When Jessica Watson arrives back in Australia in a few weeks, she may be the youngest person to have circumnavigated the world non-stop, but she will not necessarily be granted the record for doing so. According to the rules laid down by the World Sailing Speed Record Council a circumnavigation is defined as follows :
To sail around the World, a vessel must start from and return to the same point, must cross all meridians of longitude and must cross the Equator. It may cross some but not all meridians more than once (i.e. two roundings of Antarctica do not count). The shortest orthodromic track of the vessel must be at least 21,600 nautical miles in length calculated based on a ‘perfect sphere’.
When Jessica arrives back in Sydney she will have traveled approximately 19,000 miles or about 2,000 miles too few to qualify. Whether or not Jessica “officially” hold the title, her backers are standing by her.
Sponsors stand by Jessica Watson
Jessica Watson’s sponsors have leapt to her defence, despite news today she will not be breaking a world record for her journey.
Jeff Fraser from Yamnar, a marine engine company who is a sponsor of Watson’s journey, said he remained “100 per cent” behind the teen sailor. “World record or no world record it is a great achievement for someone of her age,” Mr Fraser said.
Thanks to Alaric Bond for the heads up.
This may well be true however I doubt if it will reduce her earnings from commercial enterprises.
Good Watch.
This is a good response to the criticisms of Jessica Watson
http://www.mysailing.com.au/yaf-news/jessica-watson-deserves-bouquets-not-brick-bats
Agreed. She sailed around the world singlehanded non-stop regardless and deserves the credit for that accomplishment regardless of whether she met the all of the “official rules” as to how this should be accomplished.
There is always someone who has to rain on the parade. Having spent 12 years at sea in the USN I just have to say, “that girl has balls!”
BZ and hopefully soon EX 3-6!