Laura Dekker departs secretly, gives Press the slip

by Nancy Knudsen on 29 Aug 2010 She gave them the slip.

14-year-old Laura Dekker has attracted so much publicity - almost all of it negative - since she expressed a desire more than a year ago to go sailing around the world solo, that she and her father slipped away from the Portuguese port of Portimao - her stated point of departure for her circumnavigation - without a word to anyone.

The Portuguese and international press were still waiting and bitterly disappointed when they found she was gone.

There had also been some mixed messages about whether the Portuguese nautical authorities would give immigration clearance to a sailor of her age. So Laura and her father sailed quietly to Gibraltar, where child authorities were not likely to intervene, to make that the beginning of her world odyssey.

She and her father had been in Algarve, provisioning, resting and testing equipment, and it was believed, as given out by her own camp, that she would depart from Portimao.

'She has chosen Portimão because as far as I know, it is where she wants to return at the end of her journey in two years time', Dutch-based Marijke Schaapkhok, managing director of television production company Masmedia, told The Portugal News. Masmedia has an agreement for the television rights of her voyage. This will no doubt alleviate financial problems for the world voyage, which is expected to take around two years.

Then, after her quiet departure, her manager, Peter Klarenbeek, confirmed to The Portugal News that Laura had in fact set sail from Gibraltar - a British territory on the southern tip of Spain – 'for two reasons: because of the media and to avoid problems with the Portuguese [maritime] authorities'.

Laura, born on a boat and having spent the first four years of her life sailing the world's oceans, is showing early signs of longing for the peace of the ocean, and responding badly to continual media coverage.

At the beginning of last week, following her arrival in the Algarve and reported resistance to speak to local media, her manager issued a statement explaining 'She has had so much media attention in the last year, that she decided she needed some time to be by herself, in peace.'

After a successful first leg, currently Laura is sweltering in the unaccustomed heat of one of the beautiful and barren volcanic northern islands of the Canary Group of Islands. She will not be alone there, as many cruising sailors collect in these islands after sailing south before the winter gales, to wait for the hurricane season to be over in the Atlantic.

She says she wants to do some island hopping before departing somewhere round the end of November to cross the Atlantic. And she wants to be left in peace, so there's no information about which island...

The Background:
Laura Dekker set sail on her 38-foot Jeanneau Ginfizz ketch, ‘Guppy’, on August 21, 2010 to sail around the world the next two years. She will be making dozens of stops along the way, and her longest time at sea on her planned route will be around three weeks (The longest non-stop legs are across the Atlantic and between the Galapagos and the Marquesas)

Dekker needs to complete the two-year trip before she turns 17 on September 20, 2012 to be younger than Jessica Watson, who sailed non-stop and unassisted, and who returned three days before her 17th birthday.

Assessing the feats of the recent teenage circumnavigators gets very confusing for the bystander.

None of the teenagers' recent performances are official as the World Sailing Speed Record Council ceased to recognize the age related records after Jesse Martin's record some years ago. Watson also didn’t sail the distance that is set as a standard for a round the world voyage.

Both British Mike Perham and American Zac Sunderland sailed around the world assisted. Zac's was always planned as a multi-stop journey similar to that of Laura Dekker. Mike planned a non-stop journey, but technical problems with his auto-pilot destroyed that dream early in his journey. They were 16 when they started their voyages. Zac held the unofficial record for the youngest round world sailor for only a couple of months before Mike took it from him.

Zac Sunderland departed on his yacht from Marina del Rey, California on 14 June 2008 and arrived back 13 months later on July 16, 2009. Mike Perham left from Portsmouth’s Gunwharf Quays on Saturday 15th November 2008 and crossed his finish line on 27 August 2009. He is currently the youngest sailor, around the world, assisted, unless one counts Jessica Watson's 'short' circumnavigation.

Zac's younger sister Abby Sunderland attempted a non-stop unassisted passage from Marina del Rey, but was dismasted in the Southern Ocean and had to be rescued by a French fishing boat.