Dutch Teenage Sailor Laura Dekker 'Missing'

[clausont]

We all likely remember the Dutch teenage sailor that was prevented from leaving to try to make another record for the youngest round the world sailor.
This came up in the news a bit ago:

BBC News - Dutch teenage sailor Laura Dekker 'missing'

But maybe this is old news anyway.

[David M]

That's very unfortunate. After calling the police, the second thing I would do is chain the boat to the dock.

[Ram]

Originally Posted by David M

That's very unfortunate. After calling the police, the second thing I would do is chain the boat to the dock.

thats not going to stop anyone, better to have the boat out of the water

[David M]

I was just thinking it would be more than obvious a petite 14 year old girl dragging a large pair of bolt cutters down the dock.

[Canibul]

why not just chop her arms and legs off? And burn her boat. Correction, their boat.

[Ocean Girl]

Originally Posted by Canibul

why not just chop her arms and legs off? And burn her boat. Correction, their boat.

Great idea but a little overkill, her hands and feet would work just as well. Of course, the simple answer of daddy going sailing with her (instead of solo) would be even better.
This disappearance may not be about sailing. It could be a fit of teenager, they do that ya know. I ran away from home at 14...wait, actually I ran away and stole my dads boat at fourteen.... Hmm maybe they better lock that boat up after all.
I hope she is safe, a lot of crazys out there.
Erika

[Robin Lidstone]

Hey Nutcases all ! The boat - a very nice Hurley - is still there but $3000 from her bank account is not.Has she gone back to NZ and a more favourable climate ? Robin

[Canibul]

I might be a nutcase.. In fact, I probably am. A retrogrouch who resents it when I see someone being told that while what they want to do is not illegal, they can't do it "because.....uh....because we said so."

didn't work on me forty years ago. Doesn't work any better now. From my perspective, the Dutch put her under house arrest for daring to have more cojones than they do.

[Ocean Girl]

It is very sane to resent the interference of our lives by the big G. Where that line is drawn is whats up for debate, but this is all thread drift!
Have we heard from the girl?
Erika

[SabreKai]

Ok she turned up in St Maarten, Dutch Antilles. So she's safe at least. But now the question comes: The Dutch government, who was legally her guardian let her go missing. She's not competent to sail around the world on her own but Big Brother isn't anymore competent to keep track of her. Seems to me they pooched their responsibilitys totally. If I was her press agent and father I'd be screaming blue murder about government interferance and incompetance.


Sabre

[Canibul]

Since she is in danger when she is not in their custody ( their definition) and they have let her out of their custody....they have put her in danger through their negligence.

Lawyer, anyone?

[MacG]

Originally Posted by SabreKai

Ok she turned up in St Maarten, Dutch Antilles. So she's safe at least. But now the question comes: The Dutch government, who was legally her guardian let her go missing. She's not competent to sail around the world on her own but Big Brother isn't anymore competent to keep track of her. Seems to me they pooched their responsibilitys totally. If I was her press agent and father I'd be screaming blue murder about government interferance and incompetance.


Sabre

How do you know she is in St Maarten? That was not in the news. She went missing only last Friday when the holidays started. She ran away with approx 3500 Euro, which is not the world.

Contrary what people believe I think she is quite capable. I guess this will not be the end of story.

[svHyLyte]

Speaking as the parent, I find the idea of sending a 14 year old off on her or his own aboard a yacht astonishingly irresponsible. So much so that if I were judge’n jury, I would disallow the “parents” to resume custody of the child. In my opinion the “parents” have clearly demonstrated their inability to fulfill the responsibilities of that office and should be denied further opportunity.

When our own daughter was 15, we shipped her off to join a group of 9 other teens that navigated a 53 foot yacht from St. Marten to Trinidad. While they did all of the work—planed the courses, handled the yacht, handled provisioning, prepared and served the meals, etc.—they had two knowledgeable adults aboard to ensure the safety of the yacht and the kids, if necessary, although, according to the kids, the adults only interjected themselves in the process when a little seasoned judgment was imperative. Our daughter now handles our boat with aplomb—more so than her mother who is herself an excellent sailor. At 14 years of age, however, even though she had sailed aboard our yacht since she was only 10 days old (prenatal sailing time not considered) she was clearly not sufficiently experienced nor had she developed sufficient skill or judgment to handle the yacht alone, nor would she have wanted to do so.

FWIW,,,

[MacG]

I would agree with you in 99% of all cases. Maybe your daughter could be - if challenged - an equal good sailor as Laura. 55 ft is a bit big for a small girl to handle solo, but I would trust her with a 28 ' Hurley.
Laura is extremely independent and self supporting, although I do not understand why she fled to St Maarten. Unless she has a very good reason.
Secondly, she is no criminal. She has her fortnight holiday and the court has no valid reason to force her back home, only after her holiday she is obliged to return to school.
Normally the government doesn't care for a bit if children go to school or not; there are plenty of immigrant children that forsake school at all times and you won't hear the government neither their sub-organizations in such cases.
I am curious what she is looking for at St Maarten .......

[SabreKai]

I clicked on the BBC link in the first post. it had been updated since it was posted.

Sabre