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American Morning
At 18, Australian Jesse Martin Became Youngest Person Ever to Circumnavigate Globe Solo
Aired May 22, 2002 - 09:52 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
JACK CAFFERTY, CNN ANCHOR: At the ripe old age of 18, Australian Jesse Martin became the youngest person ever to circumnavigate the globe solo. He began his excellent adventure in December 1998 at the age of 17. After 31,000 miles, 328 days at sea, Jesse sailed into the record books. The message, he says, for other young people, follow your dreams, you want to succeed, you can.
Jesse is here sharing his story. He has a new book called "Lionheart," which coincidentally is the same name of his boat.
Nice to have you with us.
JESSE MARTIN, AUTHOR, "LIONHEART": Thank you.
CAFFERTY: Glad you made it.
MARTIN: Me too.
CAFFERTY: At 17, you set out to do this. Why weren't you, like, in algebra class? I mean, aren't you supposed to be going to school at 17 instead of trying to sail around the world?
MARTIN: Yes, like I took books with me. So I was planning to do school, but I didn't end up doing any. So yes, it's the way it went.
CAFFERTY: Just the way it worked out.
You mom had to mortgage the house to borrow the money get you the money together to get the boat. Tell me a little bit about the boat. Was it a big boat, small boat? What kind of facilities?
MARTIN: Big enough for one person, relatively small. It's a 34- footer. It's a well-known design. They've been around the world before, so.
CAFFERTY: The isolation and the loneliness I would think would be a huge thing to confront and deal with. What did you learn about yourself while you were doing this out there all alone?
MARTIN: I think mainly like I saw the reality of what it was to achieve something big, and how normal it was, and the myth of it was kind of taken out, and that's an exciting thing, because I look into the future and go, well, I really can do anything, so can anybody, and it's just a matter of step by step. So that was the biggest thing that I learned from it.
CAFFERTY: You were also a pretty great cinematographer. You shot all this tape yourself, right. You were on the boat alone, so you had to set up a camera, and then you would run around to the front of it and do whatever it was that you were doing.
Ted, can we play a little bit of this clip that we have of Jessie right after a storm when you were afraid that you were going to lose the mast on the boat. The boat actually went over into the water.
Let's listen to that.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MARTIN: There's a bit of sun showing, but yes, it wasn't fun at all. I'm just glad it died down and I am still afloat. And I was honestly worried about losing the mast.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CAFFERTY: you're really out there at that point. Nobody will save you. If the storm is bad enough, you're dead. How did you handle that? There had to be fear. There had to be a response to the fear. Tell me about that.
MARTIN: Well, I felt it at the time. There were times I was really scared, but I look back, and it was worth the risk. Like, there comes a point, where -- it did for me, you have the choice of a life you don't want to live or the choice of doing something you want to do. It was worth that risk, and I'm glad I took it.
CAFFERTY: At one point, the boat was rammed by something. That had to get your attention.
MARTIN: Oh, yes. It was a whale. I didn't know it was a whale at fist. But...
CAFFERTY: What went through your mind? You're cruising along out there, right, not a care, and all of a sudden whap?
MARTIN: Well, because, I've read books about people that have been sunk by whales. So that, for me, went (ph) into my mind and the adrenaline started pumping. So I grabbed the camera, started filming. I figured if I was going to sink, I might as well film it.
CAFFERTY: Get some pictures, right?
MARTIN: Yes. But thankfully, they let me sail on.
CAFFERTY: You're 18. What do you do for an encore? I mean, how do you top this?
MARTIN: Actually I'm on my way around again. I'm with a crew, a film crew, filming part (UNINTELLIGIBLE) series. Got a Web component. And they're stopping living with the cultures to go around the world. So it's not a nonstop tour. We're actually traveling in land. CAFFERTY: And I assume there will be -- assuming you can get there without any problems, there will be another book about this particular adventure when it's completed as well. When do you plan to finish this one?
MARTIN: This will be about another two years before it's finished.
CAFFERTY: OK, so you are going to take some time going inland and spend a little time getting to know people elsewhere in the world.
MARTIN: Yes, see what it's really like out there.
CAFFERTY: Well, you're a more courageous and adventuresome young fellow than I ever was at that age. I thank you for sharing a few minutes with us on AMERICAN MORNING, and good luck on your latest adventure. We'll be watching your progress.
MARTIN: Great. Thank you.
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