So they did turn in a competent performance, good on them.More than competant. Before the race. Jessica said that while a class win was the aim, she'd be happy to beat her sailing coach, Chris Lewin, who was sailing an identical Sydney 38 and finished 5th in class, just 31 minutes behind her (2d ,3d, 4th, 5th - 31 minutes apart after 4 days hard sailing)
This isn’t that same girl who required a multi-million buck rescue from the Southern Ocean recently?No, that was another girl, who had no business being at sea. I said at the time, that in 5-10 years young Ashley would be a forgotten footnote in sailing history, and Jessica would be a sailing star.
Am I just being too jaded and cynical when my pavlovian, knee-jerk, reflex action is to assume this was done for the publicity, endorsements, book & film deals and modeling contracts?Yes, you are. It's certainly being done for publicity and endorsments, but that's how sailing works. You don't think that that writing on the boat is there for no reason, do you?
But I think she's doing it because that's the job she wants to do in life.