Teen sailor's parents fly to Cape for rendezvous

by ALEX MCCLINTOCK

January 10, 2010

TEENAGE sailor Jessica Watson's parents have flown to South America in the hope of catching sight of her as she rounds Cape Horn, the most dangerous part of her round-the-world voyage.

Yesterday, Jessica's yacht, Ella's Pink Lady, was becalmed about 400 nautical miles from the Cape, the southernmost tip of South America.

Jessica's spokesman, Andrew Fraser, said she was happy to have a break. "It's probably a good thing, she's had such heavy weather for the last week," he said.

Rounding the cape will also mark 10,000 miles in Jessica's record-breaking attempt.

"That's quite impressive when that's about the amount of miles she's done before in her whole life," Mr Fraser said.

If Jessica completes the trip, she will become the youngest solo yachtsman to circumnavigate the globe.

Cape Horn is notorious for being one of the most dangerous stretches of water in the world. Strong winds, enormous waves and icebergs combine to threaten shipping.

Meteorologist Don White, from Weather Watch, said round-the-world sailors had no alternative to rounding the Cape.

"The weather is quite changeable there. You can go from calm to gale force winds in a matter of hours," he said.

Winds averaging nearly 80km/h and low temperatures make it a very unpleasant part of the world, Mr White said.

"It's quite cold. It's much further south than Tasmania. It's summer there now, so temperatures are just breaking positive."

Jessica has been battling the Southern Ocean extremes without her heater, which broke down on Tuesday. "The cabin temp has been sitting on 4 degrees and the wind chill outside is really quite something. Handling wet lines on deck is just downright painful," Jessica wrote in her blog.

The Sydney Morning Herald
smu.com.au

ALEX MCCLINTOCK