We have been boaties forever and my extended family could support a ships chandlery. We have mainly engine driven craft and up to 54', the smallest being 40'.

This is not the adventure that any of our family would contemplate as a 'stretch' challenge for a sixteen year old. At that age they cannot be expected to have the maturity of mind and body to cope with the ravages of a long voyage where some legs are unavoidably long. The sea is unforgiving and if one reads the logs of around the world sailors one can easily see why this youth should not be going without an adult companion.

The collision is evidence of what we already know about teens, that they cannot always be expected to have the mental discipline, aforethought and tenacity that is needed. It is stupid to say that the ship came from behind or that its watch 'should' have seen her,as master of her vessel she should have been watching visually and on radar and taken necessary avoiding action well in advance to ensure that a collision was not possible.

Unlike land lubbers and their vehicles, the international rules for navigation at sea make mariners responsible to avoid dangerous circumstances through intelligent forethought and especially, maintaining effective watch. How could she go below for a nod when she was still in the shipping lane and there was another vessel on a possible collision course with her? Why didn't she set a course well away, or get on her radio (she would still have been the one to take avoiding action)?
//2..

2/..(contd)

Let youth have challenges but we are not fulfilling our duty as adults if we do not give timely and proper guidance - which in some cases could be restriction or removal of the means for them to be harmed. Fortune might see this girl arrive safely home, but no mentor of young mariners would ever encourage reliance on luck and fair weather. The odds are stacked against her and that is plain stupid.

It is the parents wishing to bask in her reflected glory that she needs to gain independence from and she could do that by having a study year off in (say) Ireland.

Third post sorry but just to pick up a misunderstanding by some that you can actually have day or night sleeps on a solo passage.

'Sleeps' while solo navigating are restricted by the need to keep watch and by the weather. Radar and natural eye view are very limited on a small craft so where there could be other vessels or hazards there could be no sleep until the danger passes or if one is lucky, one hour on and one off watch.

In the open sea there are still ships and it is a constant source of surprise where they pop up. Regrettably, there is rarely a vessel within thousands of (nautical) miles when disaster strikes - which could be in the form of a sudden squall, a half-submerged shipping crate or Murphy's Law.

Even seasoned sailors become seasick in a small craft and there are other common ailments/injuries that make the lone voyager feeble and affect decisions. Capacity to withstand loneliness - which will hit her hard - is best tested in smaller hops over some years, rather than by throwing caution to the winds and setting off of the biggie.

Just for info:

http://www.cbssports.com/worldsports/story/12120498

http://www.oldsaltblog.com/2009/07/19/teenagers-sailing-around-the-world-alone/

http://adventuretravel.about.com/b/2009/07/06/would-you-let-your-teen-sail-around-the-world-alone.htm

http://www.jessicawatson.com.au/

Brony,
Not a real problem....I figure I'm at risk of losing my weirdo status.
But.... I do point to you being underwhelmed with my number five on traffic ...saved! there is some hope for me yet(whew).

How egocentric is that?
I know... (sigh or resignation)the corner. You know I'm gonna finish up with a triangular shaped head from OLO :-)

I started riding motorcycles when I was 17 and I'm still here. My heart says good luck to Jessica Watson, other young sailors have made it, why shouldn't she?

My one problem, PINK? She had to go with the colour pink! Am I missing some irony here or is Jessica a major fan of Pink (the singer)?

Not a single one of my motorcycles was pink, nor my cars. In fact, I may have a deep bias against this colour. On further contemplation, maybe I just need to get over this pink issue.

Good luck Jessica, live your dream, not enough of us do.