The character arc of Jessica Watson
A life drawn by Character Arc from the public record
Born on 18 May 1993 on the Gold Coast, the second of four children. Between then and now sit five years living aboard a sixteen metre cabin cruiser with distance learning for school, a bedtime story at eleven about a young sailor, an ambition formed at twelve, a first time at the tiller at fourteen, a voyage announced in May 2009, a departure on 18 October 2009, a return to Sydney Harbour on 15 May 2010, a distance criterion missed by nearly two thousand nautical miles, a book that July, Young Australian of the Year in 2011 and a medal in 2012. The line below draws the story so far, in order.
Tap the line to pluck it. Hover or tap any mark for its card. Drawn from the public record of her life; the sources are at the foot of the page.
Who is Jessica Watson?
She circled the planet, and the rules said no.
She was the second of four children of a New Zealand-born couple who had moved to Australia, and all four took sailing lessons young. The family lived aboard a sixteen metre cabin cruiser for five years, with the children home schooled by distance learning, and for a while afterwards on a purpose-built double-decker bus. When she was eleven and they were still on the boat, her mother read the children a book about a young man who had sailed around the world, as a bedtime story. At twelve she decided she was going to do it too. She started sailing at fourteen.
She announced the voyage in May 2009, at sixteen: no port, no mooring alongside anything, nothing handed to her, and radio advice only. She left on 18 October 2009 and came back into Sydney Harbour at ten to two in the afternoon on 15 May 2010, two hundred and ten days later.
And then the awkward part. She had circled the planet, but through a narrow band of latitudes, and the route fell nearly two thousand nautical miles short of the official criterion for a circumnavigation. So the thing she had done for two hundred and ten days alone did not meet the definition. Australia disagreed with the record book: she was named Young Australian of the Year in 2011 and given a medal in 2012 for service to sailing and to youth. She wrote a book about it that July, made a documentary of the voyage, and a feature film about it was released in 2023.
The moments
Jessica Watson's timeline.
The 1990s
Born on the Gold Coast
Everyday. Second of four, in a family that was about to go to sea.
Five years on a boat
Everyday, and it changed her direction. School by post, from a boat.
The 2000s
A bedtime story at eleven
Milestone, and it changed everything. Her mother read them a book, and one of them took it literally.
She starts sailing at fourteen
Milestone, and it changed her direction. Two years after deciding to sail around the world, she learned to sail.
The voyage announced
Milestone, and it changed her direction. Sixteen years old, and the plan was made public before it was done.
Announce it, or drop it
Crossroads, decided.
The paths laid out: go, and say so first, taken, or wait until older. She came back into Sydney Harbour on 15 May 2010 and was named Young Australian of the Year the following year.
She leaves Sydney
Milestone, and it changed everything. Out of the heads, alone, with Cape Horn somewhere ahead.
The 2010s
Back into the harbour
Milestone, and it changed everything. Two hundred and ten days alone, and a harbour full of boats waiting.
It does not count
Setback, and it changed everything. She did it, and the definition said she had not.
True Spirit
Milestone, and it changed her direction. The book was out ten weeks after she got off the boat.
Young Australian of the Year
Milestone, and it changed everything. The record book said no. Her country said something else.
The 2020s
A film of it
Milestone. Thirteen years on, and the story was still worth filming.
Melbourne is home now and the boat is long since sold, and she is asked about those seven months every week of her life. What it has set moving is not in any record book: a very large number of young people who were told what a girl of sixteen could reasonably attempt, and who watched somebody attempt it anyway.
What she wrote
Books by Jessica Watson
- 2010
True Spirit
Her own account of the voyage, out ten weeks after she got off the boat.
Your turn
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Hers did the thing and then had it measured against a rule she had not quite met. Yours is already further along than you think, and drawing it takes about five minutes.
Jessica Watson: frequently asked questions
What people ask about her line.
What is Jessica Watson's character arc?
Did Jessica Watson sail around the world?
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Why did Jessica Watson want to sail around the world?
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Is there a film about Jessica Watson?
Where does this timeline of Jessica Watson's life come from?
More character arcs
Lives that rhyme with her.
Sources
- Jessica Watson, English Wikipedia biography, filed under living people.
- World Sailing Speed Record Council criteria for a circumnavigation.
- Australian of the Year Awards, 2011, and the Medal of the Order of Australia, 2012.