Australian schoolgirl sailor Jessica Watson sailed into history yesterday as a noisy pink-bathed crowd welcomed her home as the youngest person to sail around the globe solo, non-stop and without help.
Tens of thousands of people took to the harbor and lined the foreshore to celebrate as Watson, 16, crossed the finish line in her bright pink yacht, ending a remarkable 210 days at sea.
Harbor Master Steve Young sounded a pink hooter to signal the official end to her voyage, and a tugboat sent up a celebratory jet of water as the beaming teen steered through the harbor mouth, waving to the throng of onlookers.
It was a “daunting” change of scenery for Watson, who said she’d grown used to the monotony of isolation and “empty waves.”
“I haven’t seen a person for almost seven months and suddenly there’s people everywhere, faces, so much color, so much noise, so much everything,” Watson told reporters. “It was amazing and very overwhelming.”
Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd joined the teenager’s emotional parents Roger and Julie to welcome her at the Sydney Opera House, where she took her first steps on dry land in almost seven months, to wild cheers and applause.
“You may feel a little wobbly on your feet just now,” Rudd told Watson, who needed help to hobble on unsteady feet up the pink carpet from her boat. “But in the eyes of all Australians, you now stand tall, as our newest Australian hero.”
Watson appeared incredulous at her jubilant reception, broadcast live on commercial television to millions of Australians, and was quick to dismiss the prime minister’s praise.
“I don’t consider myself a hero,” the schoolgirl said. “I’m an ordinary girl who believed in a dream. You don’t have to be someone special or anything special to achieve something amazing, you’ve just got to have a dream, believe in it and work hard.”
“I’d like to think that by sailing solo, non-stop and unassisted around the world, I’ve proved that anything really can be achieved if you set your mind to it. Anything really is possible,” she said.
Although the World Speed Sailing Council will not recognize Watson’s record, as its minimum age is 18, her seven-month voyage makes her the youngest person to achieve a solo, continuous and unaided circumnavigation.
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