Dutch sailor Laura Dekker, 16
Dutch sailor Laura Dekker, now 16, set off quietly from Australia this fall and successfully crossed the Indian Ocean, arriving in South Africa in late November after 47 days at sea. To elude pirates in this notoriously dangerous sea, Dekker and her on-shore crew kept her positions a secret. The strategy worked, and now Dekker is readying herself for the next leg of her global circumnavigation. Dekker’s plan is to finish her solo trip before her 17th birthday in September 2012.
Here’s an excerpt from her blog on the day of her arrival in South Africa: “This last leg to Cape Town was really tough. On the last night coming in I reefed the mainsail three times and we rounded the Cape of Good Hope in five metres high breaking waves, Guppy going at 8 knots under the storm jib only. The 35 knots wind that were forecasted soon turned to 40 knots, then to 45 knots and finally to 50 knots with at times 55 knots gusts! This was more than what the storm jib could take, but for some reason it jammed rolling so I couldn’t furl it in… The small sail area left was too much and being knocked down was still a real possibility – it had to come down.”
” In the early morning light as I could barely figure out the huge mass of the Table Mountain nearing, its top rising high above into the clouds, I made my way to the foredeck where under multiple ice cold showers I managed to take the storm jib down. On this side of Cape Agulhas the water temperature drops significantly and for the first time since the Galápagos Islands I saw penguins and seals swimming around. With her now bare masts Guppy was still heeling heavily as we were heading for the harbor and I was blinded by all the water washing over and the rising sun shining straight into my eyes…” To read more of Dekker’s blog, click here.
Diana Nyad
You may recall the story of Diana Nyad, the 61-year-old who set out last month to swim from Cuba to Florida. To prepare for the 103-mile swim, Nyad trained for a year and enlisted a posse of experts to help her with nutrition, endurance, weather-tracking, and shark management. With her background as a record-setting open ocean swimmer, Nyad was probably the best-qualified person in her age group to attempt the daunting journey. She had estimated it would take her about 60 hours to complete, but about 30 hours into it, she succumbed to agonizing shoulder pain, an asthma attack, and severe vomiting. Speaking to reporters afterward, Nyad said “I wasn’t the best swimmer I could be — the asthma and the shoulder made sure of that.” Nyad told the New York Times that she hoped her quest would inspire more people her age to take up exercise and live vital, energetic lives.
Laura Dekker
Meanwhile, teen sailor Laura Dekker made it to the halfway point of her global circumnavigation when she sailed into Darwin, Australia late last month. The crossing from Bora Bora was mostly smooth, although her vessel, the Guppy, took a beating from high winds in the last few days and limped into Darwin with shredded sails. Dekker is now resting up in Darwin, fixing equipment, fundraising, and looking forward to celebrating her 16th birthday. Check out her
blog — Dekker’s journal captures her upbeat and courageous personality and shares great anecdotes of high-seas adventure.
Roz Savage
Over in the Indian Ocean, rower Roz Savage is contending with high winds that have capsized her boat several times, even causing it to roll 360 degrees. She is spending her time cleaning up the detritus that results from capsizing and trying to find ways to ease the boredom that comes with downtime. Now 135 days into her journey from Australia to India, Savage must wait for the winds to calm before she attempts to row again. In the meantime, she is playing solitaire and blogging about plastic pollution in our oceans (check out the trailer for Bag It, a documentary in the style of Supersize Me about the serious problems posed by single-use plastic bags).
