Teen sailors - Jessica home, Abby repairing, Laura preparing
by Sail-World Cruising on 16 May 2010
Jessica gets a big welcome home - Jessica Watson Homecoming Dale Lorimer
While Australia's Jessica Watson basks in the adulation of the nation, and gets her land legs back after seven months at sea, Californian teen Abby Sunderland repairs her yacht in Cape Town.
The 'non-stop unassisted' part of her passage is a broken dream, but, five months younger than Jessica, she could still end up the youngest circumnavigator if she continues her journey any time soon.
Dutch sailor Laura Dekker, still 14, is preparing for departure in July, but she is planning to to take two years for her circumnavigation, a cruising journey.
She is to set out from Lisbon, sailing via the Canary Islands to the Caribbean. Then, transiting the Panama Canal she will sail via the Galapagos and French Polynesia to Cairns in Australia. Rounding the tip of Cape York, her next stop will be Darwin, before heading via Asia to India, then through the Gulf of Aden and up the Red Sea back to the Mediterranean and home.
That's option 1., but Laura has an option 2. which is to avoid the pirate region around Somalia, and instead sail directly from Bali across the Indian Ocean to round the Cape of Good Hope at the southern end of Africa, before sailing up the Atlantic via St Helena and home after stopping at the Canary Islands once more. Whichever way she chooses, it will be a big undertaking for such a young sailor.
Equipped now with a 38ft Jeanneau GinFizz ketch, a yacht more suitable than the Hurley 800 which was her previous yacht, she plans to head out as soon as possible after the July 1 deadline set down by Dutch Courts.
It seems that the Dutch Children's Court which prevented her from departing earlier, has now taken the course of recognizing that this young woman, born on a boat and with a passion for the sea, is no ordinary child. With her father's approval, they are, perhaps reluctantly, now attempting to give her good advice, and checking that she has such skills as first aid to take with her on her long journey.
Laura is still in need of sponsors to fund her long voyage. More details can be obtained from her website, some of which is in English, at www.lauradekker.nl
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