Laura Dekker's Circumnavigation

[deckofficer]

Originally Posted by Hirophant

Now there's the real rivalry between Laura and Jessica! ;-) As I recall, it was said that Laura sailed across the North Sea to England in 2009 in the hope of being able to welcome him home! (She sailed over to England the very same day he finished his circumnavigation - coincidence? No way!) (But the UK police arrested her for being precocious or some such trumped up charge so she didn't get to meet him AFAIK.)

Excuse me for "quoting" you twice, but I am unable to find the dates that Laura sailed to England in 2009, can you provide a link? Mike arrived Thursday 27th of Aug. I did find other interesting aspects of this North Sea crossing. It appears that Laura gets her disdain of government authority honestly through her dad. After she reached England, the authorities there placed her in foster care and told her dad to pick her help, he refused at first. The family that was caring for Laura in England did not treat her as a ward of the court or a foster child, but instead as a visitor, showing her the sights. When Dick Dekker finally arrived in England to "spring" Laura from custody, he was ordered to sail with her back to Holland and instead faked out the British authorities in pretending to leave with Laura but had secretly sent her on her way alone. The British authorities discovered this ruse too late, but notified Dutch authorities of what happened. Needless to say, Dutch authorities weren't too pleased about this and the stuff starting hitting the fan for the both of them.

This has all the makings of a Hollywood movie.

[MacG]

This is about the case at that time. Point is that we are now 3 years ahead and Laura escaped (more or less) from the Dutch threat.
I don't see it as a point of value to dig in history but rather looking forward to see her next project.

I never looked in live over my shoulder. Done business is irreversible.

[LauderBoy]

Well, what I can respect most about Laura and Jessica was that they were both well prepared for their trips. Mike by all accounts had the experience(he crossed the Atlantic before), but really rushed the departure and an Open 40 probably wasn't the wisest boat to take.

Zac Sunderland I respect for spending $6k of his own money to buy an islander 36 and fixing it up himself. I say if you can do that, you deserve to take it anywhere you want.

[Hirophant]

Originally Posted by deckofficer

Excuse me for "quoting" you twice, but I am unable to find the dates that Laura sailed to England in 2009, can you provide a link? Mike arrived Thursday 27th of Aug.

Sorry it seems I got the date wrong. An article about her sailing to England, Solo-sailing Laura was in British custody, was published on 27 Aug 2009, but now that I recheck it the events it refers to happened in May 2009. However I'm sure I read somewhere that she had tried to go and greet Mike Perham on his return, but I can't find the article. (According to his circumnavigation blog, his actual landfall was not until 30th August 2009 incidentally, three days after he "crossed the line".)

[deckofficer]

Originally Posted by Hirophant

Sorry it seems I got the date wrong. An article about her sailing to England, Solo-sailing Laura was in British custody, was published on 27 Aug 2009, but now that I recheck it the events it refers to happened in May 2009. However I'm sure I read somewhere that she had tried to go and greet Mike Perham on his return, but I can't find the article. (According to his circumnavigation blog, his actual landfall was not until 30th August 2009 incidentally, three days after he "crossed the line".)

I wasn't calling you on it to debate, as I hoped that was the case. Would have had a bit of Hollywood flair to it, don't you think? Hollywood would probably run with your time line.

[Hirophant]

Originally Posted by Ozbullwinkle

1. Jessica Watson did not make a "quick buck" by selling her boat. Are you aware that she turned down an offer of more than $1 million from an American buyer? Hardly the actions of someone trying to make a quick buck.
She sold her boat for $300,000 and the buyer was the Queensland and Australian Federal government. The boat is housed at the Queensland Maritime Museum. Its $300,000 price tag will only just cover Jessica's debts. Jess was in a lot of debt, having bought the boat herself.

Pink Lady belonged to Don McIntyre, she only bought it from him after the voyage only to resell it within months. This has always puzzled me, since Don said she bought it off him because she had fallen in love with it, but if as you say she was in debt then the obvious explanation is that she did do it to make a quick buck.

As for your long defence of Jessica Watson's voyage, I never said anything about the relative merits of their voyages so I don't see what the relevance of all that was. The two journeys can't really be compared, indeed most of the teenage circumnavigations are incomparable. Laura and Zac did the same type of voyage, that's about it really. Jessica's, Mike's and Jesse Martin's were all different records. Jessica certainly did a much harder voyage than Laura, but given the widespread criticism of teenagers taking undue risks, Laura's decision to do a lower risk equatorial cruising circumnavigation rather than dice with death on the great capes route is equally to be applauded, especially given she was the youngest of the bunch by at least a year when she started.

I notice you don't disagree that red is a better colour for a boat than pink ;-) I still think Laura's beamy ketch is a much better looking boat than either Pink Lady or Abby Sunderland's racing sled, it looks the sort of boat you'd sail off in for an adventure on the high seas.

[deckofficer]

Laura did it the way all of us here would do it. Soak up the culture of the lands visited.

[boatman61]

Originally Posted by deckofficer

Laura did it the way all of us here would do it. Soak up the culture of the lands visited.

ROFL...

[deckofficer]

Originally Posted by boatman61

ROFL...

I don't quite understand your "rolling on the floor laughing"? From this picture, don't you think she was soaking up the culture???

[boatman61]

Originally Posted by deckofficer

I don't quite understand your "rolling on the floor laughing"? From this picture, don't you think she was soaking up the culture???

It was the "All of us on here.." that did it...ROFG

[bengtinge]

Originally Posted by Hirophant

Sorry it seems I got the date wrong. An article about her sailing to England, Solo-sailing Laura was in British custody, was published on 27 Aug 2009, but now that I recheck it the events it refers to happened in May 2009. However I'm sure I read somewhere that she had tried to go and greet Mike Perham on his return, but I can't find the article. (According to his circumnavigation blog, his actual landfall was not until 30th August 2009 incidentally, three days after he "crossed the line".)

Mike arrived in Portsmouth in Southwestern England, fairly far away from the Netherlands. Laura was arrested for being alone too young in Lowestoft in eastern England, one of the cities closest to the Netherlands (according to Wikipedia and the map).

[MacG]

"Arrested" is a strong word. Lowestoft is easy to reach. I rather would have chosen Southwold which is much "quiter" than Lowsoft but that is another question. I believe she was testing her "waters" ....

[DJBrookster]

Originally Posted by deckofficer

I don't quite understand your "rolling on the floor laughing"? From this picture, don't you think she was soaking up the culture???

Mad as a box of frogs!

[deckofficer]

If you good folks have the time, how about inviting Laura to join us here? Go to her guest book....LauraDekker.nl de Jongste solozeiler ter wereld! -

and invite her. This guest book will NOT post a hyperlink, so when you copy and paste the URL of this page, delete the http//, let it start with www then write the word "dot" instead of ".", and it gets through. Just tell her to reverse the process to wind up here.

make this
http://www.cruisersforum.com/forums/...-52522-18.html

into this
wwwdotcruisersforum.com/forums/f106/laura-dekkers-circumnavigation-52522-18.html

[MacG]

I am pretty sure that Laura knows the sites where she is a major subject. What I know from the ZF (zeilersforum) is that she asked to be left alone. In other words, she is not looking for any kind of bling bling.
I think that Jedi might have an idea if she would like this or not. As you are her most avid fan, Bob, you could invite her to join ......