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Sailor Jessica Watson's epic voyage

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Sailor Jessica Watson's epic voyage

The Australians are a special race; single-minded resilient people willing to fight till the very last and defying human limits of endurance and determination. This weekend brings double joy for them, as after a history defying chase against Pakistan in the semi-final of the T-20 World championship another Australian sport star shocks the world.

This time it is a woman, who perhaps has even outdone Mr. Cricket Mike Hussey’s remarkable batting at St.Lucia last night, by becoming the youngest person to sail around the globe unassisted. The remarkable woman set sail from Sydney on October 18, 2009 and spent seven months alone at sea. Jessica’s homecoming was delayed as thousands waited on the foreshore of Sydney and on boats on the harbour to welcome her home with banners, celebrations and flowing champagne.

Boats and media met Jessica well before the heads of Sydney Harbour and escorted her in and despite being held up; Jessica was already getting excited well before her arrival.

"It is, its all building up you know, plenty of boats around me and more and more boats joining us so definitely getting exciting," Jessica told reporters by radio. Spectators began arriving in the early hours of Saturday morning to get a good vantage point, and catch a glimpse of the nation’s newest heroine.

The people of the city took banners, held parties and dressed in pink; the colour of Jessica's boat, to make sure her homecoming was as spectacular as possible.

The previous record holder of being the youngest sailor to circumnavigate the globe, Jessie Martin, joined Jessica onboard "Ella's Pink Lady" while she travelled her final leg to the Sydney Opera House.

"I'm completely overwhelmed, I just don't know what to think and what to say at the moment so its all a bit much, but absolutely amazing," she told a reporter while onboard her boat.

When Jessica eventually got on land after an extremely tiring and emotionally sapping journey, she hugged her mother and father. There were tears of elation and cheers from the crowd as she walked down the pink carpet to be greeted by the Australian Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd and the New South Wales Premier, Kristina Keneally. Rudd and Keneally gave Jessica an official welcome home on stage at the Sydney Opera House where Rudd hailed her as Australia's newest hero.

"And most importantly Australia's newest hero, Jessica Watson," said Rudd welcoming her.

When asked what she thought of her welcome after being at sea for 210 days, Jessica was overwhelmed with the sheer number of people welcoming her back.

"It's just completely overwhelming right now, its just so much, you know I have been at sea for so long, there's just nothing out there and to come back today and there is just absolutely everything, family, friends, everyone so its very overwhelming but I think its slowly sinking in," she told the crowd.

Jessica also felt privileged to share the journey with so many people and hoped to inspire others to overcome challenges.

"It's amazing to be able to share the trip with someone, you know it started out as something of a personal challenge and it’s become so much more and its amazing to be able to share it and inspire other people," Watson said.

When asked how she began sailing and if she afraid, she admitted she was scared when she first began.

"To be honest when I first started sailing I was terrified, I wasn't thrilled by the whole idea, it was really quite scary and it’s amazing I stuck to it and now I love it," she said.

Jessica was very much in the wars during her voyage surviving many storms on the way including a 12-hour one, where she witnessed 12 metre waves and many knockdowns.
However she revealed that she had total confidence in her vessel, the 10 meters (34 foot) "Ella's Pink Lady".

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