Jessica Watson and Dilip Donde both safely around The Horn!

Yesterday Jessica Watson rounded Cape horn earlier this week on her quest to be the youngest unassisted circumnavigator.   Actually, in the last week, two sailors have made the rounding including Dilip Donde with the Indian Navy.  Dilip beat Jessica by a few days, coming up from behind in a larger and faster boat.  Also, Jessica was trying to make her rounding in daylight in order to allow for a flyover by her parents in a small plane.   They had flown out from their home in Australia in time to fly over Jessica and speak to her over a VHF radio.  I recommend that you read her post on this event as it is quite touching.  Imagine that she has been alone at sea and passing The Horn was her first land sight in months.  She left home aboard Ella's Pink Lady in mid October.  Combine that with being in the "vicinity" of her parents who circled overhead for 45 minutes before heading back to land and you can certainly imagine how emotional it was for everyone involved.   There was a video from her parents on her site earlier today but it seems that they have pulled it down, perhaps to do more editing.  Who knows. 

Here's a video Jessica posted as she rounded the fabled rocky point at the very most southern tip of South America.   It's obvious that she was very excited when she made this video.   Still a long way to go but passing The Horn is such a major milestone.




This video shot by Jessica's parents while they circled overhead is very touching. Imagine how they felt being so close and yet not able to actually be together.  The dialogue between Jessica and her mother is quite touching.   The boat looks so small on the big, bad southern ocean.



Dilip is now in the Falklands, a stop over for so many ships over the years that had sustained damage in the Southern Ocean.  Dilip had planned to make 4 stops on his way around and this port was on his list.  Good thing as he had a number of gear problems including a broken electronic autopilot.  Fortunately, he also has a vane steering unit so he was still able to manage fine.  Oddly, he hasn't posted since earlier in the week.  However, I did find this article about his arrival in
Stanley, Falkland Islands.  It's short but worth a look.   It seems he will be there for a while and will then head out to continue on his journey.  What a great trip.