Luckily for me it's just started raining here in Dauarnenez, a little town on the coast of France. So instead of going for a jog I have a few minutes to sit down and write a blog. I landed in France last week and will be spending the next few weeks here training on a 6.5m mini called Skippy (see pic below), before taking part in the Mini Fastnet race later in the month. It's great to be back in France and very nice to be back out on the water again!

The Minis are such fun boat to sail and it's great to be sailing with a fleet of them over here (see pic below). Although I might add that they are also hard work and the word sleep is pretty unheard of when it comes to racing them. I suspect that by the end of the race I'm going to be more than a little sore! I'm learning so much just by being around all the boats and seeing the different ways which things are done. Most of the sailors here are French but there's also entries from all over Europe and one from the US. Each sailor has an interesting story about all the challenges they had to overcome to get here. It's a great atmosphere to be part of.

Also, it's great that very few people over here know me by face. It's lovely to be anonymous for a while. Actually, it also made for an amusing conversation the other day with one of the sailors here. We were chatting away about a few well known solo sailing girls and this guy mentioned ‘Isabelle Autissier, Sam Davies and that Australian girl.' I sort of motioned toward myself not wanting to blow my own trumpet by going ‘hey that's me,' but it didn't work. So I ended up having this strange conversation about myself until being rescued by someone who explained who I was!

My Skipper Scotty was off competing in a solo race on the boat over the weekend, which also gave me the chance to do a little sight-seeing. This part of France is full of endless amazing old churches, lovely (but cold!) beaches, cute little towns and everything else from enchanted forests to castles. Oh, and great food from seafood to fresh berries to all sorts of amazing things in the local patisserie.

It's been such a long time since I last blogged (sorry about that!), that I can hardly remember what has happened in the last few months - and that's not because there's not been a lot happening, more because there's been far too much happening again! Well firstly, I was pretty thrilled to finish my school courses in Brisbane the day before my 18^th birthday. Because I only had three months to get it done, there were a few short cuts taken, but the important thing is that I got the necessary marks for any further study I might want to do next year. My version of graduation was to head out to the chocolate shop at Southbank in Brisbane with the rest of my Maths class!

Of course, as soon as classes were over, the relentless schedule of domestic travel started again with all the usual events and commitments. It's all such fun and exciting stuff, but sometimes I really do wish I had a little more time at home!

One particularly exciting thing that did happen if you haven't already heard about it, was being named as Youth Representative for the UN's World Food Programme (see pic below). It is an amazing opportunity to be able help other young people in countries not so well off as us. To help them achieve their dreams by simply ensuring that they get the basic necessity of a meal every day. Seeing as I've been incredibly lucky to have had so many of my dreams come true, it's great to be able to help other people reach for their dreams - something they can't do if they're putting all their energy into worrying about where their next meal will come from! So make sure you click on the "WeFeedback" icon on the front page of my website which is a great new tool that allows you to buy meals for the needy school children in the WFP. We will be making another exciting announcement on this in September, so keep an eye out for that.

The Sydney to Hobart project is coming along well. All of the crew are busy with their own sailing and projects. There's always plenty of behind the scenes work going on from organising logistics, sourcing sponsors and who knows what else. We were also excited to announce our partnership with Deloitte, who are going to be helping us develop team and leadership skills with training and workshops amongst other things. We will also be announcing our Major Sponsor soon too. So make sure you stop into the blog on the Another Challenge page for updates on the project. We're just kicking off social media pages so jump on to: www.facebook.com/AnotherChallenge2011 and ‘Like' the page to follow our updates there.

Time for me to head off now, but if I survive I'll be sure to let you know how the Mini Fastnet goes!

Jess

Pic 1: Out sailing on Skippy with my Skipper Scotty on a cold wet day in France.

Pic 3: WFP's Deputy Executive Director and Australian Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd at Parliament House in Canberra, presenting me with my WFP jacket

I'm sorry I haven't been posting here lately, I've been finding it easer to keep my Facebook page updated so check that out to see what I've been up to!

With only six weeks left till the ten crew and our fantastic coaching team come together in Sydney to start training for the Rolex Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race, it's time to step back and take a look at how the projects coming together.

Ummm, where do we start. Let's see....in short things are going really well!

A few weeks back we competed in the Audi Sydney to Southport race, the first race of the campaign. Competing in the race was a relatively last minute decision and with a split crew made up partly of our crew (Sean, Lisa, Alex, Gen and myself) and partly of Ella Bache's another Challenge (Ella's AC) original crew, we didn't have any high expectations competitively. Mostly the race was meant as a training exercise. But the conditions (light and sometimes non-existent winds) played to our strengths and we had a win, quite literally, by winning the Sydney 38 division by over 5 nautical miles!

One of the race highlights was unveiling our kite (spinnaker) newly decked out with the lovely'Joy' designed by Mel Curry for our fabulous major sponsor Ella Bache (see pic below). She's quite something and I think we're already becoming a little attached to her!

While I'm on the subject, we've got plenty of exciting news regarding new sponsors.

If you hadn't already heard, Ella Bache have come onboard again as our major sponsor which is fabulous, as I can't imagine a sailing project without them. Thanks John and Pippa for your contiunued support. We're all looking forward to rubbing on Ella's 30+ Sportsblock whenever we're out on the water!

We've also got some other amazing sponsors to announce and thank; firstly Macquarie Life Active who share similar passions for innovation and for challenging themselves, so I'd say we're going to have a lot of fun working with them as our Gold Sponsor partner.

And welcome on board Metcash under their IGA brand, as our Silver Sponsor partner. They have already been hugely supportive.

We have also just secured Ansarada, an exciting young company that join us as a Bronze Sponsor partner.

Not to forget Musto, our sailing performance wear partner who are teaming up with us again.

The UN's World Food Program (WFP) for whom I'm a Youth Representative, will be our official campaign charity partner (we will announce more on this one next month!).

Over to the other side of the world in the UK, our three pommy crew members Pete, Will and Mike have been joined by our Melbourne based crew Leigh for an exciting few months of sailing including the famous or possibly infamous Fastnet race. The Fastnet is best described as the northern hemisphere version of the Rolex Sydney to Hobart. The boys on three separate boats, are set to finish the race anytime soon so jump on http://www.facebook.com/AnotherChallenge2011?ref=ts to hear how the race went.

It's pretty exciting that four of our crew were able to do the Fastnet as the experience that they'll have gained will be invaluable come Boxing Day and the start of our own race.

All the other crew are also keeping busy with all sorts of exciting things as well. Cam who's also Melbourne based is in high demand sailing and racing other boats. Levi hasn't been able to squeeze in much sailing with us yet with work commitments and the girls Gen and Alex have been getting to know Ella's AC pretty well, while crewing her up the coast.

Then there's Lisa, (Lisa won the seamanship award in last years Rolex Sydney to Hobart) who has just skippered Ella's AC up to Hamilton Island with crew members Sean and Alex. I hear they've also been working very hard over the last few days to get the boat set back up into racing mode for Hamilton island Race Week which starts tomorrow and also a part of Tourism Queensland's Season of Sailing campaign.

We're very lucky to have such a great and dedicated crew who have all either deferred Uni or put aside other commitments to concentrate on their sailing this year. Talking of dedicated, our coaches Chris and Jonno having been putting time and effort into the campaign to make sure everything runs smoothly come the end of the year, so a big thanks to Chris and Jonno!

And myself, I've been enviously hearing the reports from out on the water while rushing all over Australia taking part in tours with my young Australian of the Year role and attending the never ending stream of events. As always, it's lots of fun but I think I might be taking a few deep breaths when things slow down a little next year!

As I mentioned Hamilton Island Race Week starts tomorrow and again with only some of our crew taking part, we're planning on using it as a training excise. Make sure you jump on our Facebook page http://www.facebook.com/AnotherChallenge2011?ref=ts for updates throughout the week.

Jess

Pic: Our very loud and cool kite, aptly named 'Joy'

Hi everyone. Something a bit different for this blog entry and I need your help; have a read then jump on my official Facebook page and answer the question there or leave a comment to let me know your thoughts.

Let me know if you think I'm barking totally up the wrong tree or if this is something you might feel comfortable supporting? Appreciate you feedback.....

Our Youth Should Have A Voice

‘This is a great day for Australia' the presenter's voice boomed out through the speakers across the 10,000 people gathered on the Opera House steps and through televisions into living rooms of millions across Australia.

Kevin Rudd, the then Prime Minister (PM), took his place in front of the microphone and started by acknowledging the dignitaries present, myself included, or ‘Australia's newest hero' as he called me. He went on in his speech to use phrases such as....

"You might be a little wobbly on your feet right now, but in the eyes of all Australians you stand tall."

"At 16 you are a hero to all young Australians and also a hero to all Australians". And he finished with..... "you do our nation proud".

Well firstly, as I pointed out on the day when I was handed the microphone after the PM, although his words were extremely humbling, there is no way in the slightest that I considered myself a hero (sorry to spoil any romantic ideas about hidden super-powers, but I'm really very ordinary!).

Secondly I'd like to point out that although I might have ‘made the nation proud' and might be ‘standing tall in the eyes of Australians' that very same nation and those very same Australians didn't and still don't recognize me as an equal member of our nation.

As a democracy Australia prides itself in giving everyone a voice in their community - the right to vote. Well I might have been ‘Australia's newest hero' but I didn't and still don't have that basic right. More recently, I was honoured with the title of 2011 Young Australian of the Year (the speech given by current PM Julia Gillard was very similar to her predecessor's speech). The title came with an amazing opportunity to be a voice for young people, yet when it comes to that basic right given to everyone in a democracy - the right to vote - my voice was and has been silenced. I never got an opportunity to vote on who exactly it would be making those speeches!

Being 16 at the time and 17 now, I'm still not considered old enough to be able to vote. Until I reach that magic number of 18, my country doesn't recognize me as being responsible enough to have that right. Call me over sensitive and a bit of a drama queen, but I can't help but feel insulted. I spend huge amounts of my spare time supporting and using that ‘voice' to share my story with kids, to support charities and I'm even an ambassador for Queensland Tourism. Yet I'm not given that basic right that Australians pride ourselves in giving to everyone. I feel like one of my brother's socks, pushed under his bed out of sight and out of mind - silenced.

And I'd like to point out that there are young Australians and teenagers often completely unheard of or unacknowledged out there doing far, far more than I do to contribute to their respective communities and the nation.

But all of that aside as a normal 16 or 17 year old, I sometimes wonder how society expects us teenagers to be responsible citizens making a contribution to our community, when we're not given the right to have a voice in that community. It's a shame but many people do hold the view that young people are irresponsible. You only have to read the opinion section of any newspaper to see this. I'd be willing to bet that you won't find a paper without at least one letter to the editor complaining about the behaviour of ‘young people these days'!

I have a friend who tells a story about the lady living next door to her. The day my teenage friend moved in to their new house with her teenage siblings, the lady came around and knocked on their door, like many neighbours would, expecting to receive a welcome from the neighbour. Except this particular lady had her heart set on giving my friend a stern lecture about any future bad behaviour. Well my friend is the sort of person who wouldn't put a toe out of line, who wouldn't hurt a fly, but the lady had no intention of giving her the benefit of the doubt. As the lady said.....‘teenagers start fires!'

Well isn't it pretty obvious that by giving someone a voice, a sense of importance and responsibility, then isn't that person going to be more responsible?

And that leads me to the thing that I feel most strongly about. We teenagers are Australia's future. It's us that will have to live with the decisions made by the older generation. A great example of this is climate change, an issue that needs to be acted on now, but the effects of which won't really be felt for some time. It is young people who will potentially suffer the effects of climate change.

We might be our future, we might have achieved things that make our nation proud, but when it comes to the most basic right or freedom of a democracy, we've been forgotten in the same way that women and indigenous Australians were once overlooked. In the same way and by the same reasoning that not so long ago saw so many denied the right to vote because of gender or heritage.

‘Young Australians' are also now being overlooked. Our crime?..... a number, our age!

I wonder if my country's former PM realised that in the same moment that he declared me ‘Australia's newest hero' that his country's democratic system was silently, yet overwhelmingly telling me that I was insignificant, without a political voice. That I was not worthy of the right to vote. It really would be a great day for Australia if young people were given that basic democratic right, the right to vote. Even the suggestion of making it non-compulsory for 16-18 year olds - but just give us the opportunity!

Should The Voting Age Be Lowered to 16?

16 and 17 year olds are recognised as being meaningful members of their community's through their ability to work full time, pay tax, leave school and home, drive with supervision, get married, have consensual sex, become parents and be tried as an adult in a court of law.

Yet 16 and 17 year olds aren't provided with the opportunity to vote.

I want to hear your thoughts on whether it would better our democratic system by having 16 and 17 year olds take part in voting? Whether young people should have a say in the current issues that will affect their future and whether young people might become more involved in political and other issues if they were actually given a chance to become involved?

Question;

Should the voting age in Australia be lowered?

YES - the voting age should be lowered to 16

NO - the voting age should be left at 18

Thanks

Jess

Well as I'm busy with study at the moment I shouldn't really have a lot to tell you! I'm trying desperately to just be a boring student with a life that revolves around classes and homework, but life just doesn't seem to work out like that. The school work is going well, nothing particularly exciting but a new challenge in a different kind of way.

So on to more exciting news. We recently had the State (QLD) and Commonwealth Governments chip in to ensure that Ella's Pink Lady stayed here in Queensland. Premier Anna Bligh and Deputy Prime Minister Wayne Swan came along to make the announcement at the launch of Queensland's Season of Sailing. I'm an ambassador for Queensland's Season of Sailing which is a collection of our biggest and best sailing events on the coast. So my job of was to ring the bell to officially launch it, whilst Anna Bligh and Wayne Swans were there to formally announce that Ella's Pink Lady was going to a new home in the Queensland Maritime Museum here in Brisbane.

There really couldn't be a better place for Ella's Pink Lady. It's perfect that she's going somewhere she'll be so well looked after. Now everyone can come and admire her. Yes, I have to admit that it was a little hard to hand her over. But I'm lucky to have her so close to my home on the Sunshine Coast, so I can come and visit her! At the moment the guys at the Museum are doing a great job of getting her set up in time for the holidays.

Last weekend was another distraction from study with a quick visit to New Zealand for the Trans Tasman Business leadership forum. My little sister Hannah accompanied me as my guardian and we listened to some of our top business and political leaders talk about the relationships between Australia and New Zealand, in relation to all sorts of issues, before it was my turn to speak alongside Jamie Fenton the Young New Zealander of the Year. Jamie, who is only 7 days older than me, is a serious genius. She passed her high school science certificate aged 8 and since then had gone on to achieve some amazing things academically, through charity work and she even invented a gadget that is used in exam rooms to monitor the noise levels! Both of us share very similar beliefs about the things young people particularly can achieve if we set our minds to it. So it was great to finish the conference with a strong reminder that young people can achieve great things.

Also in New Zealand I had the chance to catch up with Bob McDavitt, my weather router who looked after Ella's Pink Lady and I during the voyage. It was really nice to spend a bit of time sightseeing around Auckland with Bob, talking about things other than the weather for once! Hannah and I also had the chance to drop in and briefly catch up with a few of our NZ relatives.

We also have Easter coming up which means two things for me. Firstly, the Brisbane to Gladstone yacht race. One of Queensland's biggest races held on the Easter weekend which I'll be talking part in. I'm crewing on Big Wave Rider, a 47ft catamaran. I'm really looking forward to getting out on the water after all this study but the thing that I'm really looking forward to about Easter is chocolate! And if you buy a Chocolate Bilby, you will be helping this great cause to Save our Bilbys.

Well I'm going to finish up and get back to work on my English assignment now!

Jess

Pic 1: I made sure that my trusty crew stayed on Ella's Pink Lady to keep her company in the Museum!

Pic 2: With Jamie Fenton, the Young New Zealander or the Year

Having started three months of intense courses to finish off my schooling, I've had quite a change of pace the last few weeks. After all the excitement of announcing the new project the other week, combined with the buzz of all the events and travel in recent months, hectic had somehow become my version of normal! So despite plenty of study, enjoying a slower pace for a little while!

Anyway, if you wanted to keep up with all the latest and hear about what I've been up to (or hear me gripe about a particularly tough maths lesson!), the best thing to do would be to jump on to my official Facebook page http://www.facebook.com/jessicawatsonofficial which I will keep updated regularly.

But what I wanted to do in this blog, was to explain a little more about the new project, "another Challenge". I'm not sure how much you've already read in the media about the project, so I'd better start from the beginning.

To put it simply what we're aiming to do, is to be the youngest crew to compete in the Rolex Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race, on a boat every appropriately named another Challenge! The idea is to enter a highly competitive youth team in the 2011 race, (aiming to do as well as possibly in the Sydney 38 class) and by running a professional, world-class campaign, providing opportunities for young sailors to take part in the Sydney to Hobart and hopefully inspire other young people to stretch themselves. You can see all the info on the project website - click on the icon on the front page of my website: http://www.jessicawatson.com.au/anotherchallenge

You can watch some good news segments compiled at the media launch by the Seven Network and Network Ten. These clips also give you a great idea of what it's all about.

Crew

Choosing/finding the crew isn't something we took lightly. We (our coaching team and myself) came up with a list of skills needed and we went from there, contacting firstly friends, then sailing contacts, then some of the major yacht clubs and youth programs to find potential crew members. It was important that we had a diverse mix of skills rather than say 10 helmsmen and no foredecky! And most importantly that all crew were dedicated, focused on the campaign, keen to improve and for want of a better word, ‘nice people'!

So jump on the project web page and check out all the crew profiles and pictures (see crew pic below). Throughout the year and during training, you'll be hearing directly from all the crew so will have the chance to get to know everyone.

Training/ Timeline

With our crew scattered all over the place and some coming from half way around the world, it's a little hard to get together every weekend to train like most crews would. So instead, we'll be spending three full time months training at the end of the year, based out of Sydney. We'll be out on the water pretty well full-time, putting in the hard work, to be as competitive as possible.

There will be lots of time spent offshore, even a dry (practice) run or two down to Hobart and back. Everyone on board will be doing a sea survival course, even though only 50% of the crew are required to and everyone, no matter their role onboard, will be studying coastal navigation. Closer to the race and after we've had the chance to shake out any cobwebs of our own, we'll be training against another Sydney 38 and possibly joining in with some of the local racing to ensure that we're right up to scratch!

Before we launched the project in Sydney, we had the full crew together for the first time training and getting to know each other for 10 days in Melbourne, which went really well. On top of having a lot of fun, we spent some long days on the water (I had some stiff muscles after a few days!) and headed offshore overnight. It was a great chance to gauge what level we were all at. I have to say everyone exceeded expectations - we've got some amazing sailors on board! We will all be working on our own skill sets through our personal sailing over the year. Myself included! There's lots of pictures from the 10 days training on our webpage.

Support

It might just be the 10 of us setting off for Hobart come Boxing Day at the end of the year, but it's going to take a much bigger team and a lot more resources than that, to get us there with every chance of doing well. Along with crew profiles on the website, there are also profiles of some of our support team, including our two coaches.

If there was one thing I learnt from the last voyage, it was how important it was to have a perfectly prepared boat. So throughout the year, another Challenge will be kitted out with lots of new gear including new sails and a new colour scheme.....any guesses what colour?

Anyway, I'm sure that only covers the tip of a rather big iceberg, so I'd better leave it at that for now. But stay tuned to hear from some of the team and support team and as we announce project sponsor partners, our charity partner and all sorts of other exciting developments!

Jess

Pic: (Courtesy Howard Wright/IMAGE Professional Photography). My amazing crew!

As always I've left writing this for so long that I hardly know where to start again! Well I suppose I should start where I left off last time on the blog. And that would be a few weeks back when ‘Jessica' bilby, the young baby bilby was named after me.

My friends have all been giving me a hard time about this one and having a lot of fun making comparisons between us (Jessica bilby is a little prone to scratching and biting, I'm not sure what that says about me?!). But really, it's quite an honour and great to be able to help out in some small way, in spreading the word about how few bilbies there are left in the wild. The best part is that there's a really an easy way for everyone to do their part towards saving the bilby. This Easter, make sure you buy everyone chocolate bilbies from Darrell Lee Chocolate Shops and the profits will go back towards conservation efforts. If you ever wanted a guilt-free excuse for eating chocolate, then this is it!

After that, the last week for me has included visiting Melbourne, Sydney and then Perth for corporate events and the opening of the amazing new TNT Express plant in Perth, plus some exciting meetings regarding the new project that we'll be announcing on the 10^th March. I also filmed a TV advertisement that will air later this year for an organisation working to promote reading to young people. So keep an eye out for that one later in the year.

Then I made it home in time for my sisters 19^th birthday last Friday, before an early start on Saturday to see a great turnout of bike riders (including Dad) take part in a ride from the Sunshine Coast to Brisbane's Prince Charles Hospital, raising awareness for organ donation. After deciding it was safer to stay off a bike, my job was to see the riders off at two different starting points and then greet them at the end. Meeting many organ recipients and hearing their stories was incredibly inspiring and again, this is such an easy thing to support. It's as easy as having a conversation with close friends or family about your wishes on the subject.

After that, it was on to an event held at Dreamworld on the Gold Coast to say thanks to many of the SES volunteers who have worked so hard in the recent flood crisis. At the event, I also got to meet a very handsome boy bilby (along with a very cuddly wombat and playful tiger!), who was destined to be Jessica bilby's boyfriend (see pic below with Premier Bligh holding him). While up on stage I was asked if there was any advice I could give him about winning her heart. I replied that he shouldn't have a problem, as he really was very handsome and I wished him luck!

Thanks to everyone for your congratulation on getting my P's (driver's licence). It's an incredible relief to finally have the independence to be able to drive myself around, whenever I'm briefly home on the Sunshine Coast. Driving a red Mini on a sunny day, is a lot like surfing a pink boat down a massive wave - you just can't help smiling!

Finally, I wanted to acknowledge everyone over in Christchurch who were affected by the latest earthquake. With many of my relatives in New Zealand, we were very lucky again not to have anyone close to us affected. We've really had a terrible year so far with so many natural disasters.

Well, I'm sure I've bored you more than enough, so I'll finish up for now and look forward to having lots of new exciting things to tell you about on the 10^th!

Jess

P.S. Keep an eye out on my Official Facebook page for more updates

Pic: With Noel Dempsey, Frank Manthey, QLD Premier Anna Bligh & bilby!

Some pics of Jessica the Bilby (courtesy of Lyle Radford).

Pic 1: Jessica the Bilby!

Pic 2:They are just so cute!

Pic 3: With my sister Hannah holding a bilby.

Pic 4: With Aussie Olympic swimming legend Dawn Fraser, who is also a big supporter of the bilbies. That's Frank Manthey in the middle, the co-founder of Save the Bilby Fund.

I'll admit I've been finding excuses to avoid writing this blog for quite a while now. I just couldn't think of where to start, there's just too much to tell!

And I'd better start by telling you about the trip to Germany where I launched the book over there. It was cold, very cold! Mum came with me this time and although the schedule was non-stop, we had lots of fun, staying firstly in the city of Hamburg then Dusseldorf. Hamburg was an amazing old city built around one of Europe's biggest ports, meaning there was lots of interesting maritime history which we had the chance to hear about, while spending an afternoon filming in the local maritime museum.

But while exploring the museum made the interviews and filming more fun, I can't say I was so thrilled about spending another morning riding a local ferry up and down the river doing interviews for other TV stations. When the journo (journalist) first suggested that we use the open upper deck, I quite rudely burst out laughing thinking that he must be joking. Let's just say that without my Musto gear, I'm a bit of a wuss!

Well, that along with the fact that as a typical Queenslander, packing closed in shoes didn't cross my mind. So after a few days and with snow forecast I got taken to a shoe shop and strongly advised to buy a pair of closed in shoes and socks. I will admit things went better after that!

Then it was on to Dusseldorf for the Dusseldorf Boat Show. The show was massive, so it was pretty exciting. I was surprised at how popular True Sprit proved to be. As always, my favourite events were the ones at a local school and particularly a yacht club, where all the junior sailors came along.

The publishing house, Delius Klasing, did an amazing job of translating the book and an even more incredible job of looking after Mum and I while we were over there.

On arrival back in Australia there was no getting over jet-lag with a nice long sleep in. Instead what was to be a huge week, started with a flight straight from Sydney to Canberra, then a cup of tea at The Lodge with Prime Minister, Julia Gillard.

It was only after meeting and spending time with all the other nominees that I really realised how much of an honour being named Young Australian of the Year was. Every one of the State finalists are incredible people, all with amazing achievements to their names. I know that if it were up to me, I'd certainly never have picked myself!

The title also comes with a lot of responsibility…., well I don't like to think of it as responsibility, more an opportunity to put my weight behind as many things and causes as possible. It's sure going to keep me busy!

This week the pace has slowed down for a few days, meaning that I've been able to make a start on some study for a school course I'll be starting in March. I've been doing some writing again for another chapter of True Sprit that will be released as a new edition by Hachette Australia later this year.

And while this has all been happening, poor old Queensland has faced yet another natural disaster. I don't think there's anyone in the State that doesn't have friends or relatives affected by Cyclone Yasi, particularly the yachting community in North Queensland who I have been thinking of. Only in Australia could we have two natural disasters in as many months while the rest of the country is suffering heatwave conditions!

Jess

Just a quick update. I'm pleased to report that Mum, Dad and all the kids finally made it home today after 5 days in the flooded campground. They were all a bit muddy and soggy but seemed to have taken the whole thing as an adventure.

The stories, pictures and surreal footage of the latest floodings in Brisbane have been pouring in and as terrible as the damage is, it's incredible to see everyone pulling together to start on the cleanup effort. Again, my thoughts are with everyone affected and a huge thanks to everyone who donated via the link on my last blog.

I'm going to be down at the Sunshine Plaza at Maroochydore on Sunday lending a hand to the Mooloolaba Lions Club and their fundraising efforts for the Flood Appeal. If you're in the area, drop in to say hi and make a contribution. We need every cent we can get to help re-build parts of Queensland. We'll be at centre stage from 1pm to 3pm.

Then I'm heading off to Dusseldorf for the launch of True Sprit in German. I'm told it's going to be very wintery over there! Brrr.

Jess

Last year it was a single party popper way down in the Southern Ocean. This year I saw the New Year in overlooking Brisbane with friends, watching the fireworks from the rooftop, counting in 2011 with the rest of the city. Well not quite. Kind of embarrassingly, our timing was a good 20 seconds early, so we did the big 3… 2… 1, only to then hear the rest of the neighborhood still counting 23, 22, 21...! Still, it was a good night and chance to reflect on the year before ploughing head long into another exciting one.

Since the New Year particularly, but also over the last few months, I've been getting out sailing and training a lot with Scott Cavanough on is yacht Skippy, which is a Mini 650. You might remember me talking about Mini's back when I was in France last year. Mini's are 6.5 metre, pretty radical (and very cute!) boats designed to race solo across the Atlantic Ocean in a race called the Mini Transat. I'm going to be sailing with Scott shorthanded (two up) in a race in France later this year, so we've been getting as much time on the water as possible in preparation. I've been learning lots every time we go out, which is great because I've still got an incredible amount to learn about performance sailing. My local paper did a lovely article on it with some great pictures, it's well worth checking out;

http://www.sunshinecoastdaily.com.au/story/2011/01/07/jessica-watsons-new-challenge-sunshine-coast/

And talking of news stories, you may have heard the recent rumours that Wyatt Roy and myself are ‘going out'. Well, Wyatt is in fact a family friend (like many girls, I do have male friends!) and I think some media outlets might just be getting a little ahead of themselves on this one. Of course, I'm incredibly grateful for all the wonderful media support I've received, but sometimes, not all the media reports are correct.

And of course the other big and far more serious thing that's been happening is the terrible flooding across my home state of Queensland. Over the last few weeks we've been hearing the reports from the flooded areas and thinking of all those affected, but it's only been in the last few days that the Sunshine Coast has started feeling the impact first hand.

Luckily our house is on a hill but Mum and Dad are having a bit of a hard time of it. They very unluckily picked last weekend to take my little sister and a bunch of her friends camping and since then, they haven't been able to return due to roads being cut off. They're in no danger, but I know if it was me, I wouldn't be too thrilled about being flooded in with a bunch of restless 13 years on dwindling food supplies!

Seriously though, my thoughts are with all those more seriously affected as it really is a disaster zone in several areas now. For anyone looking for a way to show their support, I found the QLD Premier's Flood Relief Appeal link which is: http://www.qld.gov.au/floods/donate.html

This is an easy way to make a small contribution to what's going to be a mammoth cleanup effort, so please try and support this very important appeal!

Jess

After a few days sailing and training on a boat down in Sydney earlier this week, I'm back home on the Sunshine Coast (which still isn't in the slightest bit sunny!) to spend Christmas with family and friends.

The plan for Christmas day is pretty simple - lots of eating (mangos, trifle, pavlova and Dad's smoked ham..!), opening presents with everyone and maybe hitting the beach in the afternoon if the rain stops.

It's a bit surreal to think back to this time last year, singing away to my Christmas carols on Ella's Pink Lady and watching the fog sit between the rolling Southern Ocean swell as we approached Cape Horn!

So this is just a quick note to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas. Thanks again to everyone for being part of an amazing year. Seriously, sharing it with you all has been one of the most amazing parts of the journey.

Merry Christmas!

Jess

What's been happening lately? Where do I start? Well, despite the fact that things have slowed down ever so slightly lately, my head's beginning to buzz again with some exciting things coming up. Let's just say next year's calendar is looking pretty busy with study, more travelling, lots of sailing and err…. a few other (rather exciting!) odds and ends.

Since the last time I blogged, I've actually spent a full week at home for the first time since getting back on land. But the Sunshine Coast rose gloriously to the occasion and it bucketed with rain all week, spoiling my plan to get a bit of beach time in! Still, I really can't say I mind a bit of summer rain and just thinking back to the weather down in the Southern Ocean this time last year puts everything into perspective, brrr!

I also had a busy week back in Sydney with the usual collection of fundraising and other events, media appearances and book signings (see pic below). With everyone out hitting the shops doing Christmas shopping, it was nice to do a few book signings again. Seeing the kids walk away excitedly clutching their copy of True Spirit, is a really good reminder for me to not take the whole thing for granted. Of course it was also great to catch up with my amazing team from Hachette, my publisher Vanessa and publicist Lou!

One event I really enjoyed recently was a mentor's breakfast with Ella Bache in conjunction with Madison magazine. The theme was ‘living your dream' and it was lovely to talk to and meet some pretty inspiring girls. Certainly one of the best things about this whole sailing solo around the world thing, has been some of the incredible people I've been able to meet!

As I'm constantly telling people, last year's Christmas in the Southern Ocean was different and a lot of fun. Spending Christmas pretty much at the furthest point on earth from another person, it isn't something that you do every year is it? I remember seeing my Christmas decorations sway along to Pink Lady's motion and that was really something. But having said that, I'm really into getting into all those Christmassy things that I missed last year (like kitting the mini out in reindeer antlers and red nose - see pic below!) to make up for it.

And to finish, I wanted to say a huge thanks to Liz at 5 Oceans Media, who is leaving to go back home to the USA today. Amazingly, every time I leave a phone charger or anything else behind somewhere (a shockingly regular occurrence!), Liz always managed to track it down. But more importantly she was a part of the wonderful team that got us around the world.

I hope everyone else's holiday season is going well and that your Christmas shopping is going a lot better than mine!

Jess

Pic 1: At a book signing at Bondi last week

Pic 2: The red Mini looking very cute decked out in reindeer antlers. Seriously if you don't have a set on your car, you're being extremely un-festive. So come on, join the fun!

Last week I woke up every morning on the Pacific Ocean. Not sailing, but on the 811ft Pacific Dawn with my family for a holiday. I have to admit it took me awhile to get into holiday mode. It was quite strange to suddenly have very little to do (other than sleeping and eating of course!) after such a hectic schedule over the last few months.

On the days we were at sea, I did some pretty serious sleeping in and on the days we were in port, it was great to explore the local markets, beaches and waterfalls in New Caledonia and Vanuatu. Places I'd loved to have stopped at when I was passing that way this time last year.

You can't really compare Ella's Pink Lady to P&O's Pacific Dawn which was pretty much a floating city. But either way it was great to be back on the water and I wasn't going to complain about the extra luxuries! I'd like to think that I didn't eat too badly whilst on Ella's Pink Lady, but I can't say the food really measured up either!

Other than getting to spend some time with my brother (he's still as annoying as ever!) and sisters and learning to dance (cough, cough!), the other highlight of the week was visiting the bridge and talking to the Captain and the other officers on watch. Before I dreamed of sailing around the world, I dreamed of being the Captain of a ship like the Pacific Dawn.

Everyone on board was really nice we were looked after amazingly by the crew but I have to say by the end of the week the ‘don't suppose you got sea sick' and ‘this is a steep up from your last cruise' jokes were wearing a little thin! A huge thanks to Anne Sherry and all of the team at P&O for making it possible!

This week, things are back to normal and by that, I mean all over the place. I'm in Sydney with a few commitments including a charity lunch, some more media and a few events for Ella Bache during the week, then back to Queensland for some time out on the water this weekend.

Jess

Pic: The Watson clan with the Captain!

After a few days at home, a week back in Australia, a whole string of fundraising events and awards dinners, it was time to head off again - this time to China. The week before leaving for China I realised how spoiled I've become with all this travelling. Whenever I'd casually mention to family of friends "next week, oh I'm just off to China," I'd get a sarcastic reply like…. "sure just China." I've been incredibly lucky to see so many different places and experience a variety of cultures over the last few months.

China was really something too. I was over there as an ambassador for the 4^th China Cup International Regatta. I was kept busy with media and events but also had some time for a look around Shenzhen, where we were based. The opening ceremony for the regatta was particularly impressive. Some of the stunts were totally mind-boggling! But the thing I enjoyed most in China was visiting the Shenzhen Foreign Language School (SFLS), a local school where I got to spend the morning hanging out with all the students who were learning English. We made dumplings for lunch, put together a gigantic puzzle (which turned out to be a wall sized welcome message!) and tried my hand at some traditional Chinese art. I can safely say that Chinese art is yet another thing that doesn't come naturally to me! And a huge thank you to David Dai, our host and interpreter who was fantastic.

On my rare few days home, my time has been split between catching up on sleep and catching up with friends and family. And building up as many hours as possible towards my driving license, by acting as taxi for my brother and sister in my red Mini Cooper. Have I mentioned how much I love driving my Mini!? It definitely takes the edge off the long process of building up 100hours before I'm able to drive along.

Last Saturday I got my first taste of the races down in Melbourne for Emirates Stakes Day, where I was an ambassador, this time judging Fashions on the Field. Things didn't start so well when one of the Group 1 race favourites, Star Witness, trod on my foot during a photo shoot. Ouch! It wasn't too bad a stomp, but after two days wearing heels, I was feeling it! My judging duties for the Fashions on the Field turned out to be a lot easier than I expected, well for the guys anyway. Really….it had nothing to do with one of the contestants blowing the judge kisses, never! Mostly, it was just nice to see everyone having fun dressing up and not taking it too seriously.

Last weekend I also finally had the chance to visit my local dinghy sailing club to help the kids launch their boats and start the race. It was great to see that in the time since I sailed there there's been a huge increase in the number of kids out on the water. Seeing the kids out on the water having fun made me think back to when I was first learning to sail. I don't think I had even half the confidence that these guys did! I do get out on the water every now and again too, normally just mucking around with friends.

So it's sure been a busy time, so I'm sorry I haven't posted a blog for a few weeks. If you're wondering when things slow down or go back to ‘normal,' well I can't say it will be anytime soon (what's normal anyway!). Although I have had to squeeze a few months in to next year's calendar to finish school. There's plenty of other exciting things on the drawing board too....!

Jess

Pic 1: In front of the amazing jigsaw puzzle made by the students at the Shenzhen Foreign Language School

Pic 2: After visiting a tea wholesaler in China, I think I am a converted tea drinker!

Pic 3: Judging Fashions on the Field at Flemington Races in Melbourne on Emirates Stakes Day

I'm writing this from the middle of the Pacific Ocean - well a fair way above it anyway on a flight from Brazil to Sydney. After 6 weeks away from Australia I'm excited to be finally heading home. And after an early connection and not a lot of sleep, stepping on board a Qantas flight full of familiar Australian accents was quite a treat!

The Sao Paulo boat show turned out to be a lot of fun. Looking at the map you might be a little confused as to why they have a boat show so far from the coast. Well despite it being over two hours drive from the coast, there were some pretty impressive displays.

With my Portugese being about as non-existent as my French (ie: limited to about 4 words!), giving a presentation and talking to media at a press conference kept me concentrating hard, even with translations. It's a little hard to remember to pause for the translator in the middle of a description of Ella's Pink Lady being knocked down! But it was definitely the translator that had the harder job. I just can't seem to be able to talk slowly!

So a huge thank to all the Sao Paulo Boat Show team, particularly Flavio and Sheila for making it possible. Also thanks to Andrea our amazing guide for making our visit so much fun. I was seriously impressed with the small part of Brazil we did see and I plan on coming back to see the rest one day.

Another highlight (and believe me there were a lot of them!) in Brazil was visiting the most amazing little town called Paraty, an old 15th century city in almost perfect original condition and set on a beautiful part of the coast that reminded me of Australian's Whitsunday Islands. It was incredible to wander around the old cobblestone streets browsing in shops and later having dinner while imagining what it would have been like back in its heyday. It didn't take much imagination! Another interesting thing about Paraty was that the streets were designed to flood at high tide, as a sort of crude waste disposal system, luckily it's been modernised since then!

The travelling doesn't stop when I get back to Australia. The next week going be another busy one with events in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane, but again no complaints here. I get restless if I'm not full-on busy.

Well time to finish up and get some sleep because I hear I'm going to be busy on arriving in Sydney - apparently while I've been away quite a huge stack of books have piled up for me sign.

Oh, and looking at the calendar I've just realised that today marks one year to the day that Ella's Pink Lady and I set sail from Sydney. What a year!

Jess

Pic 1: Hang gliding in over Rio with my instructor ‘Mosquito' - something I'd like to do more of!

Pic 2: Drinking the best juice I've ever had on top of Corcovado Hill. Nick on the left and our amazing guide Andrea in the middle

Pic 3: With my sister Emily in Paraty