Pre-Ramble:  So, yesterday, sixteen-year-old Australian Jessica Watson sailed into Sydney Harbor in her pink 10.23 meter Sparkman & Stephens 34 (her sailboat named Ella’s Pink Lady shown with Jessica at right), to become the youngest individual to sail non-stop and unassisted around the world.

Details on the trip itself – the specifications of the preparation, the boat, the route, the support systems, and Jessica’s own website and blog – are fascinating … a true adventure, the stuff of the books and movies which are undoubtedly forthcoming.  Here though, I am drawn to the situation from the perspective of a mom. 

I know you think I’m going to rip on Jessica’s parents for letting their sixteen-year-old child – a girl, no less - take such a dangerous, potentially life-threatening journey.  And, you would be right, to a point. Certainly, Watson’s journey has its detractors, …

“Barry Tyler of Pacific Motor Yacht magazine wrote, “like the majority of the seafaring world, I consider it irresponsible, cavalier and indeed ignorant to attempt such a feat, at such a tender age and with so little trans-ocean experience … [and] a more general concern was raised by the Australian Childhood Foundation, who questioned whether a 16-year-old girl would have the ability to fully understand the risks that such a venture would involve.”

Descriptions of the harrowing situations in which Jessica found herself are enough to give anyone pause,

“When south of Australia, Watson suffered a lot of bad weather. In this part of the journey, she had at least three knockdowns (where the mast hit the water), one of them with the mast deep into the sea, … luckily without any real damage or injury. The swells she experienced in the Great Australian Bight were up to 12 meters in height, higher than anytime before.”

Luckily?! And, this doesn’t even go into the part where her navigation system became non-functional and she had to jury-rig some wiring to bring it back … ” … Oh yes, gee-whiz,… so glad those super-big waves that dipped the mast - and half of the boat – into the water out in the middle of the fricking ocean didn’t cause a problem …”  

Clearly, I’m having trouble containing my incredulous sarcasm around some of the metrics here.

Disclaimer:  My parents had a 30 foot sailboat that was the scene of many a family weekend and summer adventure. We raced the boat, named Solar, in an evening series on the Great Lakes and visited marinas up and down the coast of Michigan and Canada, and up into the North Channel. 

Sailing was fun, but it was never my passion or calling. Frankly, I wasn’t a fan of all the spiders who would make their home in the rigging or folds of the sail covers. It may have been a different story though if I had been given my own pink yacht. There certainly is that angle of the significant time and financing required to bring a dream like Jessica’s to reality; accounts of her parents flying overhead in private planes as she reached various milestones, definitely qualify them as resource rich and actual “helicopter parents.”

So, as a mom, with teenage daughters, in prom season, I find myself conflicted. Do I fret over stuff like hemlines and curfews? Or do I save up and flip out over something on another end of the continuum?  Jessica’s journey causes me to question my attitudes about permissiveness and freedom, … guidance and support. What is an appropriate amount of “freedom” for a young person to have? How do we empower young people to reach for big things, while being mindful of what constitutes a foolish, or possibly criminal, level of risk? Is Jessica a hero, or just lucky to be alive? 

The Take-Away:  In spite of these questions and the answers that I would undoubtedly give, there is a part of me that is immensely inspired and proud of what this young woman has done.  Jesscia Watson has challenged herself in an unfathomable way and has “succeeded” in reaching her dream by some combination of pluck, preparation and guardian angels. Through her fantastical journey, Jessica has found a well-spring of strength, resourcefulness and perspective that will serve her for the rest of her life.

“Overall, I feel pretty drained and would kill for some easy sailing, but seeing as that’s not what I’m going to get, I’m just going to have to toughen up some more and deal with it.”

While I hope it doesn’t involve the tremendous level of risk that Jessica has taken in her journey, I wish for the same kind of singular pluck, preparation and resolve for my daughters in theirs.

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