LOS GATOS, CALIFORNIA: Jessica Watson is back in the news as her biopic 'True Spirit' was released on Netflix on Friday, February 3. The Netflix film tells the story of a young girl who attempts to sail 23,000 nautical miles around the globe in eight months.
Although Watson traveled 18,582 nautical miles, crossing the Pacific, Atlantic and Indian oceans, all by herself and without stopping, Jessica did not make it into the world records. The youngest person ever to sail solo around the world is Laura Dekker, as reported by Sailing Today.
RELATED ARTICLES
'True Spirit' Review: A magnificent tale of perseverance and a towering achievement
Who is Laura Dekker?
Laura Dekker was only fifteen years old when she set out from Sint Maarten in the Caribbean on January 20, 2011, to circumnavigate the globe alone. When she returned to Sint Maarten, she was sixteen years old. She still holds the record as the youngest circumnavigator. She was born in Whangarei, New Zealand. She made her first solo long-distance voyage from the Ijsselmeer to the Wadden Islands at the age of 10 as per Yatching Monthly. Laura is also the author of the book 'One Girl One Dream,' which has been published in four languages, including Dutch, English, German and Polish.
Why Jessica is not the youngest person to sail solo around world
According to the World Speed Sailing Record Council, there is a rule for circumnavigation records. The rule states that "the length must be at least 21,600 nautical miles, calculated along the shortest possible track from the starting port and back, that does not cross land and does not go below 63 degrees. The equator must be crossed during the journey." Although Watson has traveled about 23,000 nautical miles according to the great circle calculations of several Australian navigators, she has traveled an orthodromic distance of 18,265 nautical miles. This data shows that she was 2,335 nautical miles away from circumnavigating the entire globe, according to Entertainment Weekly.
