16-year-old to sail into record books

AN AUSTRALIAN schoolgirl is on course to become the youngest solo and unaided round-the-world sailor after re-entering Australian waters on the last leg of her epic voyage.

Jessica Watson, 16, blogged that she was approaching Western Australia and was due to pass Cape Leeuwin, the mainland’s south-western tip, yesterday as she makes her way along the southern coast towards her destination of Sydney.

“It was one of those really special moments,” Watson wrote in her latest update on Saturday. “But we’ve still got a long way to go and over the next week we will pass under the Great Australian Bight and head south to Tasmania.”

Watson is now about 2,500 nautical miles (4,600 kilometres) from home in the 23,000-nautical-mile journey, already a massive achievement given the furore that accompanied her departure.

The schoolgirl dozed off and hit a tanker during a practice run, prompting officials to urge her to abandon the voyage.

In October, a Dutch court banned a 14-year-old girl from embarking on a similar attempt and placed her in care.

But Watson now looks set to beat the record set by fellow Australian Jesse Martin, who completed the journey aged 18 in 1999.

She is about seven weeks ahead of schedule after her bright pink yacht left Sydney on October 18.

Australian officials are already showering the teenager with praise, with Prime Minister Kevin Rudd describing her as an “inspiration”.