be in the record books too. Had she picked a safer smarter route I may of felt differently, but this has stunt written all over it.

I am praying for her safety, I hope this all turns out well
Erika

PS
can anyone direct me to the other toddlers getting ready to circumnav can't find em doing a search.

[Stillraining]

Originally Posted by Artful Dodger

So if I get this right if in shipping lanes and no matter what precautions you take for avoidence, if your hit by a large ship they are free to head on with no explanation.

I think we should all wait until we get the report from the other side, as to why they never stopped, or radio for assitance for her, or as it seems some time later they turned off their AIS. There is always two sides no mater who's fault it is. We seem to be on her more than we should, at least that is the way I see it until all the facts are in. So I guess you who are commenting are free of guilt and are free to through stones, one should be careful as to what they sew, for they know not what they might reap, we are all human and do make mistakes.

Because they are sponcers of the 11 year old..

[handmer]

Originally Posted by cat man do

Her blog says this on the night she was hit
Jessicawatson.com.au
Ok, I better go and fire the radar up, turn the navigation lights on and have one last check of everything on deck before it gets dark. Then I might think about some dinner before grabbing some cat naps of sleep.

Look I am not saying she was asleep or not, but how does it help to make assumptions without knowing the facts?

I am interested in finding out what actually happened (as are a lot of people I am sure). Unfortunately if all the speculation and unsupported assumptions were cut out this thread would be about a page long. Whether people like here or not it is worth sticking to what's actually known / the truth.

[Hurricane Harry]

Im gonna ask my 10 year old niece if she wants to go/ Harry

[Hurricane Harry]

Someone said she was on her way again that Aussiegirl?
Shes one tough cookie, if thats the case.

[Hurricane Harry]

But then again at 16 we knew everything...

[osirissail]

- - I think Christian VanH should get the award for most creative addtition to this thread. But anyway not to beat a dead horse but there are some relatively new developments along with some clarifications of older points.
After reading several Aussie newspapers websites:
- - Old, first, Supposed both vessels saw each other on AIS - the father is quoted as saying he was also watching both vessels on an AIS [probably one of the websites that does that] and saw them approaching each other. He claims his daughter was not at fault and the freighter was . . . My comment: this confirms my earlier assertion that she was NOT properly schooled in international COLREGS and most certainly her father had no knowledge of them witness by his statement. His statements also bring up the question - If he was watching the vessels approach each other why did he NOT telephone her to find out if she was awake and aware of the approaching freighter?
- - Second old one - There is an official investigation in progress of the incident and supposedly by now she should have been interviewed by the authorities for as reported: "her knowledge and skill level". However, it was reported that the investigation will take at least one month as they have to get the report from the Chinese authorities on the actions and the logs of both of the vessels.
- - New: The damage to her boat is extensive. According to the latest news, the collision broke loose internal bulkheads and the boatyard had to cut out a large section of the exterior hull to get to the damaged area inside. They expect the work to be completed in a week. My comment: I have done such repairs and most likely a collision of that sort breaks loose the transverse bulkheads athwart the main mast. That sort of damage seriously compromises the ability of the hull to resist the mast loading of the main shrouds. And it takes more than a week for such FRG repairs to reach full strength.
- - Add in that she is running up against a deadline for seasonal weather to be able to make it around the world. As reported the weather window is closing and if she does not get underway in a week or two she risks encountering seasonally severe weather conditions. My comment: what do you get when you mix a "deadline" with a boat/voyage? Any experienced cruising sailor can any that question with one word.
- - Recapping - here is a situation with a seriously damaged/compromised vessel with "rushed" repairs, a weather deadline, an investigation into serious violations of International maritime regulations and a person who has not demonstrated any knowledge of how to sail the oceans. My (nasty) comment: She must have gotten her insurance from Edward Williams . . .

[Hurricane Harry]

In Sweden we are taught The ones who sail for "bread" are given free way no matter how many sails you have up and wind from starboard.
Thats our logic./Harry

[Talbot]

Originally Posted by Hurricane Harry

In Sweden we are taught The ones who sail for "bread" are given free way no matter how many sails you have up and wind from starboard.
Thats our logic./Harry

My logic has always been - Might is right. Always try to put yourself in the position of give way ship to anything bigger than you are. That way you can manoeuvre happily with a reasonable expectation that the other will maintain its course and speed.

Osirissail makes two very good points - rushed repairs and deadlines due to the weather. The combination have proved deadly on a number of occassions.

[osirissail]

If you search the web for information on her - be wary, there is a famous California lawyer with the exact same name. Incidentally, for those paranoid and privacy freaks (like me) I use "Scroogle" to do the web searches. Normal Google searches load tracking and history cookies onto your computer to watch what you are viewing and searching for. "Scroogle" does a "Google" search and then strips off all the advertisements and cookies then displays the results.