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Jessica has just sailed past the 15,000nm mark of her solo circumnavigation to add another significant milestone under her belt.
Jessica and Ella's Pink Lady are currently sailing in light winds but, whilst the weather conditions on their patch of the Indian Ocean are calm at present, Jessica is very much aware of the potential challenges in this sector of her voyage of adventure around the globe. Jessica is to be commended for the discipline she has demonstrated in carrying out all the running maintenance on board Ella's Pink Lady which she has executed with meticulous attention to detail, all the while enjoying every moment of what has become part of her daily routine.
We can all rest assured that Jessica is well prepared for any change in conditions out there and remains alert and focused as she realises how rapidly weather patterns can change in this region.We wish her a smooth run across the Indian Ocean and that she manages to avoid the worst of any foreseeable weather predictions until her safe return home to Sydney.
Farewell Atlantic Ocean..... Hello Indian Ocean....... Jessica Watson and Ella's Pink Lady are well on their way home.
Today Jessica rounded the Cape of Good Hope under the African Continent to put another milestone under her belt and bring her closer to home.
The Cape of Good Hope is at Longitude 28deg_18E. After sailing a further 8deg_E (+/-) Jessica and Ella's Pink Lady crossed the "imaginary" line that separates the Atlantic Ocean from the Indian Ocean. As is explained by Andrew on the Latest News section of Jessica's website, "The Indian Ocean is delineated from the Atlantic Ocean by the 20° east meridian running south from Cape Agulhas".
As Jessica and Ella's Pink Lady bid farewell to the Atlantic Ocean, they greet the Indian Ocean with excited but nervous anticipation. They are back in the roaring 40's and are presently enjoying very favourable weather conditions.
Jessica wrote in her latest post, "As a high pressure system passed over us, we've had perfect clear skies, warm sunshine, gentle seas, plenty of birds and the odd albatross for company". This is certainly a far cry from the roaring conditions she experienced after rounding Cape Horn, a distant memory ago.
Jessica and Ella's Pink Lady have now sailed over 14,750 nm and are expected to pass the 15,000 nm mark of their voyage later this week.
The next sector of this epic voyage will last more than 4,000 nm in a direct path to Western Australia.
"The pile of leftovers normally include crackers, banana chips, dried peas and tinned beans"..... Jessica Watson on likes and dislikes about the contents of her food bags. The challenge for Jessica now is what to do with all these, if in fact she can bring herself to eating them, albeit well disguised.After four months at sea, Jessica reported yesterday that it still feels like only yesterday she departed Sydney on her voyage of adventure around the globe. She has done exceptionally well in settling into daily life afloat and is currently enjoying some good sailing conditions and making excellent progress, running with 25knots of wind behind her.Julie, Jess' mum had the enormous task of provisioning Ella's Pink Lady with all the food Jessica took with her to sustain her through an anticipated 8 month voyage. Julie did remarkably well in providing Jessica with a wide variety of foods and meant well in including what are now leftovers, it seems, but with a little imagination I'm sure Jess will make good use of some of them. I personally can't think of a better recipe than to crush and mix all the ingredients together and incorporate the whole lot into a dough of bread, scones, muffins or whatever in an effort to disguise what Jessica finds so unpalatable about them. If nothing else, it's a good lesson in making the most of what we have inboard. I mean, we can't very well nip down to the corner deli now can we? :-))
Jessica and Ella's Pink Lady have now sailed across the Prime Meridian into the Eastern Hemisphere. They are approximately 800 nautical miles from rounding the Cape of Good Hope, another milestone which puts them that much closer to home.
Tomorrow, Thursday 18th February will be Jessica's and Ella's Pink Lady's 4th month at sea since departing Sydney on 18 October, 2009. Jessica is also expected to pass the 14,000 nautical mile mark of her solo circumnavigation.
After a few frustrating days without much wind, the conditions have improved for Jessica. The wind has picked up with gusts of up to 30 knots for most of yesterday and so Ella's Pink Lady has been flying along, peeling off the miles south then east on her way towards the Cape of Good Hope.
Congratulations Jessica and Ella's Pink Lady as well as all the EPL support team back home on a job well done!
"Along with the flying fish I've been seeing quite a bit of plastic and rubbish floating past recently, it looks so out of place and ugly drifting by on the swell. So I've resolved to put a lot more effort into refusing plastic bags and using less plastic when I get home."...Jessica Watson. Jessica posted the most beautiful picture of wall-to-wall blue the other day. Sadly, she also expressed her disgust at the amount of rubbish she has been sailing past lately and declared that she will be more mindful of her use of plastic when she gets home.I hope all those who read Jessica's post and also take the time to visit me here will be inspired to think about how they can contribute to the conservation of our planet. Every little bit helps and, at the end of the day, it starts with the choices that we make. Who knows, maybe some day in the future we may even see mermaids again. Some may even surface to share pampering sessions with the Jessica Watsons of the future. :-))
Jessica has revealed yet another of her very endearing qualities. Whether she realised it or not, as she penned her latest post, she is in a position of advocacy and has sent out a strong message on the importance of thinking before throwing in order to protect our oceans.Most of our waste today is comprised of plastic. Made from petroleum, plastic is a material that our planet cannot digest. Every bit of plastic that has ever been created still exists, except for a small amount that has been incinerated, releasing toxic chemicals.In the ocean, plastic waste accumulates in swirling seas of debris. Plastic to sea life ratios now stand at 6:1. Birds and mammals are dying of starvation and dehydration with bellies full of plastics. Fish are ingesting toxins at such a rate that soon they will no longer be safe to eat.What can we do about it? First, we need to understand and comprehend the size of the problem. Then together we need to find the solutions. Every little bit helps and it has to start with each and every one of us making a conscious effort to simply think before we throw.
Orange buoys or Orange boys? One things for sure, Parker now has his job cut out for him in making sure he doesn't trip over any of them.Jessica today reported that while she was sitting at the chart table staring out the port hole, she got a huge fright as a great big orange object floated past less than a meter away from Ella's Pink Lady. It turned out to be some sort of fishing buoy complete with aerial and just avoided getting into a tangle with Parker!It all sounds a bit sus to me 'though, because when the fish are not biting, fishing boys can get pretty creative about how to pass the time away... I reckon they sent one of their buoys out to see what all the fuss is about this little pink boat. :-))
The latest addition to the Jessica Watson experience is a wall chart available for purchase at Jessica's website store. Albert Ross has summoned all the Scallywag crew ashore to promote the beaut new wall chart.You and all your friends can now follow Jessica’s voyage on this new wall chart, which Jessica has helped design for all her fans.The Voyage Wall Chart is a high quality, coated, poster measuring 990mm x 680mm and shows Jessica's voyage around the world. Each chart comes with Jessica Watson stickers so you can plot her journey by checking the website and placing the stickers on the map. This is the perfect way for classrooms, workplaces and families to follow Jessica on her travels.30 stickers are included with each map.
When the Scallywags are on watch, you never know what mischief they can get up to. I guess they're pretty desperate to catch some fish and put the powdered eggs away for a while.
Jessica Watson's latest report puts her in some pretty fine sailing conditions, making very good progress and averaging 7knots over the past 24 hours. She says Bob's altered her course to a more northerly direction in anticipation of some "nasties" approaching further south. Let's hope Ella's Pink Lady manages to get far enough away from any nasties so Jessica can enjoy her crew's little peace offering after their lack of excitement about her new t-shirt. Sail on Jessica with fair winds, calm seas and tight lines.
