When Jessica Watson was asked to describe her bright pink 33ft yacht today, she referred to Ella’s Pink Lady as “really cute ... but really tough as well. She’s ready to take on the world".

The same could be said about Jessica, a petite 16-year-old from Australia’s northeastern Sunshine Coast, who this weekend will embark on her dream: to become the youngest person to sail solo and unassisted around the world.

Jessica’s voyage has been dubbed both brave and foolish after her first sea trial began with a bumpy start when Ella’s Pink Lady collided with a 63,000-tonne Chinese bulk carrier in a busy shipping lane off Australia last month.

With her yacht fully repaired, the teenager – sporting bruised sea legs – made it to Sydney at the second attempt on Monday and declared today that she is ready to begin her eight-month, non-stop circumnavigation of the world.

It was a book by Jesse Martin, another Australian, about his record-breaking solo round-the-world trip as a teeenager in 1999 that inspired Jessica. Mr Martin has been offering advice to Jessica, who has also received words of encouragement from Mike Perham, the British schoolboy who in August became the youngest person to sail around the world with assistance.

"It’s been a dream since I was 11 when Mum first read me Jesse Martin’s book, and it just built up,” Jessica said in Sydney today.

“I kept putting myself in that position, asking myself what would you be like in that situation? And I wanted to give it a go.”

Jessica, who legally could not hold a skipper’s license until she turned 16 earlier this year, is the third teenager to attempt to tackle the world’s oceans in the past 12 months. Mike Perham arrived safely home to Portsmouth in the UK in August, but the Dutch teenager Laura Dekker was prevented from her sailing attempt by the courts in the Netherlands, which deemed her too young.

Jessica acknowledged the scepticism surrounding her youth and experience, and that she had polarised public and professional opinion since crashing her sloop so soon during her trial run, but said she had no doubts about her ability.

“There are people out there who have their doubts … it’s a bit scary and possibly a dangerous thing,” she said. “But I’m not here without confidence and I suppose the experience and the right attitude. I have no doubts. I’ve got a long way to go yet, but I’m pretty confident.”

Jessica has spent the past three years preparing for the 23,000 nautical mile voyage and the past week testing Ella’s Pink Lady – which is fitted with the latest communication satellites and navigation equipment – off the east coast of Australia.

“We’ve been over all the systems. One thing is we’ve got a really big alarm now, so there’s absolutely no chance of me missing a warning if a big ship is approaching,” she said.

She said she would sleep in 20-minute “catnaps” and feast on lamb chops and the Australian chocolate biscuits Tim Tams.

Jessica will relieve her boredom indulging in her love of trashy novels, and if things get really dire, the teenager, who will have to complete her Year 11 exams by correspondence, said: “I‘ve got my school work.”

Her mother Julie said that Jessica had promised to contact the family at lease twice a day via e-mail.

Despite worrying about the storms her daughter will face at sea, Mrs Watson said that she was extremely proud and had complete faith in Jessica.

“I know how people are feeling … it doesn’t sound normal, most 16-year-olds – I wouldn’t like them to go out at sea at all,” Mrs Watson said.

“[But] She’s done all the preparation… [so] who says she hasn’t got a really good chance of doing it?”