JesseMartin.Net
21st September 1999
I AM IN an area renowned for strong winds - 70-90 degrees east in the Indian Ocean. Apparently most of the Clipper and Whitbread racing yachts hold their speed record attempts in this area because of the tendency for fronts to develop small lows on them.
And it's lived up to its reputation.
It has been up to 40 knots and rarely below 25 for the past week with a similar situation predicted in the outlook.
It has also been very cold but I can't tell exactly because my temperature gauge has been out of order since the Cape of Good Hope.
I also have an annoying leak somewhere above my bunk which means an ice-cold drip landing smack bang in my ear. This is quite a shocking experience, especially when one is snuggled into a sleeping bag, half asleep and dreaming up the ingredients to put in the ultimate hamburger.
My sail configuration recently has mainly consisted of just using a headsail. To keep the boat moving at four to five knots doesn't take very much sail area and it's easier on the boat, not to mention my nerves.
To keep the boat on a steady six knots, nearly double the sail area is needed, causing double the amount of strain on equipment. I would rather get home a few days later than risk equipment failure.
It has been months since I took any multi-vitamins and I've been feeling normal with no obvious effects - until this week.
I noticed my gums turning a whitish color and vaguely remembered learning in school about the diseases sailors of old used to contract.
Words like rickets, gangrene and scurvy entered my head and even though I forgot which one was which, I thought I'd better start taking the pills again.
I got an e-mail from Jack Fletcher at Brighton Secondary who asked how my fresh water was going.
Well, I'm glad I collected about 50 litres when I passed through the Doldrums. I sponged up the rain water collected along the toe-rail and squeezed it into a bucket. I now have about five litres of my original stores left and the extra that I collected should see me through until I get home.
A few people have told me they envy my position and hope to do a trip like mine one day.
Go for it because I know it can be done and that it doesn't take a genius to do it (I'm proof of that).
I have a theory and it goes like this; Brian Caldwell Jnr, Robin Lee Graham and Tania Aebi, all from the United States, and David Dicks from Western Australia were young people who attempted to sail solo round the world and all were successful.
The odds are heavily leaning one way - those who give it a go have succeeded.
What we need to do is not limit other people's abilities by our own. We need to encourage and help in every way possible, particularly our youth, and then we will start to see great things happen.
You could look at it like this - I was just a normal kid with a dream who was serious about what I wanted to do but without the support of my family, would never have made it and would have eventually lost enthusiasm with age and become like the rest - unsatisfied grown-ups who don't believe in themselves.
There are many people out there dreaming of great things and it's a good chance that your son or daughter is one of them. Don't let them lose one of humanity's most prized assets - the vision.