From a Little Pink Boat to Working in the Big Smoke: What Drives Jessica Watson

It’s always nice to hear high achievers admit they’re not good at something, whether or not you believe them. Such is the case when Broadsheet catches up with Jessica Watson, who became a household name in 2010 – and was labelled an “Australian hero” by then prime minister Kevin Rudd – after completing a 210-day sailing voyage around the world at the same age most Australian teenagers go for their learner permit.

“There’s plenty I’m bad at,” Watson says. “Cooking is not really my forte, and I wouldn’t claim to be a great driver. The extent of my driving is very much to the yacht club and back.”

Watson may not have done much to improve her kitchen or driving skills in the years since covering those 23,000 nautical miles, but she’s kicked countless other goals. Watson was awarded the Order of Australia Medal in 2012, has written two bestselling books, was the star of Netflix biopic True Spirit and, of course, she’s continued to sail. She also loves her career, an office job in Melbourne that’s “a world apart” from the oceans she navigated as a teenager. “Variety is a wonderful thing; it makes you appreciate all worlds,” she says. “People think, ‘What is that girl from the pink boat doing in this office?’, but I made a really purposeful decision to do something quite different. I’m really throwing myself into it.”

It was this same drive that led her to set out on that famous voyage in 2009. “I had an absolute desire to prove to the world what young people could do,” she says. “I imagined being alone, surrounded by empty horizons, and was absolutely fascinated by what that would be like and how I would react.” Watson admits to having been scared at times – “There would be a few screws loose if you weren’t” – but loneliness isn’t a word that comes to mind for her. “It was always a ‘we’ effort,” she says. “Me and the boat, me and the team around me.” Plus her popular blog, which connected her to tens of thousands of followers.

While the journey changed her life “incredibly”, it’s nice to have a more regular day-to-day routine, she says. And for sailing to be something that complements her life, rather than consumes it. “When I got her [Watson’s boat, Credence ] there was a rumour going around that I was going to do something big again, but she’s basically a floating cheese board these days,” Watson says. “Twilight sailing, racing with friends on weekends in Port Phillip Bay; I’m really enjoying life the way it is.”

Watson is never one to shy away from discomfort completely (“Getting out on the water with the cold winter breeze on your face... it’s all part of it”), but she’s equally happy to crawl into her warm, dry bed afterwards. Or a car with heating for the drive home.

For the record-breaking sailor, boats come first – particularly her beloved pink Credence – but Watson appreciates cars with commonalities. “It’s nice to have performance features, but with creature comforts too,” she says. Brands that “are keen to do things differently” are Watson’s pick – much like CUPRA, which is proving that performance and sustainability can coexist without compromise through its new Terramar SUV.

Watson recently appeared on Channel Nine’s Drive TV in the Terramar, and featured as a keynote speaker at the car’s launch event in Melbourne. Her involvement felt like a natural fit — the name “Terramar” itself meaning “land and sea”, a theme that resonates with her story.

That link between water and road is one she’s enjoyed exploring. “I was lucky enough to be at the America’s Cup in Barcelona, which CUPRA supported,” Watson says. “There’s this shared idea of pushing boundaries and making bold moves — it’s nice to find common ground there.”

For Watson, her beloved yacht Credence will always come first, but she sees a parallel in the way she chooses her cars: “You want something with character, that feels like part of your story. That’s what makes it more than just a vehicle."

Credence is an S&S 34 yacht – the same type of boat Watson sailed in her headline-making feat. It’s the boat featured in True Spirit as Pink; Watson recently acquired and renamed it. “That story and identity is so special,” she says. “When you’re looking for a car, it’s the same. You want it to have personality, to tell stories and be associated with memories.” And perhaps achievements that go down in history.

This article is produced by Broadsheet in partnership with CUPRA.