The new cushions, sunshade and bright red sail are in place. And now 14-year-old Laura Dekker has the go-ahead she needs.
A Dutch court ruled on Tuesday the girl who was born on a yacht in the South Pacific is ready to embark on her dream of becoming the youngest person to sail solo around the world — meaning she could set sail in two weeks in a ketch named Guppy.
“I was so happy I almost jumped into the water,” the teen gushed, after hearing the court’s decision.
PHOTO: EPA
She then hopped onto her red-hulled, twin-masted yacht with a cartoon fish painted on the side and did a celebratory circle for the assembled media in the still waters of the harbor where she lives with her father on a boat.
The past year of legal wrangling and criticism of Laura and her family have been far from such clear sailing — and she faces more stormy waters when she sets off on her odyssey in her 11.5m yacht. The dramatic rescue just last month of US teen Abby Sunderland in the Indian Ocean is a reminder of the perils she will face.
“I’m not really afraid, everything is really prepared on my boat,” the young Dutch sailor said of the prospect of encountering everything from towering waves to Somali pirates.
Answering questions in Dutch and English with a confidence belying her age, only rarely did Laura’s youthful exuberance break through at a brief news conference — like when she looked back on the stress of the last year.
“Now it’s all over and, yeah, it’s really cool,” she said.
The risks the teen faces ignited a worldwide debate on how far parents should go in supporting or encouraging their children’s improbable dreams.
When Dutch child protection agencies got wind last year of the then-13-year-old’s plan, they immediately went to court and had Laura placed under a guardianship order that meant she could not set sail.
After reviewing her plans, judges ruled Laura was under-prepared for such a voyage. They also raised concerns about her psychological and social development if she spent two years away from her peers and from school.
One by one, Laura and her father worked to address a list of shortcomings — she organized remote schooling (study materials for the voyage were delivered last week) and got a bigger, sturdier yacht and fitted it with a battery of safety and navigation equipment. She took first aid courses, learning to suture her own wounds, put out onboard fires and cope with sleep deprivation.
All the work paid off when Middelburg Family Court said there was no reason to extend the guardianship by another year.
Presiding Judge S. Kuypers said the responsibility for Laura now “lies with her parents.”
The teen has also won over her mother, who initially opposed the voyage. Babs Mueller, who is separated from Laura’s father, recently said she now backs her daughter.
Dick Dekker brushed off criticism that he was pushing his daughter to undertake the voyage.
“Nonsense. It was Laura’s plan from the very beginning,” he said. “I just support her in it.”
An experienced sailor who was circling the globe with Laura’s mother when Laura was born on their yacht in New Zealand waters, Dekker said he didn’t think the voyage was any more risky than life in the Netherlands.
“If she rides her bike to school that is probably more dangerous,” he told reporters.
A new online voting system aimed at boosting turnout among the Philippines’ millions of overseas workers ahead of Monday’s mid-term elections has been marked by confusion and fears of disenfranchisement. Thousands of overseas Filipino workers have already cast their ballots in the race dominated by a bitter feud between President Ferdinand Marcos Jr and his impeached vice president, Sara Duterte. While official turnout figures are not yet publicly available, data from the Philippine Commission on Elections (COMELEC) showed that at least 134,000 of the 1.22 million registered overseas voters have signed up for the new online system, which opened on April 13. However,
ALLIES: Calling Putin his ‘old friend,’ Xi said Beijing stood alongside Russia ‘in the face of the international counter-current of unilateralism and hegemonic bullying’ Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) yesterday was in Moscow for a state visit ahead of the Kremlin’s grand Victory Day celebrations, as Ukraine accused Russia’s army of launching air strikes just hours into a supposed truce. More than 20 foreign leaders were in Russia to attend a vast military parade today marking 80 years since the defeat of Nazi Germany in World War II, taking place three years into Russia’s offensive in Ukraine. Putin ordered troops into Ukraine in February 2022 and has marshaled the memory of Soviet victory against Nazi Germany to justify his campaign and rally society behind the offensive,
ENTERTAINMENT: Rio officials have a history of organizing massive concerts on Copacabana Beach, with Madonna’s show drawing about 1.6 million fans last year Lady Gaga on Saturday night gave a free concert in front of 2 million fans who poured onto Copacabana Beach in Rio de Janeiro for the biggest show of her career. “Tonight, we’re making history... Thank you for making history with me,” Lady Gaga told a screaming crowd. The Mother Monster, as she is known, started the show at about 10:10pm local time with her 2011 song Bloody Mary. Cries of joy rose from the tightly packed fans who sang and danced shoulder-to-shoulder on the vast stretch of sand. Concert organizers said 2.1 million people attended the show. Lady Gaga
CONFLICTING REPORTS: Beijing said it was ‘not familiar with the matter’ when asked if Chinese jets were used in the conflict, after Pakistan’s foreign minister said they were The Pakistan Army yesterday said it shot down 25 Indian drones, a day after the worst violence between the nuclear-armed rivals in two decades. Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif vowed to retaliate after India launched deadly missile strikes on Wednesday morning, escalating days of gunfire along their border. At least 45 deaths were reported from both sides following Wednesday’s violence, including children. Pakistan’s military said in a statement yesterday that it had “so far shot down 25 Israeli-made Harop drones” at multiple location across the country. “Last night, India showed another act of aggression by sending drones to multiple locations,” Pakistan military spokesman Ahmed
RSS