Jessica Watson

As a writer, I'm always looking for great stories. Sometimes the stories come from the distant past. Other times the story involves a more recent event. For the past several weeks I've been following one story that is occurring right now and will not have a conclusion for another seven or eight months. As I write this post on my laptop, sitting in the comfort of my kitchen, sixteen-year old Jessica Watson is in the middle of the Pacific ocean. She is a month and a half into her attempt to become the youngest person to sail solo around the globe.

One of the neat things about this journey is that you can follow Jessica through postings on her blog and a tracker on her web site. I've been checking in every couple of days to see how she's doing. The picture below is from one of her recent posts. I've enjoyed reading her posts about squalls, rough seas, visits from birds, and her daily routine. One recent post told the story about how after several unsuccessful attempts to catch a fish she finally succeeded, only to have a much larger fish take her catch from her.

One of my favorite stories of all time is the story of Magellan's attempt to circumnavigate the globe. He didn't make it, though a few members of his original crew did. While Jessica may not be facing some of the dangers that Magellan did, her journey is not without risk. In a week or two she will be rounding the southern tip of South America. The waters in this region are some of the most dangerous in the world. So I thought I'd write this post so that others can follow her progress and wish her luck.