Sixteen-year-old Jessica Watson is reportedly ‘chewing up’ the miles north-east towards the equator as passes the three week mark  on her attempt to become the youngest person to sail solo around the planet.

And with between 200 and 300 comments posted by readers on each of her daily web log entries, there’s no shortage of interest in her trip.

Photo: Jessica Watson posted Friday 6 November just crossing the Tongan Trench south of Samoa

Saturday’s blog entry included a lament to her poor fishing skills: With a bit of a headache, plenty of sea room and Ella’s Pink Lady not needing much attention from me today, I pretty much just spent the day wedged into a comfy position working away at a book and staying dry. Apart from the odd flying fish and bird there’s not really been a lot of wild life around lately and still no luck catching any fish.’

She’s also been doing a bit of maintenance below decks trying to deal with a few minor leaks: ‘despite all the effort we put into tracking them down before leaving, a few small leaks have made themselves known. The leaks aren’t at all dangerous, just aren’t much of a help in the war against salt and damp. So I’ve been playing around with a tube of sealer and (fingers crossed), looks like I might have put a stop to some of them!’

Jessica hit the headlines in September when her shake-down cruise down the coast to Sydney, from where she started her circumnavigation attempt, was cut short after a collision with a tanker. The full Australian Transportation Board report into the collision is expected soon