Welcome! Please excuse the dust! We are in early ‘beta’ and just made this site available to the public on August 8th. We are working hard to make this the premier destination for women’s sports. What you see are the early steps toward that goal. Women’s sports articles are being posted daily.  We are also posting frequent sports headlines on Twitter. Please follow us there at @iwomensports.

Thank you for your patience. We hope you will bookmark the site and visit us often while we are putting this together. And if you have read this note, consider yourself among our first visitors. We hope you like it so far and will help us build it into something long overdue online–the place for women’s sports.

Catherine

Another teenager is preparing to sail around the globe alone. This time, the solo sailor is an American, Abby Sunderland:

“As Australia’s Jessica Watson has passed the 5,000-mile mark during her journey around the world, alone in a 34-foot sailboat, Abby Sunderland is embarking Thursday to Ensenada, Mexico, to pick up the 40-foot sailboat she hopes will carry her safely around the planet.

Both girls are 16.”

link to article by Pete Thomas for the Los Angeles Times

Jessica Watson, the sixteen year old Australian on a solo world sail, has crossed the equator and making good progress:

“… The determined Sunshine Coast 16-year-old, aiming to be the youngest sailor to circumnavigate the globe, called her land-based team of supporters to confirm she officially crossed the Equator at 7.17am on Thursday.

She immediately followed nautical tradition, dunking herself in ocean water as a celebration “baptism”.”

link to the article by Glenis Green for the Herald Sun

[Photo by Brendon Thorne/Getty Images]

The sixteen year old Australian sailor, Jessica Watson, is making good progress and is approaching the equator:

“Teenager Jessica Watson is on course to tick off her first major milestone in her solo circumnavigation of the world when she crosses the equator next week, exactly a month after leaving Sydney.

Yesterday it was sarong and swimsuit sailing for the teen who has spent the past week at sea making the most of light winds by catching up on chores, baking bread and biscuits and battling an unseen creature from the deep.”

link to the article by Amanda Lulham for The Daily Telegraph

[Photo by Brendon Thorne/Getty Images]

Abby Sunderland, the sixteen year old American, has taken a step closer to her sailing goal. She wants to sail around the world on a solo voyage. This became more of a reality as she now has a boat:

“Abby Sunderland has obtained a 40-foot boat named Wild Eyes, which she hopes will carry her around the world swiftly and safely.

The 16-year-old from Thousand Oaks is on the East Coast with her brother Zac, who recently completed a solo-circumnavigation at the age of 17, and her father Laurence. They’re presently sailing Wild Eyes from Rhode Island to Florida — a weeklong trip — and will have the vessel shipped to the West Coast.”

link to the article by Pete Thomas for The Los Angeles Times

Jessica Watson, a sixteen year old Australian, is in the midst of a solo attempt to sail around the world. Fourteen year old Laura Dekker, from the Netherlands, wants to do a similar trip. At stake is the record of being the youngest to circumnavigate the planet alone. A court ruling is blocking Laura Dekker:

“A Dutch court has ruled a 14-year-old girl is not experienced enough to depart on a solo sailing trip around the world.

Laura Dekker has been placed under the guardianship of child protection authorities until next July to prevent the journey she hoped to begin in May.”

link to the article from the CBC

additional link:  Dutch court extends supervision on young sailor

additional link:  Dutch court blocks 14-year-old’s solo sailing record attempt

additional link:  Judge blocks solo sailing attempt of 14-year-old

Jessica Watson, the sixteen year old Australian, is into Day Eight of her solo voyage to circumnavigate the globe. She is able to blog when on her voyage and she posted this on October 26, 2009:

“Well we’ve been out here a full week now and into day 8 today! I’ve just been doing the maths and we covered 740nm in week 1 which is as much as I’d ever hoped for and pretty good considering some of the windless days we’ve had. If anything, the first week’s run puts us very slightly ahead of schedule, but I hate to say that so early on!”

link to this specific blog posting:  One Week Down and the Shore Crew

link to Jessica Watson’s Blog

The comments sections are open, so you may want to send along your good wishes.

Catherine Forsythe

[Photo by Brendon Thorne/Getty Images]

Jessica Watson is a sixteen year old Australian who is in the midst of a solo sailing voyage. She is trying to be the youngest to circumnavigate the world.

Abby Sunderland is an American who just had a birthday. On October 19th, Abby Sunderland reached sixteen. She too wants to sail around the planet by herself. And in Europe is even a younger teenager with similar dreams. Laura Dekker is thirteen.

This record of the youngest to sail around the world is stirring controversy:

“… The growing trend of young sailors like Watson and Dekker hoping to cirumnavigate (sic) the globe is fuelling the debate around whether teenagers should be allowed to sail solo around the world.

“It’s a tricky question,” double Olympic sailing gold medalist Shirley Robertson told CNN, “because sailing has always had that sense of adventure to it and it is a sport for mavericks. And some people are just made for that. But at such a young age how can you know that the person is ready?”

link:  Should teenagers be allowed to sail solo around the world?

It should be noted that, at thirteen, most country would not allow a person to drive a car alone. Amid these debates, perhaps there is one young girl who should be remembered. Jessica Dubroff attempted to set a record flying across the country. She failed and did not survive the attempt. Jessica Dubroff was seven years old.

Catherine Forsythe

Champion surfer, Heather Clark, was injured in a car accident when her vehicle was struck by an alleged drunk driver. Heather Clark survived:

“Reigning International Surfing Association (ISA) world masters surfing champion Heather “Fergie” Clark has been injured in a car accident, her family said in a statement on Friday.

“She was hit so hard her car is in two pieces, at this stage we are not sure the full extent of her injuries or how it will impact on her surfing career in the long term,” Clark’s mother Dawn Clark said on Friday.”

link:  Surfing champion in car accident

additional link: Heather Clark seriously injured in a motor car accident

Surfing South Africa is helping to organize financial support for Ms Clark through this crisis. Please let your friends in the surfing community know.

Catherine Forsythe

Sixteen-year-old Jessica Watson would sound like a typical teenager updating her blog, were it not for her special circumstances.

From her most recent entry:

"The sun’s still shining and the water is an even more amazing shade of blue, but I’ve been finding that sunset is my favorite time of the day when the whole world turns pink! This morning I had a school of dolphins pass by and the odd bird also drops in to check us out. I think keeping the cabin tidy is going to become one of those never ending battles. Is it just me or does housework always take this long?"  

The Australian teen left Sydney Harbor in Australia early Sunday morning aboard her yacht, Ella’s Pink Lady, to begin her quest to be the youngest person ever to circumnavigate the globe solo.

The journey is projected to take Watson eight months, travelling 23,600 miles in her 34 foot craft through some of the most dangerous waters in the world.

Jessica’s attempt has been fraught with controversy and obstacles from the outset, heightened when her parents said recently that it was "worth dying for."  Her grandfather affirms he believes she is up to the task, and dismisses Jessica’s critics.

Australian maritime officials urged Watson not to attempt the sail after she collided with a cargo vessel on a test run  in early October off the coast of Queensland.  Tragedy struck again when her friend and mentor, yachtsman Andrew Short, 48, and fellow racer Sally Gordon, 47, were killed in a freak yachting accident south of Sydney on October 9th.

Jessica’s desire to break the record for being youngest to circumnavigate the globe unassisted is shared by other teens, including 13-year-old Laura Dekker of The Netherlands.  In August, a Dutch court intervened and placed Laura in state care to prevent her from undertaking a solo sail.  British teen Mike Perham, 17, completed the journey in nine months in August, stopping once for repairs.  The previous record is held by Australian Jesse Martin, who circumnavigated the globe solo in 1999 at the age of 18.

Watson is sailing with a satellite phone and Internet, as well as GPS locators on her clothing, and is regularly updating her blog as she sails through New Zealand waters heading for Fiji on the first leg of her journey.  Many experienced sailors warned Jessica of the dangers of undertaking the journey, knowing that she will face treacherous seas and difficult weather conditions as the journey progresses. 

Still, Jessica is not deterred in her determination to realize her dream. 

On the Web: 

Jessica Watson’s official website

Jessica Watson’s blog of the journey