On course to make waves
Dionne Christian talks to sailor-turnedwriter Jessica Watson
As one of the youngest people to sail solo and non-stop around the world, Jessica Watson is well used to inspiring fellow youngsters to go adventuring. Just 16 when she made history, Watson was named Young Australian of the Year, published her best-selling memoir, True Spirit, and then skippered the youngest crew ever to complete the infamous Sydney to Hobart yacht race.
Eight years later, Watson continues to sail but is charting a new course: she’s just published her first novel.
In Watson’s YA story Indigo Blue, Alex moves to a sleepy lakeside village called Boreen Point to live with her aunt and complete her final year of high school. With money from her absent doctor father to buy a car, Alex, a keen sailor, buys a little yacht instead and throws herself into restoring it so she won’t feel so much like, well, a fish out of water.
Working on a school project, she makes a curious discovery, which leads to a friendship with Sam. He’s a sailmaker’s apprentice who’s keen to help Alex restore the Indigo Blue, but he’s secretive and seems to have a few strange ways about him.
That something isn’t quite right with Sam is revealed during a tense dinner date with her aunt and, after dropping several clues, Watson reveals why about halfway through the story. At that point, it could have veered into the ridiculous but Watson is a straightforward writer and keeps her story well-grounded.
With the fantasy elements made almost believable, the book ends up as an enjoyable and easy-to-read romance-with-a-twist about fate, friendship and discovering what matters to you. Alex, as a teenage girl with an actual real-life interest other than her phone, social media accounts and shopping, is inspiring.
“Yeah, she’s a bit of a tomboy,” says Watson. “It comes back to me wanting to use the book to shows girls that these kinds of hobbies and adventures are fun. The challenge of doing something like fixing up a boat is a good thing.”
It’s also wryly amusing to read passages about Alex’s encounters with an older sailor and boatseller named John, who’s clearly decided boats are no place for young women. He’s patronising, sexist and dismissive of Alex but, ultimately, there when she needs a helping hand.
“I’ve certainly met people like John and I know many others who have, too, but I didn’t want him to be all bad,” says Watson.
She says the exchanges between Alex and John are a counterpoint and a gentle way to challenge attitudes about what young people, especially girls, might be capable of. She faced some of her harshest criticism after a test run when, on her first night after leaving Brisbane to sail to Sydney, her boat, Ella’s Pink Lady, collided with a 63,000 tonne bulk carrier. Watson’s boat was damaged but she managed to keep control and return to Brisbane under motor.
In Indigo Blue, Alex foolhardily heads into the open ocean with a storm brewing and her yacht in less than optimal shape.
“M experiences have been different and I was in a better boat to deal with conditions that can be far, far worse than what I write about,” says Watson. “But the feeling of overcoming something like that [the collision] is wonderful. There’s a satisfaction that comes from dealing with and getting yourself out of a difficult situation. I came out of the collision with more confidence because, at least in my own head, I had proved to myself that I could handle one of the worse things that could happen. Everyone else was thinking the opposite but we’re supposed to learn from our mistakes, right?”
Watson had the pedigree for being at sea. Born in Queensland, her parents are New Zealanders who moved to Australia in the late 1980s. She and her three younger siblings took sailing lessons as children and the family lived for five years on a 16m cabin cruiser before moving to a purpose-built double-decker bus.
She was home-schooled and says, given she lives with severe dyslexia, that probably worked best for her. It was mum Julie reading Lionheart: A Journey of the Human Spirit that made Watson want to sail round the world. That book was written by German-Australian Jesse Martin, who, at one point, was the youngest person to circumnavigate the globe solo, nonstop, and unassisted.
New Zealander Laura Dekker holds the record having done the journey when she was 16 years and 123 days old; Watson was 16 years and 362 days old.
Having just completed her MBA, Watson is now a partner in a marine start-up business, Deckee; an ambassador for Mobile Travel Agents; and a youth representative for the United Nations World Food Programme.
She’d like to write more books but the biggest challenge? Finding time to do so.