Family revels to support teen sailor

An "equator party" held by her Central Otago family yesterday sent pink-tinged support to teenage adventurer Jessica Watson, who has completed the first month of her solo round-the-world sailing trip.

The pink theme for the get-together at Ripponvale, near Cromwell, reflected the colour of the Queenslander's yacht and marked, a little early, her imminent arrival at the equator on her 38,000km solo voyage.

The 16-year-old's Lowburn grandparents, Gordon and Margaret Chisholm; her Ripponvale aunt and uncle, Wendy and Steve Taylor; her Tarras aunt and uncle, Neville and Jenny Chisholm; five cousins and assorted family friends were all present..

Jessica plans to be the youngest person to sail around the world nonstop, solo and unassisted.

Her aunt, Wendy Taylor, said Jessica had expected to reach the equator yesterday, so the party was arranged as a show of support by her family in New Zealand.

But a lack of wind had slowed her down, though she was still likely to cross the equator today.

"Although we're celebrating a day early, she will be crossing the dateline, so maybe we can blame it on that," Mrs Taylor said.

"It's still a major milestone and we wanted to show our support and let her know we're thinking about her. Quite a few of our friends have been asking about her progress, so we've invited them along too."

Jessica began her voyage on October 18 from Sydney and has about another seven months of sailing to complete her task.

"She's having a ball. This is her dream come true," Mrs Taylor said.

Although the hardest part of the trip was still ahead of her, the family was proud of what she had achieved so far.

Jessica had fielded a lot of criticism before her trip and when her yacht collided with a cargo vessel as she was sailing from the Gold Coast to Sydney to begin the journey, she faced calls to abandon her trip.

"I know there's still a few people who knock her, but she's got even more supporters out there, especially people involved in sailing, " Mrs Taylor said.

"She's a very determined person but realistic about the task ahead as well."

Jessica's yacht is named Ella's Pink Lady and, on her web log, she wrote about being excited to get closer to the equator.

"One down, seven more months to go," she wrote.

lynda.van.kempen@odt.co.nz