Storms rip up solo around-the-world sailor Jessica Watson's mainsail

by Staff writers

IT'S been 20,000 nautical miles and 179 days at sea, but Mother Nature saved the toughest for last as solo around-the-world sailor Jessica Watson's yacht had its mainsail ripped apart in bad weather in the Southern Ocean off Australia.

The ABC reports the 16-year-old "battled six-metre swells, cold stinging rain and 50-knot wind gusts" about 250 nautical miles off Albany in Western Australia.

The wind gusts reportedly created two large tears in her boat's mainsail.

In her blog, Watson describes the electrical storms as "the worst I've seen at sea yet".

The Sunshine Coast teenager said she would replace the sail and offer more in her blog once the weather is calm, The ABC said.

"(The rain) was so heavy that you could hardly see where the water stopped and the sky began," she said of Sunday night's storm.

"A bit of thunder has never worried me, but alone at sea at four in the morning, it seems particularly menacing and it becomes a lot harder to keep your nerves in check!"

Watson and her yacht Ella's Pink Lady are due to arrive back in Sydney around May 2, after sailing out of Sydney Heads on October 18 last year.

heraldsun.com.au