Laura Dekker

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Laura Dekker during a trip break in March 2011 at the HISWA boat show in Amsterdam

Laura Dekker (born September 20, 1995 in Whangarei , New Zealand ) is a Dutch - German - New Zealand sailor .

Life

Laura Dekker was born during a world tour of her parents Dick Dekker and Barbara Müller in Whangarei, New Zealand. She has Dutch nationality through her father, German through her mother and New Zealand through her place of birth.

She started her sailing career on an Optimist class boat , which was later followed by a Mirror dinghy . After her parents divorced in 2002, she lived with her father, a sailing enthusiast boat builder who had not completed any training, initially in Wijk bij Duurstede in the Netherlands . With her sailing boat at the time, a Hurley 700 named Guppy , she undertook one-hand trips , including in May 2009 at the age of 13 from Maurik (Netherlands) to Lowestoft ( United Kingdom ) and back. Dekker wrote an article about this trip for the Dutch magazine Linien .

As of December 18, 2009, she was considered missing; but it was found two days later in Sint Maarten in the Dutch Caribbean. It is still unclear whether her disappearance had anything to do with her planned circumnavigation. Her paternal grandparents, Dick and Riek Dekker, blamed the youth welfare office for the disappearance, as the office had forbidden her planned circumnavigation and wanted to send her to a home. The mother's partner suspected the father of planning the disappearance. The controversy over custody has meanwhile expanded. It became known that her mother did not approve of the daughter's daring solo voyage. She thought the plan was too dangerous.

Laura Dekker has been married to Daniël Tealman since March 28, 2015.

Planning the circumnavigation and restricting parental control

Laura Dekkers Guppy in Den Osse, a Gin Fizz from Jeanneau

In September 2009 Dekker wanted to set out on a solo circumnavigation with her boat, a Hurley 800 borrowed from a sponsor , which was controversial in public due to her age of 13 years.

A court decision prevented her from setting sail on September 1, 2009. The custody of the parents, with whose consent and support the company was to take place, was initially restricted for two months. During the two-month period, a child psychologist should clarify whether Dekker was able to survive a circumnavigation on his own. In a hearing before the family court in Utrecht on October 30, 2009, the court decided that Dekker was not allowed to set sail until summer 2010 at the earliest. In the grounds of the judgment, the court explained that such a long and dangerous sailing trip could "endanger Laura's health and her mental development". The court thus followed an application by the Office for Child Protection to leave Dekker under its supervision for the next few months. As a result, Dekker's parents' right of upbringing was initially restricted until July 1, 2010. The guardianship should ensure that there was enough time "to check whether the trip is sufficiently prepared and to monitor that Dekker does not start in an irresponsible manner". The appeal filed by Dekker and her father was dismissed on May 4, 2010 by the Arnhem Court of Appeal.

Unless the guardianship was extended, Dekker wanted to set sail after July 1, 2010. She had already made the first preparations for this. Her father had bought her a new boat, a Jeanneau Gin Fizz , because the main sponsor had withdrawn from its original commitment and the Hurley 800 was no longer available. The two-master (a ketch ) is 11.5 meters, a good 3 meters longer than Dekker's last sailing yacht with 8.5 meters. The new boat was at the time in the port of Den Osse in the southwestern province of Zeeland , where father and daughter had meanwhile moved from Maurik (near Utrecht).

On May 17, 2010, the Office for Child Protection in Utrecht submitted an application to the family court in Middelburg to extend the guardianship of Laura Dekker until August 1, 2010 . An oral hearing in camera took place on June 14, 2010. The Middelburg Family Court granted the child protection office's application on June 17, 2010. One of the reasons given was that the plan to prepare for or carry out Dekker's circumnavigation was submitted too late (not until the negotiation on June 14, 2010) and the authorities did not have the opportunity to have it examined by an independent expert. On July 27, 2010, the Middelburg Family Court ended the guardianship of Dekker with immediate effect. Dekker announced on July 31, 2010 that he would be sailing to Portugal on August 4, 2010 with her father. The boat should be extensively tested on the way. Dekker wanted to start her solo circumnavigation of the world from Portugal, but this was prevented by the local authorities. Gibraltar was ultimately chosen as an alternative port.

Solo circumnavigation 2010 to 2012

Itinerary of the circumnavigation

The circumnavigation of the world - westwards - began on August 21, 2010, according to your manager at the time.

Your route included the following stations:

  • August 21, 2010: Start of sailing around the world alone of Gibraltar from
  • August 25, 2010: Arrival in Lanzarote
  • Weathering the Atlantic hurricane season in the Canary Islands with a family visit from home and "sightseeing"
  • November 10, 2010: Departure from Gran Canaria
  • November 18, 2010: Cape Verde
  • December 2, 2010: Start of the Atlantic crossing from Cape Verde to Sint Maarten (2,200  nautical miles )
  • December 19, 2010: Arrival at the Simpson Bay lagoon in Sint Maarten, the Netherlands
  • 5th - 14th January: Guest stay at the Stad Amsterdam
  • January 20, 2011: Departure from Sint Maarten.
  • February 5, 2011: Arrival on Bonaire
  • The crossing of the Panama Canal took place from April 10th to 11th.
  • April 26, 2011: Arrival in Santa Cruz , Galapagos
  • May 25, 2011: Arrival in Atuona, Marquesas Islands , French Polynesia
  • June 8, 2011: Arrival in Papeete , Tahiti
  • July 18, 2011: Arrival in Suva , Fiji
  • August 25, 2011: Arrival in Darwin , on the north coast of Australia , on the 369th day of her circumnavigation. With that she has completely crossed the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans.
  • September 25, 2011: Departure from Darwin with unknown destination
  • November 12, 2011: Arrival in Durban , South Africa (5,540  nautical miles )
  • November 18, 2011: Arrival in Port Elizabeth , South Africa
  • November 26, 2011: Passage at Cape Agulhas , South Africa. Cape Agulhas is the southernmost point on the African continent. Dekker reached the southernmost point of their circumnavigation. She then sailed on a northerly course, for the second time since leaving the Netherlands.
  • November 27, 2011: Arrival in Cape Town , South Africa, after successfully sailing around the Cape of Good Hope .
  • December 12, 2011: Departure from Cape Town.
  • December 20, 2011: Crossing the longitude 5 ° E and thus the longitude of the Netherlands. Based on the unofficial beginning in the Netherlands, Dekker had crossed all geographical lengths on her circumnavigation.
  • January 21, 2012: Arrival around 3 p.m. local time in Simpson Bay on the Dutch Caribbean island of St. Maarten and thus the end of the circumnavigation. The last stretch led directly from Cape Town 5600 nautical miles (10,400 km) to St. Maarten.

Further actions

  • On April 14, 2012, Dekker left Bonaire for her birthplace Whangarei, New Zealand, where she arrived on September 2.

Media coverage and discussion

There was extensive international coverage of Dekker's planned circumnavigation. In addition to personal circumstances, the general question of the extent to which the state must or may prevent risky behavior by young people if this is supported by their parents was discussed.

In the course of the circumnavigation and the long time course compared to the previous "record holder" - the Australian Jessica Watson , who only needed 210 days at sea - Dekker had already been on the road for 369 days on arrival in Darwin, Australia - the father said In mid-2011, to the effect that his daughter is not primarily interested in reaching the record of being the youngest solo circumnavigator. Rather, the “tour is the goal”. Dekker successfully completed her circumnavigation on January 21, 2012, making it the youngest single-handed circumnavigator ahead of Jessica Watson. Nevertheless, the trip was not recognized as a record by either the Guinness Book of Records or the World Sailing Speed ​​Record Council ; Because of the controversial discussions about the “youth mania”, both institutions no longer awarded a prize to the youngest person to circumnavigate the world as a single-handed sailor.

During her trip, Dekker wrote a weekly column for Algemeen Dagblad in Rotterdam , which is available in German translation.

Maidentrip, a documentary by US director Jillian Schlesinger about Dekker's trip, premiered on March 10, 2013 at the South by Southwest Festival in Austin.

What about the Jeanneau Gin Fizz

When the Guppy was awarded to the non-profit organization LifeSail in 2018, the Gin Fizz ran into a reef during a trip in the care of the organization at Manihiki Atoll in the Pacific Ocean, where it was completely lost.
Contrary to the specifications, LifeSail had neither adequately insured the ship nor were advice and instructions followed by the, according to Dekker, completely incompetent team around the organization's founder Matt Schulz. At the time of the accident, the ship was lying on Legerwall , which is why it is also unclear whether the insurance can even expect compensation for the ship, the salvage and the environmental damage. LifeSail has behaved uncooperatively since the damage and refuses to communicate.

literature

  • Riek Dekker: Zeilmeisje Laura Dekker. Mijn hold . Uitgeverij De Alk & Heijnen, 1st edition, Alkmaar 2010, 128 pages, ISBN 978-90-5961-088-0 .
  • Laura Dekker: A girl, a dream. Solo around the world. Delius Klasing, Bielefeld 2013, ISBN 978-3-7688-3546-6 (Dutch Een meisje, een droom . Uitgeverij De Alk, Alkmaar 2013, ISBN 978-90-5961-089-7 ).

Web links

Commons : Laura Dekker  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Solo line Laura (13): 'Alles is rond on parool.nl , August 24, 2009
  2. ↑ spiegel.de
  3. ↑ ad.nl
  4. ↑ online, in German
  5. ↑ dpa: Missing circumnavigator found in the Caribbean. FAZ.net , December 21, 2009, accessed December 30, 2010 .
  6. ↑ a b Helmut Hetzel: Laura is fighting for her sailing trip. In: Südkurier . dated April 9, 2010.
  7. ↑ Zeilmeisje Laura Dekker getrouwd | Inland | Telegraaf.nl. Retrieved March 22, 2018 (Dutch).
  8. ↑ Jochen Leffers: 13-year-old circumnavigator “I know what I'm doing”. Der Spiegel, August 23, 2009, accessed August 30, 2009 .
  9. ↑ Laura Dekker suspended custody, circumnavigation prevented. Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, August 28, 2009, accessed on August 30, 2009 .
  10. ↑ Custody dispute Court stops solo sailor Laura. Der Spiegel, August 28, 2009, accessed August 30, 2009 .
  11. ↑ Jochen Leffers: Laura Dekker's circumnavigation of the world 14-year-old skipper has to stay in port. Der Spiegel, October 30, 2009, accessed October 31, 2009 .
  12. ↑ “Zeilmeisje” does not give up. on n-tv from June 3, 2010.
  13. ↑ 14 year olds can circumnavigate the world alone. Retrieved July 27, 2010 .
  14. ↑ ad.nl
  15. ↑ Now Laura Dekker is finally alone on the high seas. In: Welt Online from August 21, 2010.
  16. ↑ Laura, 14, sails off in secret on record breaking global yacht trip. Daily Mail. (London), 22nd August 2010.
  17. ↑ Teenage sailor on solo voyage reaches St. Maarten , msnbc.com, December 19, 2010.
  18. ↑ Laura Dekker arrives in the Caribbean. In: Spiegel Online from December 20, 2010
  19. ↑ Laura Dekker goes through the Panama Canal, April 10 and 11, 2011.
  20. ↑ lauradekker.nl Laura's blog
  21. ^ The Northern Advocate on September 2, 2012
  22. ↑ Karla Adam: Dutch Delay 13-Year-Old's Dream of Sailing the World. The Washington Post, August 30, 2009; accessed August 30, 2009 . See Court bans teen sailor Laura Dekker from record-breaking voyage. The Times, August 29, 2009, accessed August 30, 2009 .
  23. ↑ MainSail Social workers threaten to thwart teen sailor's record bid. CNN, accessed August 30, 2009 . See Laura Dekker, 13, must wait before trying to sail around the world alone. Los Angeles Times, August 29, 2009, accessed August 30, 2009 .
  24. ↑ Record attempt: Laura Dekker - she has been sailing around the world for a year. In: www.badische-zeitung.de. Badischer Verlag GmbH & Co. KG, accessed on August 27, 2011 .
  25. ↑ Young circumnavigator Laura Dekker completes record run , January 22, 2012
  26. ↑ Pascal Schürmann: A lot of melancholy, little party mood. Laura did it. She is the youngest solo circumnavigator. However, her record will probably not be officially recognized. In: Yacht online. January 23, 2012, accessed July 27, 2020 .
  27. ↑ zeilmeisje-lauradekker.blogspot.de
  28. ↑ maidentrip.com
  29. ↑ schedule.sxsw.com
  30. ↑ 7-08-2018 Guppy stranded on a reef
  31. ↑ 08/31/2018 Initial Damage Report Guppy
  32. ↑ 08-10-2018 The loss of Guppy, a deep scar that may fade but will never leave.
personal data
SURNAME Dekker, Laura
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Dutch-New Zealand-German young sailor
DATE OF BIRTH September 20, 1995
PLACE OF BIRTH Whangarei