9:31 PM Wed 18 Nov 2009 GMT
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'Jessica crosses the equator'
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16-year-old Sunshine Coast sailor Jessica Watson has crossed the equator, the first big milestone on her round-the-world solo voyage.
She crossed the Neptune line early on Thursday morning, Eastern Australian time, north of Fiji, after being at sea for over a month. Jessica telephoned her support team by satellite phone to confirm that she had entered the northern hemisphere, which she is doing so that her voyage can be considered a 'quality circumnavigation'.
(As most circumnavigators have traditionally sailed from the northern hemisphere, they are required to sail a long way south to complete a circumnavigation. Those who start in the southern hemisphere, without the 'equator rule' could be seen to have an unfair advantage.)
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The plan is to be 240 days at sea and cover 23,000 miles - BW Media
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Jessica will now head south east towards South America where she will undergo one of the most serious challenges of her circumnavigation, the rounding of Cape Horn. This is where she must be prepared for 80 knot winds, mountainous seas, and ice fields of deadly icebergs. Some experienced sailors have likened her challenge to 'climbing Mount Everest as your first mountain.' However, her mentor Jesse Martin, still the youngest person to sail non-stop and unassisted round the world, and who had never sailed out of Melbourne's Port Phillip Bay before he did his circumnavigation, successfully completed the same crossing in the same type of boat.
Her mother, Julie Watson, told local newspapers that Jessica is slightly ahead of schedule to complete her voyage by June.
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Jessica on her way in her lolly-pink boat called Ella’s Pink Lady - .. .
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'We are just so pleased - Jessica has reached her first, big milestone,' Mrs Watson said. 'She just crossed the equator so she just rang us to say us that all the zeros are on dial. She's having a party and she's got some pink pudding there.'
Jessica, who began sailing at the age of eight, expects to spend about 240 days at sea on the 23,000-nautical mile journey.
After Jessica made world headlines in the mainstream press by falling asleep and hitting a 63,000 ton tanker on her first night at sea in her boat Ella's Pink Lady, her attempt has been followed by the world's mainstream media.
Her PR representatives have told reporters that daily updates on her Web site are attracting more than 200,000 hits a week as people from about 160 countries follow her adventure.
by Nancy Knudsen
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