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So what do we all think of what she is doing? Inspirational? Are her parents irresponsible? plain silly?

Well as this is the first Ive heard of her, I guess whatever she's doing must be plain silly as it didn't ping my personal cultural radar

She's a 16-year-old-girl sailing solo around the world.

Pretty inspiring if you ask me.

Personally, I think it's admirable for one to attempt such a feat. But I don't really understandf why she wanted to do it at such a young age. Is it really so important to be the youngest person to sail around the world?

Good on her. It takes a lot of guts to do what she's doing, and I just hope she gets home in one piece.

All I want to know is how she managed to run into a cargo ship during her first attempt.

unbeliever87 wrote:All I want to know is how she managed to run into a cargo ship during her first attempt.

2 bzy txtn hr m8s 2 pay attn 2 the boatz.

That crash happened at 2:30 AM in the middle of the ocean. Ever been there? I have and I can tell you even with moonlight you could miss a whole damn island. Consider the Titanic incedent. They didnt see a BIG WHITE ICEBERG until it was too late.

helgrenze wrote:That crash happened at 2:30 AM in the middle of the ocean. Ever been there? I have and I can tell you even with moonlight you could miss a whole damn island. Consider the Titanic incedent. They didnt see a BIG WHITE ICEBERG until it was too late.

A big white iceberg doesn't have lights on it, as to make ships not hit it.

I personally don't think this girl will make it home. Sorry to say, but its how I feel. She is 16, and chances are couldn't handle a dire situation at sea, which most likely will happen. But hell, best of luck to her.

I see what you mean, but surely there are safeguards to ensure that sort of thing doesn't happen. Surely they would have seen her yacht on GPS, or the lights on her yacht. Don't all ships have to declare their course with the coast guard before they set off? Surely somebody, somewhere could have warned them that their paths were going to cross.

That fact that they still hit means that they obviously didn't, and we're all thankful that she's ok, but it boggles the mind that it could have happened.

According to reports, she had intermittant contact with the ship via radio. and All Legal ships have a transponder. The parents alledge that the chinese ship turned theirs off and sailed away after the accident.

unbeliever87 wrote:Surely they would have seen her yacht on GPS,

That's uh... not how GPS works.

They do have radar though, and the ones on ships are soooo much bigger than the ones on yachts (although if more yachties put bigger units on theirs, fewer of them would get hit by big ships.).

The signal power depends on antenna size and power output - essentially, ships bellow their location, yachts and other ragboats whisper it into the wind, with their hand covering their mouths.

I bet a killer whale eats her.

The only problem with being the youngest is that the next person who wants to beat her 'record' will have to be younger still.

I'm waiting for the first toddler to circumnavigate the globe in a paddling pool.

I'd be more appreciative of her achievement if she didn't have live video webcasting that allowed her to have parties on board via the link to her family and friends at home.

Or when some of her electronics broke she pulled out the camera and got live technical assistance from the manufacturer's technicians to repair it.

She may as well have sat in her bedroom for a few months with internet, webcasting, cameras, food, her ipod and an ensuite shower/toilet and kitchenette and had someone throw a bucket of water over her every 3 hours.


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And there is an american girl already on the way who is 3-4 months younger than Jessica.

She's already got a book deal.

Waaagh_Gonads wrote:
She may as well have sat in her bedroom for a few months with internet, webcasting, cameras, food, her ipod and an ensuite shower/toilet and kitchenette and had someone throw a bucket of water over her every 3 hours.

Well Damn... Now I have to tell my sister that plan isnt going to work. My 8yo Niece will have to actually learn how to sail now....

Jess is awesome, I know her personally anyone that doubts she can do it is wrong, definitely inspiring. For her it isn't about being the youngest, thats just going to be a bonus, she wants to challenge herself.

Fair enough, but my mate who sails still thinks it's a little bit dumb to be off sailing around the world at that age. He himself has plans about world travel, but he's first going to finish his HSCE and go from there.