• 16 year old girl finishes solo globe-circling voyage
    69 replies, posted
[img]http://i.imgur.com/gxySq.jpg[/img] [release]PHILIPSBURG, St. Maarten — [b]Laura Dekker set a steady foot aboard a dock in St. Maarten on Saturday, ending a yearlong voyage aboard a sailboat named “Guppy” that apparently made her the youngest person ever to sail alone around the globe, though her trip was interrupted at several points.[/b] Dozens of people jumped and cheered as Dekker waved, wept and then walked across the dock accompanied by her mother, father, sister and grandparents, who had greeted her at sea earlier. Dekker arrived in St. Maarten after struggling against high seas and heavy winds on a final, 41-day leg from Cape Town, South Africa. “There were moments where I was like, ’What the hell am I doing out here?,’ but I never wanted to stop,” she told reporters. “It’s a dream, and I wanted to do it.” [b]Dekker claims she is the youngest sailor to complete a round-the-world voyage, but Guinness World Records and the World Sailing Speed Record Council did not verify the claim, saying they no longer recognize records for youngest sailors to discourage dangerous attempts.[/b] [b]Dutch authorities tried to block Dekker’s trip[/b], arguing she was too young to risk her life, while school officials complained she should be in a classroom. Dekker said she was born to parents living on a boat near the coast of New Zealand and said [b]she first sailed solo at 6 years old. At 10, she said, she began dreaming about crossing the globe.[/b] She celebrated her 16th birthday during the trip, eating doughnuts for breakfast after spending time at port with her father and friends the night before in Darwin, Australia. The teenager [b]covered more than 27,000 nautical miles[/b] on a trip with stops that sound like a skim through a travel magazine: the Canary Islands, Panama, the Galapagos Islands, Tonga, Fiji, Bora Bora, Australia, South Africa and now, St. Maarten, from which she set out on Jan. 20, 2011. “Her story is just amazing,” said one of Dekker’s fans, 10-year-old Jody Bell of Connecticut. “I can’t imagine someone her age going out on sea all by herself.” Bell was in St. Maarten on a work trip with her mother, Deena Merlen, an attorney in Manhattan, who wanted to see Dekker complete her journey. The two wore T-shirts that read: “Guppy rocks my world.” “My daughter and I have been following Laura’s story, and we think it’s amazing and inspiring,” Merlen said. Unlike other young sailors who recently crossed the globe, Dekker repeatedly anchored at ports along the way to sleep, study and repair her 38-foot (11.5-meter) sailboat. During her trip, she went surfing, scuba diving, cliff diving and discovered a new hobby: playing the flute, which she said in her weblog was easier to play than a guitar in bad weather. Dekker also complained about custom clearings, boat inspections, ripped sails, heavy squalls, a wet and salty bed, a [/b]near-collision with two cargo ships[/b] and the presence of some persistent stowaways: cockroaches. “I became good friends with my boat,” she said. “I learned a lot about myself.” [b]Highlights of her trip include 47 days of sailing the Indian Ocean, which left her with unsteady legs when she docked in Durban, South Africa, where she walked up and down the pier several times for practice.[/b] While in South Africa, she also saw her first whale. “It dove right in front of my boat and got all this water on my boat, and that wasn’t really nice,” she said. Dekker launched her trip two months after Abby Sunderland, a 16-year-old U.S. sailor, was rescued in the middle of the Indian Ocean during a similar attempt. Jessica Watson of Australia completed a 210-day solo voyage at age 16, a few months older than Dekker. Dekker had said she planned to move to New Zealand after her voyage, but she said Saturday that she wants to finish school first. If she goes to New Zealand, she said, she’d like to sail there. [/release] [url]http://www.nydailynews.com/news/world/16-year-old-girl-laura-dekker-completes-solo-trip-world-article-1.1009740[/url] So what have you done with your life, facepunch?
I find this to be really amazing, I don't think I'd ever find the courage to do such a thing.
I actually obeyed the law and didn't throw a hissy fit because I wasn't allowed to do what I want, leaving me in a steady position on the job market as I actually finished school. It's mandatory to go to school till you're 18 here, she got an exception. She ran away from home because the government initially wouldn't let her leave, she quit studying on the boat as she had agreed to because she couldn't be arsed to do it and has outright lied in order to gain sympathy for her cause. Congrats that she did it, but if you add all the above together you can hardly say this has been positive overall.
Holy shit, she is circling the planet by boat at sixteen and I'm wasting away my time on the internet
That girl is more brave than I. I can't even go into the ocean without feeling like the tide is going to selectively suck me kilometres out to sea and directly into the mouth of a shark.
[QUOTE=Dr Kevorkian;34406472]That girl is more brave than I. I can't even go into the ocean without feeling like the tide is going to selectively suck me kilometres out to sea and directly into the mouth of a shark.[/QUOTE] I kind of have a phobia of the actual depth of the ocean. You're literally floating several thousand meters above the ground, not knowing what kind of shit are lurking below
Fucking awesome. Thread music: [media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gN_x1rpGbY8[/media]
[QUOTE=BuffaloBill;34406385]I actually obeyed the law and didn't throw a hissy fit because I wasn't allowed to do what I want, leaving me in a steady position on the job market as I actually finished school. It's mandatory to go to school till you're 18 here, she got an exception. She ran away from home because the government initially wouldn't let her leave, she quit studying on the boat as she had agreed to because she couldn't be arsed to do it and has outright lied in order to gain sympathy for her cause. Congrats that she did it, but if you add all the above together you can hardly say this has been positive overall.[/QUOTE] yep, money and work are the most important things in life forget learning about yourself, traveling the globe, having an adventure, doing what you love, the only thing that you should be doing is focusing on schoolwork!!
I bet she's mature beyond her age.
[QUOTE=RichyZ;34406616]that kind of attitude will prevent you from doing what you love in the future saying "fuk schol" then having fun for 2 years then living off of welfare checks isn't the high life[/QUOTE] By the looks of it she's already doing exactly what she loves and has already accomplished her life dream. Who gives a shit. She'll probably spend her life living on a boat in New Zealand making money by teaching sailors/giving speeches and such.
[QUOTE=RichyZ;34406616]that kind of attitude will prevent you from doing what you love in the future saying "fuk schol" then having fun for 2 years then living off of welfare checks isn't the high life[/QUOTE] Clearly sailing is what she loves to do
We Dutch just love following our laws to the letter (which is good for most situations), but it makes the government look like a dick in these cases.
[QUOTE=BuffaloBill;34406385]I actually obeyed the law and didn't throw a hissy fit because I wasn't allowed to do what I want, leaving me in a steady position on the job market as I actually finished school. It's mandatory to go to school till you're 18 here, she got an exception. She ran away from home because the government initially wouldn't let her leave, she quit studying on the boat as she had agreed to because she couldn't be arsed to do it and has outright lied in order to gain sympathy for her cause. Congrats that she did it, but if you add all the above together you can hardly say this has been positive overall.[/QUOTE] I don't understand all the fuss. It's mainly old people saying a young girl shouldn't be sailing because it's dangerous. If anything we should allow people to be adventurous and live their dreams. After all, our nation's foundation is built upon the acts of brave seamen. Too much boxing in. People need more freedom when they can prove they can handle it, and she overwhelmingly did just that.
[QUOTE=BuffaloBill;34406385]I actually obeyed the law and didn't throw a hissy fit because I wasn't allowed to do what I want, leaving me in a steady position on the job market as I actually finished school. It's mandatory to go to school till you're 18 here, she got an exception. She ran away from home because the government initially wouldn't let her leave, she quit studying on the boat as she had agreed to because she couldn't be arsed to do it and has outright lied in order to gain sympathy for her cause. Congrats that she did it, but if you add all the above together you can hardly say this has been positive overall.[/QUOTE] She's 16, it's not the end of her life if she has to spend another year in school, or make up years worth of work. She did what she loved and could have set a record for it, who cares about studies.
Also, not only did she sail around the globe, she also moved to Middle-Earth. Jelly.
Success to me is doing what you enjoy. So she's pretty much as successful as it gets.
I've sailed to the south pacific and back with my family. [sp]This is our blog, for proof: http://www.sailblogs.com/member/calou/[/sp] Edit: It was awesome.
Great people do what they do because they have the means to. If I had a boat, enough spare time on my hands and didn't have to worry about a job, I wouldn't mind a boat trip around the world. Well, that is if I actually liked being on water in the first place anyway... Also, I remember seeing her on the news when she first set out on her journey. She took on quite a challenge with the threat of pirates, violent weather isn't the only thing a sailor needs to worry about these days.
[QUOTE=DeadCow;34406947]I've sailed to the south pacific and back with my family. [sp]This is our blog, for proof: http://www.sailblogs.com/member/calou/[/sp][/QUOTE] [media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=57dCiesGguQ[/media] Did this for the past 3 years, planing to go on the year-long offshore trip to Osaka, Japan at some point( 4.53 in the vid)
I've always wanted to become an adventurer, but it seems next to impossible to somehow go from sitting in my room all day playing stupid video games to doing awesome, dangerous shit like this. In over a year I still haven't found any feasible way to make the things I want to do possible. :sigh:
[QUOTE=SPESSMEHREN;34407305]I've always wanted to become an adventurer, but it seems next to impossible to somehow go from sitting in my room all day playing stupid video games to doing awesome, dangerous shit like this. In over a year I still haven't found any feasible way to make the things I want to do possible. :sigh:[/QUOTE] While I was in the south pacific, 25% of my time was spent playing stupid video games. :v: [sp]It got old after a while.[/sp]
[QUOTE=DeadCow;34406947]I've sailed to the south pacific and back with my family. [sp]This is our blog, for proof: http://www.sailblogs.com/member/calou/[/sp] Edit: It was awesome.[/QUOTE] I remember your thread you made before you set sail to Hawaii. When BDA, Zeke and me made a fictional crew. [editline]26th January 2012[/editline] In all reality though I hope to be able to get some basic sailing lessons when I eventually move to the coast for college. Hopefully I'll have enough practice to do some adventure sailing of my own after I get a graduate degree.
[QUOTE=OvB;34407371]I remember your thread you made before you set sail to Hawaii. When BDA, Zeke and me made a fictional crew. [editline]26th January 2012[/editline] In all reality though I hope to be able to get some basic sailing lessons when I eventually move to the coast for college. Hopefully I'll have enough practice to do some adventure sailing of my own after I get a graduate degree.[/QUOTE] Yeah I remember you... [quote=OvB]Facepunch Transpac 2011 - We're all gonna die[/quote] :v: [editline]26th January 2012[/editline] In all seriousness though, sailing is a life-changing experience. I wish you luck towards achieving this goal of yours.
Wasn't she originally stopped by the coast guard and questioned for her sanity or something?
[QUOTE=RichyZ;34406616]that kind of attitude will prevent you from doing what you love in the future saying "fuk schol" then having fun for 2 years then living off of welfare checks isn't the high life[/QUOTE] i think what happened with this post is, everyone who read it and agreed with it sat stoically for a few seconds then starting crying
[QUOTE=BuffaloBill;34406385]I actually obeyed the law and didn't throw a hissy fit because I wasn't allowed to do what I want, leaving me in a steady position on the job market as I actually finished school. It's mandatory to go to school till you're 18 here, she got an exception. She ran away from home because the government initially wouldn't let her leave, she quit studying on the boat as she had agreed to because she couldn't be arsed to do it and has outright lied in order to gain sympathy for her cause. Congrats that she did it, but if you add all the above together you can hardly say this has been positive overall.[/QUOTE] Because it's so awful to follow one's dreams.
[QUOTE=.FLAP.JACK.DAN.;34407606]Because it's so awful to follow one's dreams.[/QUOTE] I once had a dream and it was awful.
[QUOTE=OvB;34406253]So what have you done with your life, facepunch?[/QUOTE] why don't you just throw me on the ground and kick me in the dick while you're at it :l
its not like she wasted away her teenage years smoking or playing video games or being generally unproductive what she did takes a ton of talent, maturity, intelligence, and balls
how do some people just have the motivation? some people just think "yeah, okay, time to sail around the fucking world now, I've always wanted to do it and so I'll do it, LIVING THE DREAM" maybe because all my childhood fantasies involved flying planes and going to space, which will never happen, ever [editline]27th January 2012[/editline] whereas when I think about something cool, I think about it a lot, and then the idea gets old everything gets old too fast for me
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