Book Review: True Spirit The True Story of a 16-Year-Old Australian Who Sailed Solo, Nonstop, and Unassisted Around the World by Jessica Watson

Title:True Spirit: The True Story of a 16-Year-Old Australian Who Sailed Solo, Nonstop, and Unassisted Around the World
Author: Jessica Watson
Publisher: Atria Books
Publication Date: September 7, 2010

After 210 days at sea, Australian teen Jessica Watson sailed into Sydney Harbor on May 15 2010 completing a trip that circumnavigated the globe. Jessica sailed a 33 foot boat nonstop through some sever weather conditions unassisted to complete her dream of becoming the youngest person to sail around the world. At an age where most teenage girls are thinking of boys and school and clothes, Jessica took a dream that many adults would not get a chance to fill and with the help of a very supportive family and a team of experts on sailing, weather, and mechanical parts made that dream a reality.

I thought that this was an interesting book.

Since I first stumbled on a copy of Dove back in high school, I have loved travelogues that involve sailing. I've done a little sailing on Lake Michigan, nothing larger than a 19 foot boat (with no motor just sails only). It was something that I have enjoyed doing a lot, and now that I don't I enjoy reading about other people's sailing adventures.

I thought it interesting that Jessica took her blog entries made during her sailing and expanded them for the book. It showed her immediate reactions to situations, as well as what she remembered afterwards. It's a shame her trip is not recognized by certain sailing organizations as circumnavigating the globe (and that there is not a youngest sailor record anymore). However, you get the idea that while it might have been nice to have her name put to a sailing world record, Jessica is more thrilled with the fact that she dreamed making this trip and actually getting a chance to fulfill it. It was refreshing to witness this journey through Jessica's own words without the passage of time between the events that happened, and the writing of the book.

I was a little annoyed by the vast use of QC codes throughout the book linking to her video blogs. As someone who lacks a smartphone I thought this a tad annoying to include as not everyone has the technology to use the codes.