Laura Dekker's Circumnavigation

[deckofficer]

I think the Kiwi race team "Camper" has adopted her.





Even though the Dutch Press has been a bit hard on her for the battle she waged with the Dutch government for over a year, the Dutch Sailing magazine holds her in better esteem. Correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't she cross the North Sea on her own at age 12 and her boat was a Hurly 800, not 700? Magazine said 13 and 700???

[MacG]

13 (very close to 14) and a Hurley 700. Later on she got herself a H 800 for her worldtour but someone gave her the cash to buy the Gin Fizz - much more appropriate a yacht.

[deckofficer]

Thank you very much MacG, I've been incorrectly touting Ms. Dekker's bio on my forum. This is a truly odd ball forum covering 3 main topics, hot rods, caregiving to family members, and of course a cruising/sailing topic.

Russian Navy a bit harsh on Somali pirates

Laura from the start, ages 12 to 14

You are welcome to join, just ignore the request in the signing up process for your cell phone number. I hate that it is even asked, but I can't change it, just blow it off.

Ik heb gewerkt met veel Nederlandse boord van het schip, ze hebben echt zeemanschap. Ik ben niet zo dol op het oude gezegde: "Als je niet het Nederlands, je niet veel", maar met uitzondering van hun vaardigheden.

I just checked what I typed in Dutch on a translator, and I butchered it, I meant to say that I have worked with a lot of Dutch sailors aboard ships, and even though I'm no fan of the saying "If your not Dutch, your not much", I do tip my hat to their seamanship capabilities.

[MacG]

@Deckofficer

Ja, ik spreek en schrijf Nederlands. Woon nog steeds in Holland, afwisselend met Frankrijk. Ik ben lid van dit forum sinds 09 omdat ik nog steeds naar het ideale schip zocht. Toen ik het vond, kreeg ik een soort van herseninfarct waardoor ik doof werd. Sinds 2 jaar heb ik een bionisch oor maar ben niettemin gelimiteerd in de dagafstanden van mijn trips.
Heb nu een Gouwzee 33 ft, staal en een stuk kleiner dan dat ik aanvankelijk wilde.

I was a bit too fast. I saw you writing in Dutch so I replied in Dutch.

[deckofficer]

Sorry about the hearing issue. How is it that you live in France now? Happy you found the boat you wanted.

[MacG]

I just travel up and down. The end of the next year, after my tour to the Hebrides, I would like to bring Neala to Bordeaux and from there to Lalinde, which is upstream the Dordogne and stay in our residence in France as long as time will permit me.
Through the Canal du Midi I have easily access to the Med for further explorations.

[deckofficer]

In the Med you will have some wonderful cruising grounds. I have a winter residence in Southern California and travel the 500 miles north and south for weather. Is that your scenario? Or is it work related for the two "home ports"?

[MacG]

I am a pensionado, so work is no more a "burden". The family owns two residences, one in France and one in Holland. I am just the 'supervisor' and see to it that the house in France is kept in shape.
Second to that, I know the Med quite well. Long before my accident, I had a larger boat.
With the far more smaller Neala I can come where other boats can't. If we can sell off the French house, I might look for a 40 footer.

[deckofficer]

Is the current real estate market in France as depressed as the US market?

[callmecrazy]

The wikipedia page on Laura was recently updated. her friends and family have been promoting it, so I assume they agree with the information on it.

[deckofficer]

News Flash,

Or it was to me. From an interview she gave a Durban, SA reporter, it appears after Cape Town, SA she is headed back to the Caribbean instead of home to Holland to complete her circumnavigation there. I think Laura has had enough of her Netherlands and the over year long fight with the government, and has decided to call herself an adult, and move to New Zealand. Below is a copy and paste of the last part of that interview.............

She chatted briefly of the route she sailed to get to Durban, "I left Holland in late summer, sailed past the Canary Islands, across to the Caribbean and sailed along the eastern shores of South America, rounded the Galapagos Islands. I spent some time meandering around the Polynesian Islands which I just loved, every island was so different. The people, the culture were just amazing. Time spent there holds a special place in my memories."

The young sailor is evidently in no rush, “I am just waiting for the bad weather to pass and then I will head down to Cape Town where I will stock up before tackling the final leg. I still have to navigate Guppy down to Cape Town along some of the most treacherous coastline in the world. I will have completed my circumnavigation when I arrive back in the Caribbean. From there I will make my way back to Whangarei in New Zealand where I hope to settle and maybe call it home."


Back to me live, I know she was a very mature girl back when she was 12, this trip just added to her maturity. She also has let slip that she hasn't been doing her schoolwork, and the Netherlands is truly hard case on schooling, so maybe she has just said "screw it", as she has citizenship of 3 countries, Netherlands, New Zealand, and France. The money she will make off her book is bound to be much greater than Jessica Watson made on her book. The first month Jessica's book was published, she earned $750,000.00. "Our" little Laura as done grown up right before our eyes. Pretty trippy. From this picture, she looks the same, but inside her head, with her experiences, I would say she has the maturity level and confidence of any of us here on the forum. Go Laura.
Besides that, I think she wants to race for Team New Zealand after her day race with them in the Volvo Cup in Cape Town. If anyone would be a good racer, it would be her.

[callmecrazy]

I doubt she cares much about the past conflicts with her govt . I think she just prefers the tropics

[deckofficer]

Originally Posted by callmecrazy

I doubt she cares much about the past conflicts with her govt . I think she just prefers the tropics

That of course could be true, but I read Dutch, and her interviews with the Dutch press were quite heated against what Child Services and the courts were putting her through. So much in fact that on automotive forums that I belong to that have Dutch members, those gearheads say "I've had enough of that spoiled brat in the newspapers". You know how the media can take sides and sway the populace.

Just my take on it.

[MacG]

@Deckofficer

You are not far behind the truth. We have followed her and her lawyers fight against "Jeugdzorg" (a very discutable Governmental organization) the year before she left.
Fact is, there is nothing to do for her in Holland. As I stated in a previous post, she "sucked" her schoolwork and just grew up.

For the rest, there is not much about her in the Dutch press. Now and than a small column but nothing to get exited about.

[deckofficer]

MacG,

The Internet really lets you research to your heart's desire. I did think it was a bit odd that a teenage girl could so easily give up returning to her home and all of her belongings after all this time sailing the world and being on her own. Through research, I found out she has never lived in a home on land her entire life. She has lived with her father on his sailboat at a marina in the Netherlands ever since the family returned from sailing. Her parents divorced in 2002, she stayed with dad on his boat. At age six, she got a small sailboat that was good for day sails. At 10 she got her first "Guppy", a Hurly 700, and because it was just under 27', she could legally sail it alone in Dutch waters. This boat was in the marina slip next to dad's boat, so it was also Laura's bedroom. She later got a Hurly 800 and moved aboard that "Guppy", till she got the Gin Fizz at 38'. So all this answered my question as to how she could give up going home after her around the world sail, and it is simple, her sailboats have always been her homes too.

Now I wonder about myself, if I had been raised as Laura had been, would I have enrolled at the California Maritime Academy for a BA in Marine Transportation and a Deck Officer in the Merchant Marine, or would I have been one of the less than 1% of Deck Officers that attained their license on job through the hawsepipe? This means self taught and passing the 4 days of 8 hour per day tests?