What’s Next, Globe Toddlers?
A 13-year-old Dutch girl attempting to become the youngest-ever circumnavigator has been placed under state supervision in the Netherlands. Laura Dekker planned to leave September 1, aboard her 24-ft sailboat Guppy on a two-year, solo circumnavigation aimed at setting a Guinness world record.
Judges ruled that Dekker would have faced both mental and physical risks if she were to go ahead with the trip. The girl is now under the care of social services in Utrecht for two months, while psychologists and child protection authorities examine how she would cope with such a journey.
Having been born at sea aboard her parents’ boat in New Zealand, Dekker reportedly got her first boat at age six, has sailed with her parents extensively, and recently singlehanded from Holland to England. Dick Dekker, Laura’s father, had previously told a newspaper that he and the girl’s mother "would not let our child do something of which she was not in complete control."
We hope something got lost in that translation because we can’t fathom anyone who’s successfully completed oceanic passages believing they were ever in "complete control."
According to her lawyer — everybody needs a lawyer, don’t they? — Dekker is happy with the court ruling, as she’ll now "be able to prepare for the journey in a mature and responsible way."
How mature can a 13-year-old be? Would one be capable of a singlehanded circumnavigation? Possibly, if she’s mentally tough enough — which is a huge ‘if’ — and if everything went smoothly. Our problem with the proposition is that the odds of everything going smoothly are bad; there is still plenty of risk with such a voyage, and those risks can be fatal.
Which brings us to the case of Abby Sunderland, younger sibling of 17-year-old Zac Sunderland of Marina del Rey, who recently set a record for being the youngest person to singlehand around the world. He did it aboard the Islander 36 Intrepid. Alas, his record was short lived, as just yesterday, Briton Michael Perham beat Sunderland’s record by two months.
Even if the Sunderlands are able to raise the $350,000 they say will be necessary for Abby to acquire and refit an Open 40 for a November 1 start, there’s no way she’ll achieve her goal. First of all, she won’t be ready in two months. Second, even if she were, she wouldn’t be able to make the trip in six months — certainly not via the Southern Ocean.
The biggest mistake any sailor can do is underestimate the ocean, and no ocean is more dangerous to underestimate than the Southern Ocean. Indeed, before this delusion goes any further, we think the entire Sunderland clan should take a drive down to San Diego and visit with Stephen Mann and Kathleen Torres of Tawodi. The couple, you might remember from our August ’09 Changes report, recently completed the same trip that Abby is proposing. To review some of the difficulties, Mann and Torres encountered icebergs, 40-plus days in the Indian Ocean — over half of which was sailed in 50-knot winds — and the ever-present condensation and mold that come with the temperatures that hover just above freezing for days on end.
Do we think Abby Sunderland could singlehanded around the world like her brother did? Maybe, maybe not. Do we think she could do a six-month nonstop circumnavigation via the Southern Ocean — a trip we’d rate as being 10 times more difficult than Zac’s circumnavigation? No way in hell. Even if she were able to make it — which she won’t — what exactly does it prove? Perhaps only that kids and their parents will do almost anything to become celebrities.