The brave young sailor talks to Jonica Bray exclusively about her relationship with the boy who kept up her spirits during her lonely time at sea.
It was a first date like any other teenage couple’s – a trip to the mall, burgers and chips for lunch, and more than a few awkward laughs. But as these teens strolled around Sydney last week, browsing in surf shops and mobile phone stores, there was something very grown up behind the innocent smiles and first-date nerves.
As the two youngest people to have sailed solo around the world, Jessica Watson, 17, and Mike Perham, 18, share a connection few could comprehend. Through her toughest times at sea, when Jess’s spirits were low, it was London-based Mike who brought her back up again, talking and joking with her via satellite phone throughout Jess’s epic seven-month journey.
But it was only last week they were able to finally be together.
Staying in the same apartment block as Jess, on the waterfront in Manly, Mike has taken time out from his life in England and has promised to stay as long as he can.
Clearly enjoying each other’s company, the two often left Jess’s family behind to sneak off for some alone time, walking the headland along Sydney’s Northern Beaches and grabbing lunch in cafes.
But with Mike planning to travel back home in the coming weeks, Jess’s toughest challenge may still be ahead.
While they shared many intimate moments during Jess’s lonely nights at sea, their meeting in Sydney last weekend, at Jess’s homecoming, was only the second time they had met in person.
Asked if she will miss her new love, Jess is coy. “I suppose so,” she giggles, but the smile the couple exchange speaks a thousand words.
“We are having fun together,” she adds in an exclusive interview with Woman’s Day. “We are just not soppy, that’s not us.”
To read the full interview with Jessica Watson see this week’s Woman’s Day, on sale May 24, 2010.
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