Laura Dekker's Circumnavigation

[MacG]

It is funny that these so called "officials" - just capable of driving a car down the road - judge Laura' s capacities as a sailor. The world turned topsy turvy. And I do not think they will ever apologise, actually nobody can understand what this organisation is doing, neither do they know themselves as it is a remnant from the "Regententijd". There are on an annual basis hundreds of courtcases against this organisation called Youth Care as far as misuse of children and pedophilia.

What I discovered in Laura is the urge for freedom and more and more she becomes the kind of a Moitessier, a Brel, a Slocum to me, although there are certainly more like her who are trying to shake off the plagues of a condensed society with it's false pretenses.
Laura is vulnerable because she is still a minor. Not in the eyes of the real sea-people, no, they understand quite well the drives of the kinds of Laura.

She better stays away from Holland because the mob is still after her.

[salticrak]

Wat 'n wonderlike ding om te doen,sy is een meisie met a hart en wil van iemand dubbel haar ouderdom.Goedgedaan.

[MacG]

Originally Posted by salticrak

Wat 'n wonderlike ding om te doen,sy is een meisie met a hart en wil van iemand dubbel haar ouderdom.Goedgedaan.

Aha, een echte Afrikaander! Leuk om te horen man! Ken jij Wijnand Nortje?

[deckofficer]

Originally Posted by salticrak

Wat 'n wonderlike ding om te doen,sy is een meisie met a hart en wil van iemand dubbel haar ouderdom.Goedgedaan.

I don't know much Afrikaans, what does ouderdom and Goedgedaan mean?

This is what I got, "What a wonderful thing to do, she is a girl with a heart and will of someone twice her" ..... then the above two words? Maybe "age" and "experience"?

[red_sky]

The government, any government, is first and always about itself. Hard lesson. Congratulations Laura!

[salticrak]

MacG i am afraid i do not know the bloke.

[MacG]

Ouderdom means: age
Goedgedaan: Well done!

Afrikaans is Dutch from the 16th, 17th and 18th century. After that the language started to become a separate language with still the same idiom as the Dutch.
When the Dutch lost their seapower (see discussions of JEDI) the English wrangled the Kaap-provincies away from the Boers/Dutch, the Afrikaanders.
That resulted in the Boer-War after they took Oranje-vrijstaat.
England had a surplus of men and there were only a few thousand Boers.
Any Afrikaander can read and understand Dutch and vice versa.

[salticrak]

Well put mate,the wonder of the Afrikaans language for me is the way one can express oneself so well without having to stretch the grey matter too much.The Cape province is the home to people of mixed race who can express their pleasure and disgust with you so eloquently that will leave you in no doubt about your station in life.

[deckofficer]

Originally Posted by MacG

Ouderdom means: age
Goedgedaan: Well done!

Afrikaans is Dutch from the 16th, 17th and 18th century. After that the language started to become a separate language with still the same idiom as the Dutch.
When the Dutch lost their seapower (see discussions of JEDI) the English wrangled the Kaap-provincies away from the Boers/Dutch, the Afrikaanders.
That resulted in the Boer-War after they took Oranje-vrijstaat.
England had a surplus of men and there were only a few thousand Boers.
Any Afrikaander can read and understand Dutch and vice versa.

If Laura would read this, she could check off at least one history lesson she blew off during her voyage.

[avb3]

Originally Posted by MacG

Ouderdom means: age
Goedgedaan: Well done!

Afrikaans is Dutch from the 16th, 17th and 18th century. After that the language started to become a separate language with still the same idiom as the Dutch.
When the Dutch lost their seapower (see discussions of JEDI) the English wrangled the Kaap-provincies away from the Boers/Dutch, the Afrikaanders.
That resulted in the Boer-War after they took Oranje-vrijstaat.
England had a surplus of men and there were only a few thousand Boers.
Any Afrikaander can read and understand Dutch and vice versa.

I used to go out with a girl who emigrated to Canada from SA; as most kids in school, she had to learn both English and Afrikaans.

Interesting thing is that if she spoke slowly, I understood most of what she had to say (I was born in Germany). On the other hand I don't understand Dutch, even spoken slowly.

And yes, she could understand Dutch, and most of my German.

[MacG]

Fantastic comment, Salticrack!

[MacG]

The proper history of South Africa is a political hotspot. The "Suid-Afrikaanders" know it by heart, but overseas it falls in the socialist political agenda.
It is therefore quite difficult to satisfy the leftish teachers with a true picture of what had happened in the turmoil years of the turn of the century. It was however the gold and the diamonds (Cecil Rhodes) the British were after. As well as some strategic reasons played a role too.

[GordMay]

Laura’s arrival video ➥ BBC News - Teenager Laura Dekker circumnavigates the globe

More ➥ BBC News - Schoolgirl sailor triumphs after battle with authorities

[JimmyP]

Way Cool and congrats to Laura Dekker and her support team.
The world needs more people of her caliber.
Sailing succeeds and grows because of sailors like her!

Thank you Laura for being a role-modle for young and old, male and female, sailor and landlubber...

[MacG]

She better stays away till her 18th from the Dutch territories as the risk is quite real that she will be forced to go to school again till she is 18.
So, the journals were not so joking after all.

On the other hand she made a deal. She better moves out Holland officially and take up another (formal) address and that will take her out of the jurisdiction of the Dutch. With her present record should that not be so difficult.

There are many homeless children on the streets in Holland, but they are no target of interest for Youth Care. Youth Care goes for the easy pickings in order to proof their value with a minimum of effort.