A 16-year-old schoolgirl tried to contact the crew of a foreign cargo ship before it collided with her yacht, causing a setback in her bid to become the youngest person to sail solo around the world.The story goes on to suggest she crashed into it rather than the other way around
But her yacht crashed into a 63,000-tonne cargo vessel in a busy shipping lane at 2.30am (AEST) on Wednesday, 15 nautical miles east of North Stradbroke Island's Point Lookout.We learn this about the lass
Ms Watson left Mooloolaba on Queensland's Sunshine Coast on Tuesday on a 10-day preliminary solo journey to Sydney in her 10.4-metre sloop Ella's Pink Lady.Hold on. She started at Mooloolaba on Tuesday and crashed into a 63,000-tonne cargo vessel off North Stradbroke on Wednesday? A cargo vessel she had been in contact with. I'm starting to think she should stick to netball until she leaves school. On a warm up sail for a trip that, according to sailblogs.com, would be quite a long way...
The Vendee Globe Challenge, Solo Nonstop Round the World Race chooses a route that is about the shortest route - around the bottom of Africa and S. America, staying far south where the distance is shortest, and their minimum course distance is 22,600 nautical miles, or 41,855 km....she managed to travel about 100km before crashing into a really, really big boat. In a shipping lane. In calm conditions. I mean, it isn't as if the vessel was hiding behind a tree and suddenly jumped out in front of sloop.
Good work love. Wonder what mum and dad still fully support you following this particular dream? The article only lets us know what the "family media spokesman" has to say. I think I'd be saying something along the lines of "you have got to be fucking well joking."
As an aside, why is it relevant that the cargo ship was "foreign"? What value does that add to the story? Why should that be in the first paragraph? Had it been an Australian ship she hit would we have been told it was an Australian ship? Hmmm.
1 comment:
Spoke to a navy-linked person this morning who knows the waters and tells me the lass was asleep and the boat on autopilot - fair enough, she needs to sleep - and those big vessels are suprisingly difficult to see at night as they require only a single navigation light. Still, an inauspicious start.
Post a Comment