Farewell NZ, I'm heading to Fiji

After a slow start in her bid to become the youngest person to sail solo around the world, Australian Jessica Watson is finally making her way past New Zealand.

The "determined" 16-year-old has had little more than a gentle breeze since leaving Sydney on the 10.3m Ella's Pink Ladybut, according to her blog, finally passed the 500 nautical mile (926km) mark on Friday.

Jessica set sail on Monday to begin a 38,000km journey that will see her sail past points in the Pacific, South America, Africa and through the vastness of the Southern Ocean on her way back to Sydney.

Her Kiwi grandfather Gordon Chisholm, of Cromwell, Central Otago, said by now she would be sailing past northern New Zealand towards Fiji and Samoa.

He said yesterday he had been tracking her progress via her blog and fobbed off critics who said she was too young for the journey.

"She's mature and has always been a good decision maker," he said. "She's a little bit different but this is part of Jessica - she's a determined girl and has been for a long time. I've never seen her flustered."

To qualify for around-the-world status, Jessica must leave and arrive from the same port, cross all lines of longitude and cross the equator at least once without coming into contact with any land.

Her daily blog tells of a "quiet" first few days, pottering around cleaning her cabin, praying for more wind and dodging ships.

Her longest run was on Wednesday, when she sailed 155nm (287km) before the wind dropped.

By Thursday, she had reached Lord Howe Island in the Tasman, more than 700km from Sydney, bouncing along at a steady 3 knots in the company of dolphins and birds.

"If time keeps flying at this rate I'll have to seriously consider another lap," she joked. "Or maybe it's a little early to be thinking about that?"