Sailing trips - Teen resumes solo sailing bid

Teen resumes solo sailing bid
SYDNEY - A 16-YEAR-OLD Australian girl bidding for a solo around the world sailing record took to the high seas on Thursday, despite pleas from authorities for her to reconsider after she crashed on a test voyage.

Jessica Watson set off in her bright pink yacht from Queensland's Gold Coast to Sydney, from where she will embark next week on an attempt to become the youngest person to sail non-stop and alone around the world.

Her first effort last month almost ended in disaster when she collided with a 63,000-tonne cargo ship just hours into a trial run to Sydney. Watson dismissed the mishap, which snapped the mast of her 10.23-metre yacht 'Pink Lady' and damaged its rigging and hull, as a 'small hitch' but an official report gave a damning assessment of her performance.

Maritime Safety Queensland found she had probably dozed off before she hit the container ship and did not activate a warning system that would have altered her to a potential collision. It also said the teenager did not have a fatigue management plan and her safety guide consisted of a page torn from a school notebook which was covered in childish doodles.

The safety authority concluded Watson was too inexperienced to attempt the gruelling voyage, prompting Queensland Premier Anna Bligh to this week urge her to abandon the record bid.

'This is a very high-risk venture, frankly it's one that I would be reconsidering, but ultimately it's a decision for them,' Bligh said on Monday.

The girl's mother Julie Watson hit back at critics Thursday and said he daughter would not be deterred.

'A lot of people making statements about her to the media don't know what preparation she has done,' she told public broadcaster ABC. 'I have seen the level of commitment, the work she has put in, the preparation.'

Watson, who has been sailing since she was eight, hopes to complete a 23,000 nautical mile journey around Cape Horn and the Cape of Good Hope and over the unforgiving Southern Ocean before returning to Australia. Watson hopes to surpass fellow Australian Jesse Martin's feat in completing the journey aged 18 in 1999.

In August, a Dutch court ruled 13-year-old Laura Dekkers could not embark on a solo round-the-world voyage and placed her in the care of social services. -- AFP