Jessica Watson Is back in Australian Waters.
She had this to say about arriving in her country’s home waters. “The flyover with Mum, Dad, Tom and Hannah on Saturday was a great welcome to Australian waters and a lot of fun. Even though all I could see was a small plane way overhead, it was still really cool. Mum reckons that Ella’s Pink Lady and I looked really small between the swell, which seems strange to me because Ella’s Pink Lady is my whole world at the moment!
Things got pretty interesting for a while last night, when what I thought was just a light passing squall, turned into a full on electrical storm, the worst I’ve seen at sea yet. Even though I could hardly see it through the icy cold sideways rain, the lightning was striking the water nearby much too close for my liking. The wind gusted pretty high too.
Ella’s Pink Lady was already well reefed down at the time. But till I was able to furl almost all of the headsail away and pull the tiny third reef in, we were healed over pretty dramatically. But the wind soon dropped again and as it did, the rain really started. It was so heavy that you could hardly see where the water stopped and the sky began. A bit of thunder has never worried me, but alone at sea at 4 in the morning, it seems particularly menacing and it becomes a lot harder to keep your nerves in check!
Other than the lightning storm, the weather’s still been really unsettled with almost constant rain, squalls and a messy sea. Luckily the wind hasn’t been too strong though. Progress has been good and even with all this gloomy grey stuff, I’m happy as Larry and mostly staying dry thanks to my snug dodger.
Jessica was yesterday treated to a visit from some guests who dropped by. Her Mum, Dad, brother Tom and sister Hannah flew overhead to give her a wave from a small plane. “With the sun peaking out through the clouds and Ella’s Pink Lady surfing along in a big sea and lots of silly chatter over the VHF, it was a really, really special moment, “said Jessica”
“The plane couldn’t come in very close at all this time, which was a pity, because I’d made a special effort with my hair, painted my toe nails pink and shaved my legs especially. Strangely it felt a lot like a normal family get together which gives you an idea of what’s become normal for me.”
She is due in port in a couple of weeks.