Jessica gets "knocked down"!

[Shooter II]

The story is

A young girl is sailing around the world without stopping. She will not put in anywhere and no one else will be on board. She is a teenager alone on the ocean. She is attempting to break a record that was set by another young person. The record has specific requirements. She is adhering to the requirements.
Maybe you're not impressed. I am.
There is no further discussion required.

 

[Ed Schenck]

I agree with you. But already yours was not the last word. There will be many more I expect.

 

[Stephen K]

I appears to me that Levin's point is to discredit Jessica's attempt at an unassisted, non-stop, solo circumnavigation by claiming that she has too much technology(sat phone) and is therefore "cheating" because she can call home, or can get weather information when she needs it. I'm saying bull crap.... you don't know what you're talking about... do some research. If she's cheating, the folks that oversee these attempts will decide that, not some dude who's only been sailing 5 years and has never ventured outside of SoCal coastal waters.[/quote]

and I'd like to add ...a dude that can't even lay a course down on a chart...LOL

 

[Shooter II]

Levin wanted an esoteric discussion of how technology and man's advances makes easier man's accomplishments. The second voyage around the world was made easier, (just for discussion purposes, NOT to be taken literally) by the knowledge and experience gained from the first. And so on. Flying with fly by wire is not the same as flying in a Sopwith Camel.
When does our technological advance so alter realiities that the accomplishment should be viewed as something other than what was sought?
That is a legitimate coversation that I don't feel is pertinent in a discussion of Jessica's attempt. The radio vs sat phone difference is not, imho, enough to cause me to feel she has an undo advantage over sailors back even decades and yes maybe even a century.
She is doing something no one else has EVER done. NO one at her age has done what she's doing!!! Age DOES matter.

 

[Joe]

The last person to sail around unaided and unassisted and alone was Joshua Slocum. After that everyone who followed built on his experience. Even Slocum received assistance on many of his stops. He sailed with all natural fiber sails and rigging in a rebuilt wooden oyster smack that was never designed for crossing oceans. He probably navigated by lunar distance with whatever charts he could obtain.

Wait a minute, Ross. Your first sentence contradicts the later statement that Slocum received assistance on many of his stops. This would include a refit of Spray in Samoa and the gift of a complete suite of sails from Commodore Hoy in Sidney .

Slocum was indeed the first to complete a solo circumnavigation, but his was not a non-stop, unassisted voyage. I have no idea what unaided means in the context of long distance sailing.

 

[Ross]

Joe, my take on this whole brouhaha is that anybody with the stones to set out on a voyage like this is going to be unassisted at the times when most of us would like six hands and three heads. Jessica isn't going to have time to ask for advise when the weather turns to stink but it is probably a comfort to talk about it in the morning. She has my undying respect. Donna Lange sailed around alone with just three stops and received a lot of help in port but like Slocum never while underway. She lost self steering crossing the North Atlantic and hand steered for three days to Ireland. Even if she had called for advise she didn't have enough hands to make repairs.
Nancy won't consider sailing with me around the Delmarva peninsula so I will never have those bragging rights.

 

[Joe]

Ross, I refuse to make comparison's about who has what in their equipment bay and whether their voyage was more daring than the other..... that's absurd. All that equipment is allowed by the WSSRC so it's irrelevent to criticize the sailors who use them.

What I am trying to make clear to many of you is that the term "unassisted" or "without assistance" has a specific meaning in the world of long distance sailing. The terms "solo", "non-stop" and "circumnavigation" are also clearly defined.

So................ when someone proclaims the he/she intends to attempt a solo, non-stop, unassisted circumnavigation they are using the terms as defined by the WRSSC that are considered standard in the long distance sailing world. Therefore, anyone making comments on these issues without understanding their meaning is not only foolish, but disrespectful to all passionate sailors.

That is all I ask for any of you to do... is respect the sailors who've taken on their daunting voyage within the scope of standards laid down by their peers. i.e. the WSSRC and the International Sailing Federation.

 

[Ron20324]

Joe, give it up. My dad always said to argue with a fool only proves there are two of them. He was referring to my brothers and I, but it pretty much applies throughout life.

 

[Ross]

Joe, I happen to completely agree with you. The more a person has learned prior to such a venture the less daunting it will seem but you can only reduce daunting by a little, the ocean hasn't changed. Our boats are better than what Columbus had, the charts are existant and navigation is accurate but the ocean still does the same job it has always done. Barnes had a boat full of fancy and didn't make it past the first of the great capes and Lange sailing a smaller, plainer boat sailed all the way around. Often people say it ain't the size of the dog in the fight it is the size of the fight in the dog.

 

[Joe]

Joe, give it up. My dad always said to argue with a fool only proves there are two of them. He was referring to my brothers and I, but it pretty much applies throughout life.

You're right.. (sigh)... We fight these battles not to change the mind of the oppressor, but to enlighten the mind and heart of the oppressed.