Laura Dekker's Guppy destroyed on reef

[PortClydeMe]

Sad story, I suppose. Maybe the lesson here is 'neither a borrower nor a lender be', especially "in full faith to a non profit organiszation'. Legal contracts were created for a reason.

Speaking of laminates, it will be fun when someone, like maybe Hinckley, finally gets around to creating a kevlar-esque bulletproof multilayer hull impervious to RPGs and all ocean hazards. "Hey bro, wanna test that atoll over there?" "Sure bro, go for it! All that can happen is a few scratches to the paint. Remember when that submarine quickly broke surface off Oahu last year and tossed us 20 meters into the air? That was a gas!"

[antaris]

How utterly sad. Guppy is my model dream boat and would have purchased it last year, if I had the money. Add the historical "weight" it carries - that makes for a very sad story. I really hope that at least LD did not get conned (as it seems, so far).

[pexor]

Delivered a 43’ sloop from NZ to Hawai.
We anchored off Manihiki atoll, passage to inside is too shallow for sailboats. Left able crewman on board at all times because of the precarious and uncertain anchoring, to move the boat if weather changed. So sorry for the loss of Guppy.
Captain Stoba.

[Seymore]

Originally Posted by Bill Seal

(Deletia)


I loaned Guppy long term in full faith to a non profit organisation to sail with children after I had been promised to get paid for her by a couple who wished me to donate her to a good cause. The payment never happened - however I still decided that this future for Guppy would be the best and if she could inspire more children to live their dreams it would be all worth it.

+1 CaptainJohn49 #5


The last time I gave to a beggar was in about 1958 in Montreal. There, they line up neatly for a municipal bus and I got on the end of a long line. There was a guy working his way down the line, handing out something to each person. He got to me and gave me a business card and passed on down the line. It read, "I am deaf and dumb. On the other side of this card is the Deaf and Dumb alphabet. If you want to learn the Deaf and Dumb alphabet and help me out, please give me 25 cents and keep the card. Otherwise, return the card." Well, I thought , the Deaf and Dumb alphabet is a good thing to know. The guy was back at the head of the line, working down, collecting his quarters and cards. When he got to me, I gave him 25 cents. "Thank you very much" he said.....

[Dubbinchris]

Originally Posted by philiosophy

I can only hope I can meet the likes ofLaura Decker. What a tail of dreams come true to have a partner in crime the likes O her

So you want to date her???

[Fiveslide]

Originally Posted by Dubbinchris

So you want to date her???

What's wrong with that? Now, if he'd posted that five years ago, we'd need to bring in Chris Hansen from To Catch a Predator to sort it.

[Lesliesailsaway]

I am a new sailor and my heart goes out to Laura and the loss of her Guppy. It is a shame there are creeps and cons in every part of the world. I wish her well and I hope she rallys to sail omce again.

[Capt.Tom]

Dear Laura,

You had your boat for a time to sail. You have your memories and photographs of her. It is sad that she is gone but there may be a new Guppy some day and you will grow to luv her as well.
We don't own things, we only are the custodian of them . Almost everything you ever acquire will eventually be let go by you for someone else to enjoy.... They enjoyed it badly.... Eventually you will come to realize...... Most possessions are burden.... keep only the ones you truly treasure and let others enjoy the things not really needed. You were selling her after all.....
I am also sorry for the loss of you friend, Guppy. Her last lesson was a big one..... Don't trust anyone till you get the cash in your hand !
There are other rules you should learn....
Don't ever loan mony or do business with a friend. Never sell a friend anything... I gave my Hunter 40 to a friend instead of selling it to him. Even then there were a few issues... We are still friends though.... sort of....

Good luck with future endeavors and be happy in life.

[deckofficer]

After a couple years absence from CF, this sad story brought me back to the forum. As some of you oldtimers here know, I was and am a big fan of Laura Deckker. She truly has a 6th sense about seamanship and how her Guppy is doing at any given moment. On a number of her passages when she was buddy boating with friends that had much faster boats than her 40 year old Gin Fizz, she would arrive at the next anchorage first. She just instinctively knew how to get the most speed without breaking. I've read her blog, she is a very sad young lady. I'm pissed at LifeSail for not acknowledging Laura's strong connection to Guppy and the piece of maritime history that she entrusted to them when they chose to crew Guppy with incompetent sailors. I told them that on their FaceBook page and my hopes is that other members of the sailing community visit their FB page and leave a post. I think they need to know how the sailing community feels about Laura and her loss due to their lack of good judgement.

[ssmoot]

Originally Posted by CaptainJohn49

Non-profits are often the province of self serving crooks with a smooth talk of the great service they do for mankind. In reality the dollar you give ends up being used for staff and directors salary. Very little reaches the people that it intended for.

Non-profits are also often doing good work and using donations wisely and can often stretch your contributions farther than you could on your own. It's up to you to figure out which ones. Sites like Charity Navigator and Charity Watch can help.

[Bill Seal]

The latest from Laura's blog:

08-10-2018
The loss of Guppy, a deep scar that may fade but will never leave.

It’s been two months since Guppy’s stranding, not a day goes by that I don’t think about her being smashed up and down on the reef tearing apart more and more. Tearing my heart up in pieces at the same time. The memories I have, every singly cm2 of Guppy that I’ve looked after and cared for like it was my baby..
The more I think about it the less I understand the set of actions that have brought her to this point. The stupid mistakes, the lack of communication and sheer ignorance of advice I kept giving. I just can’t understand it, it doesn’t come through my head how people could possibly be so careless with such a valuable object. How they could see Guppy just see as a meaningless thing. I can’t explain how much I loved this boat, how much she meant to me and how much it meant for me to let her sail away under LifeSails care so she could inspire more kids to live their dreams. It may sounds strange to a landlubber but so it is.

My trust has again been scattered, broken - smashed to pieces. There where so many promises-that they would look after her and never let anything happen to her, that they would keep me updated and take my advice. None of the promises and explicit agreements made they have kept.
From LifeSails recent blog I understand they decided to scuttle Guppy sadly without giving notice to me. The already bad communication quickly got to a stage of no communication. Through calling people on the island and other sources I got some info but still, even after two months didn’t get an update from LifeSail and only after repeatedly asking for it did I get a weak ‘’sorry’’ and 3 photo’s 3 weeks later.

But besides their untruthful update on Facebook and the Blog I haven’t had any details about Guppy from them!
From their recent blog I also understand now that the engines wont start, it’s the first time I’ve heard this from LifeSail.
I still don’t understand how they’ve managed to wreck both engines within two months after I’ve used them for 8 years without ANY trouble…
The engines have completely seperate systems, seperate fuel tanks, batteries, intakes, filters no connection at al to make sure in case of failure from one the other one always remains in working order. Besides that Guppy is a super sailboat and within seconds you could unfurl the jib and sail away!
Nor can I understand how they could let Lori skipper Guppy alone - with such little sailing experience it was simply asking for an accident to happen. Why didn’t they ask me what I thought? Why didn’t they listen to my advice.. How could she anchor in such an impossible place? It’s unbelievable that they used Guppy just as a fun holiday, cruising around the islands for so long that the hurricane season started in the northern hemisphere and they couldn’t safely continue to Hawaii.

The fact that Guppy is gone and I had no say in what happened leaves my heart broken already - but how an organisation can be so cruel as to just plainly ignore me and the explicit agreements made.., this leaves me wounded inside far more, far deeper and probably for much longer..
Not a day passes that I don’t see Guppy crying and screaming on the reef, not a day passes that I wish I could turn things back, that I woud have seen earlier that the promises LifeSail have made were all just show and in vain. I think about the great work Guppy could have done, how many life’s she could have changed. All these dreams and thoughts are now floating around in the warm clear blue water of Manihiki between the wrecked pieces of my beloved Guppy..
Not because of an accident but out of a lack of competence, respect & communication on Lori Kallestad ,Matt Schulz & LifeSails behalve.

Laura

Matt Schulz and his crew of clowns should never get another donation...
but they probobly will

[Jim Cate]

Anyone who has done long passages on their own boat will understand Laura's viewpoint and her sorrow. Never met her, but admire her skills and more, her drive to live the life she wanted against the "experience" of her elders... and now I feel her pain, for i know how I would feel in her place.

What a sad end...

Jim

[Bob Morane]

This was absolutely heartbreaking to read.
How can one be entrusted with a free, over equipped, capable, emotionally charged boat and disrespect its previous owner that much ?
A charity ? This looks more like trying to take advantage of people's empathy to pay for their cruising holidays.

[WingRyder]

This sickens me. I watched that YT video, on Sailing Doodles vlog. That guy seemed to be pretty stricken with Laura Dekker and very knowledgeable about the boat. But, IMO, they should have taken full responsibility and owned up to the tragic mishap! Failing to do so, leave me jaded and pissed off.

I am a great admirer of Laura Dekker, and I'm in awe of her accomplishment at the age of 14! I read her book, and admittedly, I have read many parts over and over... I bought Maiden Voyage, to support her.

This kind of stuff makes me hate humanity! For an organization to take advantage of a sailing icon like Dekker, is beneath dignity. My heart goes out to her. She has tackled many obstacles in her life, and I hope that this one, like the others, will only make her stronger.

[NevisDog]

Originally Posted by WingRyder

...She has tackled many obstacles in her life, and I hope that this one, like the others, will only make her stronger.

Older and wiser. Yea it sickened me too but I think we are all quite gullible until the dregs of humanity cross our path (unless we happen to be the dregs of humanity of course). Vultures like those are always out there, circling, watching, waiting...

It's like dragging your anchor or running aground - if you haven't done it yet then you will; just pray it's nice soft mud when you do.