Education
Wesley College.
Wesley College.
Martin"s journey in the 34-foot (10 m) South&South 34 sloop Lionheart-Mistral took approximately 11 months. He chronicled his adventures in the book Lionheart: A Journey of the Human Spirit, and his story was made into a documentary, Lionheart: The Jesse Martin Story. At 17, Martin departed Melbourne for a world voyage on his yacht, Lionheart.
He arrived back in Melbourne on 31 October 1999 and sailed into the record books at age 18.
The entire journey covered 328 days and 27,000 nautical miles (50,000 km) in all. Since Martin"s voyage, the World Sailing Speed Record Council (WSSRC) have discontinued the "youngest" category and no longer recognise "human condition" records.
Martin remains the youngest solo non-stop unassisted sailor to cross opposite points of the globe in a single round the world voyage. His voyage inspired other young sailors, including Jessica Watson, to attempt similar circumnavigations.
Mistral was the major sponsor, donating over A$300,000 on the conditions that the name was placed on the sail, prominently and repeatedly on the boat, on the bottom of Martin"s weekly newspaper column, and on Martin"s clothing.
Martin lives in Melbourne, Australia and has started a media production company, as well as a Papua New Guinea sailing adventure charter business. In 2005, he released a follow-up book entitled Kijana: The Real Story. In January 2009 Martin crashed his car into a train at railway level crossing at McKinnon railway station in Melbourne.
Martin walked away uninjured.
In 2010 Martin shared producing and directing credits for 5 Lost at Sea, a film documenting his attempted inspirational voyage with several friends.