**An Australian teenager attempting to become the youngest person to sail non-stop and solo around the world has been told she has not travelled far enough.**Jessica Watson, 16, is due to end her voyage in Sydney later this month after sailing some 26,000 nautical miles.
But the influential Sail-World website said she had not gone far enough north of the equator to claim the record.
Jessica’s team, however, said there was no official body to record feats by under 18s, therefore no rules to break.
They said she would have “every right to celebrate” when she sailed into Sydney harbour on 15 or 16 May, just before her 17th birthday.
By that point, Jessica will have sailed her bright pink 33ft (10m) yacht unaided and non-stop for more than 200 days, covering some 23,000 miles (38,000km).
Sail-World said there was no doubt that Jessica had sailed around the world, but that her voyage did not count as a “true circumnavigation”, according to the rules laid down by the World Speed Sailing Record Council (WSSRC).
The website said the whole sailing world would celebrate when Jessica finished her journey, but that she would be 2,000 nautical miles short of the accepted distance.
“According to the WSSRC rules she has simply not gone far enough north of the equator,” said the website, meaning she could not claim to have beaten the current youngest holder of the title, Briton Jesse Martin.
"It has been a great adventure, a rare adventure, and she is certainly a strong role model for young Australians.
“However, given that fact that the WSSRC is the the official record-keeping body, Jesse Martin will remain the youngest sailor to have completed a Round the World circumnavigation, non-stop and unassisted.”
‘Technicality’
But Jessica’s management team said she had complied with the key requirements of a circumnavigation.
“To sail around the world, a vessel must start from and return to the same point, must cross all meridians of longitude and must cross the Equator,” they said, quoting the WSSRC rules.
“Jessica has ticked all of these boxes,” they said.
Her manager, Andrew Fraser, said the WSSRC did not recognise sailing achievements by under-18s so Jessica could never have claimed the record anyway.
“If people want to get caught up with the technical component of a body that doesn’t recognise the record, that’s fine. We can accept that,” he told ABC News.
Her team said Jessica would have “every right to enjoy the impending accolades and celebrate being the youngest person to sail solo around the world, non-stop and unassisted, when she sails back into Sydney Harbour on the weekend of 15-16 May”.This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.
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