My biggest fear whenever sailing was encountering a wave larger than the yacht itself. I have been lucky to avoid this by sailing on larger yachts in calmer seas. So when I first read Jessica Watson’s (OAM), book True Spirit released in 2011 I was gobsmacked.
How exciting, a Queenslander by birth, Jessica’s story True Spirit has been produced into a movie. I was humbled this week to be invited to Netflix’s and Brisbane International Film Festival’s special screening. The film gave the audience an even deeper sense of Jessica’s adventurous, humble, gutsy character, and a silent determination to go with it.
Credits to Writers Sarah Spillane (and Director) and Cathy Randall as the True Spirit movie is one of encouragement that perfectly captures many of Jessica’s horrendous moments.
We squirmed in our seats as 16-year-old Jessica Watson (played superbly by Teagan Croft) navigated some of the world’s most remote oceans. She sails 22,000 nautical miles around the world nonstop, solo, unassisted and alone for 210 days in a 34-foot boat.
Jessica and her Pink Lady, with true grit courage dealt with looming waves as high as ten storey buildings and survived seven knockdowns across the oceans. True Spirit takes us on Jessica’s journey capturing gale force winds, mountainous waves, hazardous icebergs and extreme loneliness. Jessica also struggled earlier with dyslexia but again worked her colour coding method to deal with the navigational calculations by herself.
Most impressive was the powerful reassuring influence Jessica’s family provided with their values, love and unconditional support. Every family member had a role to play in Jessica’s success physically and emotionally. Needless to say many of us could not hold back the tears. Take your tissues.
Yep, hard to fathom but young Jessica, now 29, admitted she was once afraid of everything achieved her dream after years of preparation.
Young Australian of the Year 2011, a true inspiration for us all. Jessica has since acquired her MBA, author of a second book Indigo Blue and is a corporate speaker and management consultant for Deloitte’s Human Capital consulting team.
The Story
Jessica was around 12 years old when her inspiration began. Her mother Julie Watson would read Jesse Martin’s book Lionheart: A Journey of the Human Spirit, to Jessica and her siblings.
At this stage they had all spent so much time on the water, taking sailing lessons, and living five years on a 16-metre cabin cruiser. To progress further seemed natural for Jessica. She wanted to sail around the world to prove to herself and others a young person realistically was capable of achieving their goal if they set their mind to it.
With understandably some resistance within the family they came to understand that her decision was her own.
Jessica speaks about her boat the Pink Lady as if it was her trusty best mate, and she was. Ella’s Pink Lady, a 10.23 metre (33.6 feet) boat built in 1993, was owned by Australian adventurer Don McIntyre and named after the French skincare brand Ella Bache their sponsor.
It was on loan to Jessica. Refitted with a new galley, reconditioned water, diesel tanks, and an entire reconstruction of the electrical system. By then Jessica had undertaken numerous maritime courses including safety, first-aid, radar, diesel engine, radio operation and a yacht master ocean theory course. Now this was serious stuff. Jessica had accumulated around 6000 ocean and 6000 coastal miles of sailing under her harness.
A month before Jessica left on her voyage she was sailing en route from Brisbane to Sydney and her boat collided with a Chinese bulk carrier. Jessica had taken a five-minute nap and the carrier failed to see her yacht. Nonetheless despite the critics worldwide, and lessons learned, Jessica and her family addressed the damage and set to work on the repairs.
Their 16-year-old Jessica was ready to set sail again, alone in the open ocean. Departing Sydney on 18 October 2009, Jessica defied the odds headed north-east, crossing the equator in the Pacific Ocean before crossing the Atlantic and Indian Oceans.
Little did people realise her determination, passion and eventual dream would be fulfilled. Three days before her 17th birthday Jessica returned to Sydney on 15 May 2010. Though the voyage was ultimately shorter than the required 21,600 nautical miles to be considered a global circumnavigation.
Contradictory to the then Prime Ministers comments Jessica did not consider herself a hero just an ordinary person, who had a dream, worked hard at it and proved that anything really is possible.
The Cast
Director: Sarah Spillane
Writers: Cathy Randall, Sarah Spillane
Producers: Susan Cartsonis, Debra Martin Chase, Andrew Fraser
Director of Photography: Danny Ruhlmann ACS, Editor: Veronika Jenet
Actors: Teagan Croft (Jessica Watson OAM), Cliff Curtis (Bruce Arms renamed Ben Bryant in the movie as Jessica’s mentor/coach), Anna Paquin (Julie Watson Jessica’s mother), Josh Lawson (Roger Watson Jessica’s father), Todd Lasance (Craig Atherton), Alyla Browne (young Jessica), Bridget Webb (Emily Watson Jessica’s older sister), Freya Callaghan (Young Emily Watson), Molly Belle Wright (Young Hannah Watson), Stacy Clausen (Tom Watson), Liam Wallace (Young Tom Watson)
Note: Queensland Maritime Museum has become the home for Ella’s Pink Lady after the Queensland and Commonwealth governments jointly purchased the yacht. Volunteers have built a replica of the cabin of the yacht which visitors may enter to get some feel of what Jessica experienced on her journey.
Jessica’s story in film is set to be released on Netflix on the 3rd of February 2023.
Ruth Greening holds a Bachelor of Arts degree majoring in Psychology & Philosophy. Before retirement, she worked for over 40 years in the corporate world in Melbourne and Brisbane and progressed into senior management positions and project roles for both private industry and government.
In her 70th decade, she continues in casual roles as a freelance writer, model, and actor participating in small movies, TV commercials and User Generated Content.
As a grandmother, she is known as Nanny Babe to her grandchildren and writes from a Baby Boomer perspective on her blog www.nannybabe.com. An avid crafter Ruth actively participates in sewing, crocheting and knitting.
While she continues to pursue her artistic passions, Ruth is dedicated to maintaining her health and fitness as she ages by attending the gym, dancing and walking and thrives on mentoring others.
Connect with Ruth or our moniker Nanny Babe; nannybabegengp.blogspot.com.au/
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