Jessica Watson unearths what occurs subsequent for folks that high at 16 | Australian Memoir

Foreign I think part of what I enjoyed about Melbourne in the first few years I was here was that I was a little bit more anonymous way with just being part of the crowd because people just don't expect you there.

She's flattered when she's recognized but she certainly doesn't need it because I don't think the fame's important to her it is a little scary sometimes someone can still go oh yeah aren't you that girl in that pink boat the one thing you just really don't get.

By looking at the the child is just how many miles they really are out here you know how far it really is Jessica Watson's decision to attempt a solo and unassisted circumnavigation of the world at just 16 captured world headlines Jess has never sought Fame edges found her and she's had to learn from a very.

Young age how to deal with it is the moment of complete jubilation world's changed for her after this Voyage everything changed for her after that an extraordinary day for Jessica Watson okay there was a long period where I was trying to escape a little bit the past.

And the voyage and being solely remembered as that are so important to over a decade ago oh it's surreal it's so strange I've seen it a few times but it's still just a lot to take in there's no doubt that with the movie.

Coming out that will thrust just into the spotlight again it's almost completely arrogant not to be excited about the fact that there's a movie being made about your life but there's such a sense of oh gosh what am I getting myself into here we go again I feel like I've had enough fuss made in.

Me the last 50 lifetimes but you know give it a go thank you being on the water and the ocean it's just so much a part of me and and I've learned on it and used it kind of really really heavily.

Being on it or near it is just the the only way I suppose to just really feel uh okay it's been a really difficult period for Jess it's been really hard to watch actually she's coping as best as she can under very very difficult circumstances.

Everyone in those really really tough moments it was leaning on the people closest to me that were really holding me up cam was Jesse's partner of 10 years Cameron just raced as part of the crew on pp1 which is a racing yacht sailing out of surgery in your Club in Port Phillip.

And on the road now about a year and a half ago just lost cam in a really unexpected way okay I'm had a stroke I hadn't I had no idea that something like that would happen to someone at 29 years of age uh go hard downwind downwind all the way downwind I had no idea what the depths of pain.

And grief could could be like and how how bad how bad that could be Jesse has managed to tap into an inner strength and I think a lot of those mechanisms have come from her around the world Voyage which taught her how to overcome adversity she's always managed to find a way to.

Navigate through the difficult times in a life this is the second of all children the kids were born on the Gold Coast they had a very outdoor childhood we did a lot of camping a lot of four-wheel driving we were always going somewhere on the weekends.

We actually sort of learned to sail as a family in my early years sailing I was terrified a lot of the time I was really scared someone at the Sailing Club suggested that we should buy a boat and go north so we thought oh that's a good idea we went on to live on the boat for many.

Years sort of traveling around a while and doing homeschool it was obviously planting ideas and helping us realize that there are other ways to to do life Justice dyslexia was a problem for her schooling but I didn't want that to Define her either you know that I wanted.

Other things in her life that she's good at and I read her a lot of books and it was one particular book Jesse Martin's story Lionheart that really did all the damage Jesse sailed solo Non-Stop and unassisted around the world as an 18 year old man this world is awesome you know.

What I learned from my trip was that it started with a dream and it that dream gets encouraged and then if it does you just don't know where it will end up he was relatable for me and that just gave me this connection between he's a normal guy he did that I'm normal maybe I could do something like that I must have been 12. so I didn't ask my.

Parents it was kind of telling them that I wanted to be the youngest person to sail solo Non-Stop and unassisted around the world she must have been bloody Brave to put that out there you know but you know over the next year when she started putting stuff in place you know like this is serious.

And I enjoy supporting other young adventurers to get out there and have a go because life is all about inspiration we had a fantastic conversation and I really detected something very special that she was not your typical 15 year old but very focused very determined and very real but it was pretty clear that without a boat it wasn't going to happen.

It wasn't until Don actually said okay all right I'm buying you the boat that things started really coming together their boat was about five and a half tons so she's moving forward I met Jess this little skinny 15 year old girl about five foot nothing it was going to sell around the world in a pink boat and immediately I was like.

Everybody else think what that's just crazy Fraser Andrew really helped the the project gain some kind of professional support and sponsorship and kick-started it can you do it can you be the youngest round the world annoying question because I wouldn't be.

Here if I if I wasn't if I didn't have every confidence that I can do this everything was looking pretty good the boat was prepared and Jessica set out on her first sea trial down to Sydney love you it's the first night out to see I went.

To get some sleep there should have been alarms that would have alerted me to ships nearby they didn't go off it was a whole series of things that went wrong you know the movie shows this sort of slightly simplified version of events where I forgot to set an alarm which is you know there was definitely.

Some music error on my behalf I woke up to the horrendous noise of being scraped down the side of a ship I stuck my head up you know in time to sort of see the the wall of Steel that was a ship's Hull stuck my head straight back downstairs put my hands over them ahead and you know heard the masked snap.

It's not the way her dream run was supposed to end but 16 year old Jessica Watson was trying to stay positive I got told get on a plane to the cold coast and you'll need to deal with the media before 2 A.M last night where Jess was hit by a rather large cargo ship in fact 63 000 tons.

Facing up to to those cameras in that media scrum and the aftermath of that is is absolutely something I still draw strength from to sort of have gotten through that that's all right really I'm okay but I lost half my mask and from that moment forward everything changed it had gone from being this low profile Voyage to all of a sudden.

Jessica Watson was a household name but for all the wrong reasons Premier Bly has urged a solo Adventurer Jessica Watson to rethink her Voyage around the world it was extraordinary the level of criticism I would receive emails saying if you let this girl go you've got blood on your hands both state and federal.

Authorities are investigating if there is a way to stop the teenager from sailing after a damning maritime safety report as horrific and embarrassing as it was all the preparation sort of kicked in and that really gave me the confidence to go in the worst situations I'm going to be able to hold myself together and.

Do what I need to see you later have a lovely time don't forget to enjoy it Jessica's ambition was to sail solo Non-Stop and unassisted all the way around the world thank you.

It was a unique track to head up into the northern hemisphere and back down underneath Cape Horn then across the South Atlantic to underneath Africa and then across the Indian Ocean all the way back underneath Australia back to Sydney it's about 23 000 nautical miles and it's Quite a feat because you cannot.

Stop for any more supplies you've got all your own food water medical supplies safety gear everything yeah so I've just been keeping busy with uh tons of little stuff keeping the very happy keeping me happy the plan was that I'd be writing blogs ideally daily as well as video blocking.

When possible so people could follow along and be part of the journey as well sailing through the Pacific so through the tropics sailing along really slowly not much going on just that sense of how beautiful it is to be under the power of sale and alone in that environment just lots of blue water out there.

Pretty cool you checked in twice a day on the satellite phone so usually a morning and night oh it's my first time frosting Equator so uh traditional to have an assumption of salt water as you go across here goes thank you.

Sometimes I could set the boat up and she'd sail for weeks on end without me really having to do anything hey hey Anna tonight we're having a tin pie so I'd be reading writing my blogs chatting to friends on the satellite phone and very very rarely doing a little bit of schoolwork uh Christmas morning and I'm having a.

Foggy one out here which is pretty cool and uh just to treat myself to washing my hair and then ran the heater for 15 minutes the challenges in themselves are immense and the biggest one is the psychological challenge you know to complete a voyage like this is a real mind game.

it's from Cape Horn and we're just sitting here going nowhere we've calmed again just just flop it around it's really starting to get to me again today you have been crazy we're so close to the cape and we're way down here and we should be having lots of wind and we.

Should be making great progress and we're rolling about going nowhere I think that's probably where she shed the most tears uh which was when there was no wind ironically enough here we go okay through the clouds it looks absolutely amazing.

Cape born this you know they call it the Everest of sailing if she could get around Cape Horn she'd she could get around the world well how about this I'm done I'm around in Cape Horn this is the Cessna with Mom and Dad in here where only a few minutes away from you so you should be able to see us very.

Soon mum dad were able to fly over out from Cape Horn which was which was awesome there she is here we go again nice and close wow you can hear the engines it was all and everything that I ever thought it was because it really.

Impressed upon you how small that boat is in that Bloody huge ocean hi Jesse love your heaps see you darling after Cape Horn it was into the South Atlantic Ocean where we struck you know really nasty storm this was the one that was really.

Dangerous ways we're between 70 and 100 foot and pretty soon Jess had experienced five knockdowns a knock down is when the Mast goes beyond the horizontal and into the water the Rogue Wave picked up the whole boat and knocked it well underwater we can't see the lotion but I'm feeling.

Over quite a bit I'll never forget when the Epub went off that's the emergency Beacon when it goes off it means that the boat's at least three meters underwater and we had no contact with Jessica for a period of time and everybody was like completely speechless it was so stressful.

There's just no way she would have set off any poop unless she thought that was the end you know and I thought this is the end it was a period a couple of hours maybe where I was contemplating whether whether this was it I think she's the only one that will ever know how bad those five hours were.

During that storm I really like to just go to sleep for like eight hours eight hour half an hour or an hour until the next alarm wakes me up and there it goes now see I don't even get five minutes by time Jess was sailing back into Australian Waters I think that's when.

Her Fame really started to build talk about something completely different out on the deep blue sea it's time to catch up with Jessica Watson it was everywhere it was front page of all the newspapers and all of a sudden we started to realize wow this thing is going to be huge.

Lovely from Sydney to Sydney via the world the teenage girl in a little pink boat has made it he sailed almost 24 000 miles for seven months across some of the most treacherous oceans on the planet sailing back into Sydney to an incredible.

Homecoming ladies and gentlemen welcome Jessica Watson home Jessica was only 16 three days before her 17th birthday I don't think people realize how overwhelming it was because after a long period away from Land Everything feels close and the sensations and the smells and the the noises and the colors all of.

These things are really really Vivid and overwhelming when she stepped off the bones it was just you've made it yeah you've made it yeah and tall as our newest Australian hero.

Foreign I don't consider myself a hero I'm an ordinary girl who believed in a dream you don't have to be someone special or anything special to achieve something amazing you've just gotta have a dream believe in it and work hard.

Weren't worried but um become the youngest person traditional sailing a family and I was also going to do it in the safest possible way the couple of years after the voyage were just crazy so many amazing exciting things she had no choice but to grow up very quickly and that's a challenge for a 16 17 year old girl to have to constantly.

Deal with public adoration and media virtually on a daily basis for the next two years after she returned from the voyage and the winner of young Australian the year is Jessica Watson very soon afterwards the book I wrote about the voyage was published so that led to book tours around the world I got involved with the United Nations world.

Food program and Dancing with the Stars there's something that I maybe shouldn't have done because I'm certainly not a natural dancer it didn't take long for Jess to ring me up and say I'm doing another project and I said oh here we go what's this one Watson is heading back to the ocean as Skipper of the youngest crew ever to.

Compete in the city to City to hot York race all right guys you ready for ready that's where she met cam so far those on board say Jessica isn't too bossy she doesn't yell at me like other Skippers say no it's good Ken with one of the people that was told you know he'd be great has great experience and the first time I talked.

To him I just remember thinking Hmm maybe not there was definitely a little bit oh who's this he thinks he's all right and of course the first time I met him I was just needing to pretend that I wasn't totally like wow who is this um and trying to play it cool but there was something special there right from.

The start boats continue to pour into Hobart we came second in our division in our race a result that we're really proud of around the world Sailor Jessica Watson and her teenage crew arrived to a big reception Cam and Jess have become very very close and when things became romantic I don't.

Think anyone was surprised Cam and Jess were together for 10 years from from 2011. they loved to take the cape 31 just out on Port Phillip and sail that around together and they plan to do that kind of thing forever I realize how much I also really enjoyed being able to just slip into the role of.

Cam's girlfriend because it was a way to kind of step away from everything else and maybe almost hide behind him a little bit too and I really enjoyed that just moving to Melbourne being with Cam was virtually the start of a new normal life and she's worked really hard to get to.

Where she is now you know she's done an MBA she's got a good career path now this is a beautiful space so these days I'm a manager in Delights human capital Consulting team so that's essentially management consulting it's been a good week big go live pretty smooth being dyslexia's probably made me more determined and and learned to have.

To kind of work around or overcome challenges but I think there's something in there about just that sort of slightly different way of thinking your projects are a lot shorter these days aren't they Jenny they are they occasionally I get someone who's just so confused about what that sailor girl is doing in this office you know in this.

Really corporate environment it's the sort of story movies are made of now Jessica Watson's is destined for the big screen now a whole new generation will have the chance to share the journey all over again phrase is the one that's just really incredibly persistently being determined.

To see the the story turned into a movie pre-production on true Spirit the Netflix movies started on the Gold Coast in June 2021 and Jessica and cam were up there working as technical consultants on the film to make sure we got all the sailing components exactly right cam was very excited about the film.

Being made I think he was very excited for the story to be told cam was what you call a average healthy 29 year old male with no underlying health conditions that anyone knew of Cam had no idea that he had high blood pressure completely out of the blue he started feeling really unwell all of a sudden.

And symptoms that obviously we quite quickly worked out that were symptoms of a stroke took him straight to hospital and the first advice was that it was a minor bleed actually in in the brain but it's going to be okay um and then of course it wasn't because um the he had the second stroke which.

Was which was catastrophic after the second stroke you know we spent weeks and weeks in hospital like it was nearly six weeks you know that time was utterly traumatic but you know at the same time talking to him about every single memory and going through both of our phones full of you know 10 years of photos and memories and.

I like to think poor every tiny bit of love you know into him that I that I could for a while sort of Desperately hoping that he might recover but realizing along the way and that that wasn't going to be the case he was 29 when he passed away just shy.

Of his 30th birthday brutal it's a it's a tragedy that's the only word I can think of to describe it I don't think anyone knows or will know how Jess got through it and he's still going through it by the way.

I think it took a long time to really sink in it took a very long time to really hit me I really learned how how bad and how scary I suppose your head can can get.

This sort of realize this nothing you can do know where you can go and it can't avoid it for what I'd been through some pretty intense things and faced a lot but I was completely sort of cooned in all this amazing support but at the same time I was definitely really really struggling and not wanting.

To be here without Cam really it's it's that simple it's it's just so bad that you want the pain to stop yeah I've certainly learned with grief tell people what you need don't leave them to guess she did all the right things and she got.

Help and the crew of pp1 have definitely like gotten around her and supported her since Cam's passed away the one thing that I was always sure or visit he would always want us to keep sailing I suppose you wanted to kind of design the perfect sort of way to cope with grief this would probably be it.

Out in the salt water out in the wind and waves going sailing almost feels like a way of celebrating him it just feels like really doing doing something right if I can I don't really know what the future holds Beyond doing things that feel purposeful and meaningful and that's doing as much as I can for for.

Organizations like The Stroke Foundation helping people remember to take their blood pressure um I really really feel so motivated and you know excited about those things good are you wrong ready as we'll look at me with the film coming out now it was the last thing I think on her mind to be.

Talking publicly again you are on the grief Journey no it's a year and a half um now and and of course all of this has so many layers of emotion and it's absolutely honoring cam to sort of try and enjoy this as much as possible look at me I'm the one that's crying I'm keeping the makeup intact for now but um.

That's coming later no doubt it's odd but maybe I don't have the energy to be awkward about being in the spotlight it just sort of is what it is at this point perfect cool and it's ready for this camera already three two one great cool keep smiling I'm having fun with this and that's obviously something that I've I've learned to such.

An extent you know since Cam's passing um and he he wanted me to have fun with this oh just the best you know you can have all the fun and all the trouble without any of the responsibility so have fun I'm 29 and I suppose I just have this sense of um having lived a lot a lot of absolute you know terrible you know.

Things and so much pain but also there's so much that's extraordinary and um yeah a lot do you want to have a quieter life no I don't think so no I suppose I hope that I keep throwing myself into it.

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