Teen circumnavigation invites circumspection (News Feature)

By Sid Astbury Oct 26, 2009, 7:38 GMT

   Sydney - Slovenia's Jure Sterk failed in his bid to become the oldest person to sail round the world alone and unaided when he went missing off Australia in February.

   Having girdled the earth before, the 72-year-old was a seasoned campaigner but was likely let down by his ramshackle yacht Lunatic.

   Australia's Jessica Watson, a week into her bid to become the youngest person to sail round the world solo and unaided in Ella's Pink Lady, has a tip-top boat and generous sponsors but is woefully short of experience.

   No one called for Sterk to be grounded because of his age - or until sponsors had come forward to fit out Lunatic properly for a 38,000-kilometre voyage. But many called for Watson to stay home.

   'I hope her parents have made the right decision,' Anna Bligh, premier of Watson's home state of Queensland, said. 'I would hate to see this young woman involved in a tragic accident.'

   Bligh, a weathervane on the Watson voyage, was right behind the bid when it was announced. But she shifted into the opposing camp when the teenager crashed into a 63,000-ton coal carrier a day into her dummy run for the eight-month record attempt.

   With Ella's Pink Lady finally on its way, the winds have shifted around yet again. Public opinion is now firmly behind Watson. She is getting 500,000 hits a day on her website. Newspaper columnists parade her as a role model, noting that hundreds of Australians Watson's age die each year after drinking or drugging themselves senseless.

   'The object of ridicule and innuendo by people who wouldn't have the guts to have a go themselves, Jessica is living proof of the spirit that makes Australians what we are,' local fan John Bain wrote to his Perth newspaper.

   Don McIntyre, who loaned Watson the state-of-the-art boat, also rages against a risk-averse culture he says is draining teen spirit.

   'We can't afford to over-protect our kids,' he said. 'They need to find themselves, challenge the natural world, and understand what it is to minimize risk and make good decisions.'

   Watson's mother said critics would not be so vocal if it was her son that was tackling the oceans. 'It's very difficult for people to get their heads around the concept of a young girl going to sea,' Julie Watson said.

   Watson aims to beat a record set 10 years ago by fellow Australian Jesse Martin, who at 18 circumnavigated the globe on his own and unaided.

   English teenager Mike Perham, who was just 14 when he became the youngest person to sail across the Atlantic single-handed in 2006, is backing Watson.

   Perham, 17, has also sailed around the world solo but had to stop for repairs and so missed Martin's record. He says the real bar to round-the-world yachting is strength, not age.

   'You know, what if your mainsail gets jammed and you have to get it back down in a gale?' he said. 'You have to have the strength and stamina to do that.'

   There was pressure on Watson to get sailing. Age was creeping up on her. American Abby Sunderland, whose 17-year-old brother sailed round the world solo, aims to go for the record later in the year and is five months younger than Watson, meaning that if both are successful Watson would hold the title only fleetingly.

   Some worry that the pressure of competition is sending the inept out to sea.

   Yachting Australia chief executive Phil Jones has urged record-keepers to scratch the 'youngest ever' category to avoid teenagers taking on more than they can handle.

   'While such a record exists, you are always going to find younger and younger people trying to break it and I don't think that is necessarily a good thing,' he said.

   Jones said nothing about scratching the 'oldest ever' category.