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Zeilmeisje Laura Dekker |
AROUND THE WORLD IN 518 DAYS
'' [...] looking forward to her stories and lessons learned from her months and years spent on – and off – the water.''
http://www.ideacityonline.com/speaker/laura-dekker/
Showing posts with label Zeilmeisje Laura Dekker. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Zeilmeisje Laura Dekker. Show all posts
Thursday, 1 May 2014
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Maidentrip at Ocean Film Tour |
International OCEAN FILM TOUR: Hoofdfilm MAIDENTRIP met LAURA DEKKER
Data:
7 mei, Amsterdam, 20uur, Trouw Amsterdam
8 mei, Rotterdam 20uur, Theater Zuidplein, kleine zaal
9 mei, Den Haag, 20uur, Theater de Nieuwe Regentes
Kaarten verkrijgbaar via: www.oceanfilmtour.com
Bron: http://www.extremesports.nl/international-ocean-film-tour-hoofdfilm-maiden-trip-met-laura-dekker/
Wednesday, 19 March 2014
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| Different climbing photo: Laura Dekker |
March 16, 15, 2014
Go back and forth to Laura's latest Weblog! :-D
Dutch
http://bit.ly/qymxpG
English
http://bit.ly/ddLVWC
Spanish
http://bit.ly/nml30
Wednesday, 5 March 2014
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| Like a Rocket photo: WN with PassageWeather |
February 27, 26, 25, 2014
Rocket to Laura's latest Weblogs with pictures! :-D
Dutch
http://bit.ly/qymxpG
English
http://bit.ly/ddLVWC
Spanish
http://bit.ly/nml30
Sunday, 23 February 2014
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Photo: WN + Earth Wind Map |
Do not sail backwards to Laura's latest Weblogs!
Dutch
http://bit.ly/qymxpG
English
http://bit.ly/ddLVWC
Spanish
http://bit.ly/nml30
Monday, 17 February 2014
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Sunset photo: Laura Dekker |
Sail into the sunset with Laura's latest Weblog!
Dutch
http://bit.ly/qymxpG
English
http://bit.ly/ddLVWC
Spanish
http://bit.ly/nml30
Thursday, 13 February 2014
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Laura & Guppy / Hen and Chickens photo: Laura Dekker |
Sail to Laura's latest Weblog ...
Dutch
http://bit.ly/qymxpG
English
http://bit.ly/ddLVWC
Spanish
http://bit.ly/nml30
Sunday, 26 January 2014
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| Photo: Thomas Weber |
On October 6, 2013, Laura gave a presentation about her circumnavigation at Bürgerkulturzentrum Windeck “Kabelmetal” in Windeck-Schladern (Germany).
Please enjoy the final part!
NB
For the full text undivided in parts, maybe you will need to login to Blogger using your Google+ account:
http://zeilmeisjelauradekkerarchives2.blogspot.ca/p/blog-page.html
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LAURA AT BÜRGERKULTURZENTRUM WINDECK – PART 4
Photo: (from left to right) Riek Dekker, Dick Dekker, Laura, Spot, Dick Dekker sr. after the event at the Kabelmetal hall
***
What can I say now but that of course I know Laura’s story but listening to her live and first-hand was something really, really special. A nice moment happened when Laura called Spot on stage to show that she wasn’t completely alone when on her sailing trips at ten years old and without a grown-up for company.
The whole time of Laura’s presence the auditorium hung on to her lips, spellbound following her account as she showed many pictures, most of which are not published on the internet or elsewhere. Another show-stopper was the inflatable globe, on which Laura’s route was displayed. That globe hung down over the speaker’s desk attached by a string. Laura only had to loosen the string to lower the globe by two meters, and show her entire route to the audience. The week before in Hamburg her boyfriend Daniel hat to temporarily make-do as somekind of globe-mount. Maybe the Bürgerkulturzentrum’s team manages to install a little motor to hoist and to lower the globe at the push of a button before Laura’s next presentation in Windeck.
Laura’s presentation was over much too soon and under loud applause from the audience she again took her seat next to moderator Jürgen Orthaus on the sofa. After a little chat during which Mr Orthaus asked some interesting questions to Laura, the Q & A period for the audience was on. You could tell from some questions that many of the people in the public must have been sailors because they asked for technical details like the safety line and so on. At the very end Mr Orthaus again thanked Laura and me and closed the event with a nice quote by Johnny Depp: “You can’t buy happiness with money, but you can buy a yacht with which to sail into happiness.”
That was it! It all went perfecty well, there were no incidents technical or of another kind. Now it was all about Laura signing books, giving autographs and chatting with her fans. Even I was engaged by attending journalists and interested bystanders heating praising words from all sides. Christoph and I also had a chat with Laura’s father. Later Christoph told me that he had later asked Dick Dekker whether West North’s and my work for Laura would be acknowledged and thanked for publicly to which Dick answered that it would be unusual (!) and that no one would do that. Maybe Mr Dekker should occasionally take in hand the books by other circumnavigators who have thanked their benefactors and sponsors in speeches and print.
And then it was time to wrap-up. According to event manager Peter Schadel the event turned out to be a “black zero” for Kabelmetal – no win but no loss either. All in all there were 62 paying guests attending plus the Dekker family and several journalists. The result from the book sale was also good. Laura seemed to be satisfied. At least that is what she said each time we asked.
Slowly the hall emptied and we packed our things up. Then we had to bid farewell. In the parking in front of the hall we talked for a few minutes before we said good bye to each other. Daniel told me that Laura had another appointment in Salzburg, Austria, the next day, but did not know what it was about. While Silke, Christoph and I drove back to my house and Dick Dekker drove back to Holland with the grandparents, Laura and Daniel went over to Daniel’s relatives who invited them for supper. We would have loved to have them back at my home to end the day. Maybe next time, but honestly I don’t believe that, but well, you never know, after all I was also completely wrong in my appreciations after HISWA 2012.
Acknowledgements
I’d like to thank everyone who contributed and made Laura’s appearance at “Kabelmetal” a reality!
I especially would like to thank Mr Peter Schadel for the organization and the spontaneous acceptance to host the event,
To Mr Jürgen Orthaus, who I want to thank for his great moderation skills during the event and his advocacy in preparation of the event,
To Miss Tamoschus of the book store ‘der buchladen’ in Waldbröl, http://buchladenwaldbroel.de/, who without hesitation agreed to provide Laura’s books for selling at the event,
To Mr Andreas John of segelreporter.com who posted the announcement for the event on the Segelreporter page.
Furthermore, I would like to thank Miss Friederike Krempin from the Delius Klasing publishing house, who kept informing me and Laura’s fans with the latest news during Laura’s stay in Germany.
And finally, I’d like to thank Laura very, very much, who, despite she wasn’t feeling her best, made that day a very special one for all us. We won’t ever forget!
***
Epilogue – a bitter aftertaste
Several days have passed since the event with Laura and things came back to normal. On Friday morning, October 11, I received a mail by Dick Dekker. He wrote that there would be an interview with Laura on the radio that very same evening on NDR, that “had been recorded a long time ago.” Then shortly before noon, when I had just come back home, the unbelievable happened! Unaware of things to come I opened another mail by Dick Dekker, that had the inoffensive subject ‘Windeck presentatie’ (Presentation in Windeck). In that mail Dick Dekker accused us, the operator of the hall and me, of having financially cheated Laura at the event at Bürgerkulturzentrum Windeck. According to his estimation there had been at least 150 people in the audience, hence Laura had to receive a four digit remuneration. Laura, as Dick wrote on, had been cheated many, many times in her life, and he, Dick Dekker, would never forgive me for that. According to Mr Dekker I had talked nonsense and allowed people to attend the event for free, including giving access to third-class (!) reporters. The moderator had been too expensive and had only said three sentences. Never before Laura had earned so little money like in Windeck and she feels very much cheated by us.
All the effort was in vain - acknowledgement or even thanks? Forget about it! I somewhat expected something like that from Dick Dekker. In fact we, West North and I, have experienced similar attitude and some in the past from Mr Dekker but accusing me of cheating Laura is on a totally different level. Of course, I immediately wrote to Laura and asked her about it. Up to now I received no answer, however, this doesn’t necessarily mean that she shares her father’s opinion. Hence, after the book presentation in Hamburg we, Laura Daniel and I, had a brief chat about the film documentary about Laura’s journey, and as it turns out her opinion is very much different from what her father says in public. In all his statements he has kept up the impression that in fact he is expressing Laura’s opinion. No doubt you will make your own opinion about this.
For my part I told Dick Dekker in very clear words that I reject his accusations and find them totally inacceptable coming this late after all I/we did for Laura and him since the summer of 2010. I also put his statement in doubt about Laura never earning so little from a presentation. In subsequent mails Mr Dekker got caught up in contradictions about the conditions for Laura’s speech on the one hand and Laura’s statements towards me on the other hand.
Eventually, Laura’s blog of October 24, 2013 turned out to be a big disappointment. Not a single word about Windeck, no thanks to the people who got involved with it, not even a photo. But what did I expect? After 360 translations from Dutch to English of Laura’s blog and the other work we did, no mention or public thanks. For some reason the phrase “thanks for your help” doesn’t suit the Dekker family’s self-image. This, of course, would be a confession that they need others and that is a complete no-go.
To me it’s especially disappointing that Laura as it seems, was more interested by her remuneration for her speech than getting in touch with her fans. What did Laura say once? „In Holland and Europe they only think of money.“ I had always hoped that Laura is different from that.
Let’s hope that Laura will learn soon that she can’t continuously treat other people with disregard. These words however - to say it in the words of a famous German circumnavigator-, were maybe spoken in the wind.
Thomas Weber
-End-
Friday, 24 January 2014
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| Photo: Silke M.-Polnik |
On October 6, 2013, Laura gave a presentation about her circumnavigation at Bürgerkulturzentrum Windeck “Kabelmetal” in Windeck-Schladern (Germany).
Please enjoy!
NB
For the full text undivided in parts, maybe you will need to login to Blogger using your Google+ account:
http://zeilmeisjelauradekkerarchives2.blogspot.ca/p/blog-page.html
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LAURA AT BÜRGERKULTURZENTRUM WINDECK – PART 3
After short greetings in the hallway we moved over to the living room where a big, flat and gift-wrapped box that Silke and Christoph had brought was opened to reveal its secret : a pirateship Guppy cake from their local bakery with Guppy written in sugar icing. Laura was very happy about it. Christoph also gave Laura a book. Sadly, we can’t remember the title but it was something about sailing.
_ "Maybe we’d like to try the cake", Laura suggested.
_ "We’d love to!"
The table was soon set and a few minutes later the five of us were sitting gemuetlich (cozily) in my dining room. If someone had said to me in late August 2009, when I read about Laura’s story in the Rhein-Sieg-Anzeiger newspaper during breakfast that she would be sitting at my table four years later, I’d have called him a weirdo. But that’s exactly what happened on this October 6. We did not cut into pirateship-Guppy-cake but choose to go for Silke’s tasty apple cake. Laura preferred hot chocolate over black tea; I did not have any peppermint tea that Daniel had asked me to brew for Laura. However, she obviously enjoyed Silke’s apple cake. We talked about this and that, about sailing and about how many meters of anchor chain one has to let out when dropping anchor, about the translations that West North and I did for Laura (Daniel had no clue about that and I noticed that Laura didn’t appreciate when I told) and about some other things. Daniel had never tried a Crème brûlée, even though they had celebrated Laura’s 18th birthday in France.
_ "Reminds me of Christmas", Daniel said as I caramelized the sugar with a gas torch. Laura tried a few spoons. Obviously she liked it.
_ "Did you cook it?” she asked.
_ "Sure did!"
We would have liked to spend more time with Laura and Daniel and entertain more important subjects, but Laura and Daniel had to go for a brief visit with relatives. And the long case clock (Daniel: “That clock reminds me to Big Ben” due to it's deep tone) in my dining room indicated that it was less than an hour until our scheduled meeting with the moderator at the hall. Sounds incredible, but it’s true: Daniel, whom Laura met on a bus on the other side of the world in New Zealand, has some relatives living in my neighboring village.
_ "How long have you lived here?" Laura asked me getting inside the GUPPY-mobile.
_ "My whole life, my family has lived here for more than one hundred years." I said. Laura looked at me in disbelief.
_ "See you later!" she said and off they went.
One hour later, at about 16.45 Silke, Christoph and I arrived at the Kabelmetal hall. On the left side of the stage the speaker’s desk was set up. A large screen stood at the center rear of the stage. On a lower podium in front of the stage a leather sofa was in place for the interview. Mr Orthaus and Laura had already discussed the course of the event. “She’s really an easy going person”, he had said to me. Indeed, she is.
Except for us there were only a few people in the auditorium and two little girls that kept asking Laura for autographs. Could this be the kids of my Facebook friend Sascha? Indeed. They had done the three hours long journey by car just to see Laura. An other fan had travelled by train from Holland to Windeck-Schladern.
On each chair in the auditory we placed one copy of the postcards that I had brought back from Hamburg the week before. Next we had to organize the sale of the book. We quickly set up a table to the lower right side of the stage and decorated it with a few books and the poster that was given to me in Hamburg. While I was still busy with fixing the poster to the table, I noticed from the corner of my eye a dog entering the hall – it was Spot, Laura’s dog, and the man that he towed behind him was Laura’s father, Dick Dekker. He was followed by Riek and Dick Dekker senior, Laura’s grandparents from Holland. They had come all the way from Woerden near Utrecht to attend Laura’s presentation. I don’t know if Laura was really surprised by their visit. I had knowned of their presence a few days earlier, but Dick Dekker had asked me not to disclose anything to Laura. At least Spot was happy to be with Laura again andexpressed his joy uproariously. Sadly, Laura’s sister Kim couldn’t be with us because she had to attend school early the next morning – and as we know the Dutch officials have no mercy when it’s about attending school. While I was still busy with preparing the table for the book sale, Laura’s grandmother stepped closer to me and told me in German that she’s Laura’s grandmother - “I know” was all I replied and that was obviously confusing to her, and that she had not seen the German version of Laura’s book before. A few minutes later I saw Laura in a conversation with her grandmother who obviously was asking Laura about me as she pointed in my direction, and uttered an “Oh!”. I can’t tell if this “Oh!” was meant as a positive or a negative. While Laura was sipping her peppermint tea, Dick Dekker asked me in German whether I did advertising for the event. A weird question, really since…I have to say that I answered him coolly as we haven’t had only friendly correspondence in the past.
When trying to connect Laura’s computer with the video projector it turned out that despite the five millions of Euros that were invested in rebuilding the hall, that money hadn’t been enough to buy an adaptor to plug-in an Apple laptop. Happily, Daniel’s relatives in the neighboring village had an adaptor that fitted. Just before the start of the event the question arose if there should be a break after the first half of Laura’s presentation.That eventually was found to be unnecessary. Laura handed a poster to me that I fixed to the entrance door to the hall. I later learned that it was the very same poster that Laura had photographed for her September 22 weblog. Daniel and I agreed that I would sell the books I had from the book store in Waldbröl and that he would sell the books Laura had purchased from the Delius Klasing publishing house. To be done after Laura’s presentation.
The clock showed a few minutes past 18.00 and to my surprise and to my pleasure almost all of the 90 seats in the auditorium were taken. Laura’s family were seated on the left side in front of the stage and Laura was waiting to be called as she sat on her father’s lap. Then the show was on!
Moderator Jürgen Orthaus began with a brief introduction about his work at Bürgerkulturzentrum Windeck. Then he introduced Laura and they both took their seats on the sofa. When the applause from the audience faded, he asked Laura the first question : „Why is Laura Dekker giving her only public presentation in Europe in Windeck?“ - you will remember that question from the beginning of this account. I have to admit that I felt pretty touched by Laura’s answer, however I was brought back to reality when Mr Orthaus suddenly held the microphone in front of my nose asking me how the connection to Laura had come to be. Well, summing up four years in one or two sentences is rather difficult if not impossible, so I kept to some platitudes and simply asserted that Laura is worth being supported.
_ "Some time ago it was said that a circumnavigation is not that difficult: Sail southbound until the butter starts melting and then simply turn left. But that’s not how it is, is it?” said Mr Orthaus to lead back into Laura’s circumnavigation.
_ "You can try doing it like that too, however that’s not how I did it."
_"Then please tell us how you did." And then it was Laura’s turn to tell us.
-To be continued-
Monday, 13 January 2014
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Laura & Gupy and Co. Photo: Laura Dekker |
Gypsies ... :-D
Dutch
http://bit.ly/qymxpG
English
http://bit.ly/ddLVWC
Spanish
http://bit.ly/nml30
Sunday, 1 December 2013
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Laura aboard Winddancer photo: Laura Dekker |
http://bit.ly/qymxpG
English
http://bit.ly/ddLVWC
Spanish
http://bit.ly/nml30
Sunday, 1 September 2013
Against the current with Laura
/ Gegen den Strom mit Laura
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BELLE magazine Issue 1, September 2013 |
This article was first published in issue 1, September 2013 of the Dutch BELLE magazine. We would like to thank the people of BELLE magazine for their permission to translate and to post this article here.
Please take some time to visit their website www.huisvanbelle.nl
You will find the English and Deutsch translations of this article on Facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=519650104780911&set=a.129781350434457.34545.129715607107698&type=1
Sunday, 21 July 2013
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Singapore & Phuket photos: Laura Dekker Collage: Thomas Weber |
Climb in your hammock and have a look at Laura's latest Weblog and pictures! :-D
Deutsch
http://bit.ly/nNWr2o
Dutch
http://bit.ly/qymxpG
English
http://bit.ly/ddLVWC
Spanish
http://bit.ly/nml30G
Tuesday, 9 July 2013
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New Zealand / Australia Photos: Laura Dekker Collage: Thomas Weber |
Climb to Laura's latest Weblog! :-D
Deutsch
http://bit.ly/nNWr2o
Dutch
http://bit.ly/qymxpG
English
http://bit.ly/ddLVWC
Spanish
http://bit.ly/nml30G
Monday, 17 June 2013
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Beach Picture:Thomas Weber |
... Get sandblasted with Laura's latest Weblog! :-D
Deutsch
http://bit.ly/nNWr2o
Dutch
http://bit.ly/qymxpG
English
http://bit.ly/ddLVWC
Spanish
http://bit.ly/nml30G
Tuesday, 21 May 2013
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Laura and her book! photo: Laura Dekker |
Deutsch
http://bit.ly/nNWr2o
Dutch
http://bit.ly/qymxpG
English
http://bit.ly/ddLVWC
Spanish
http://bit.ly/nml30G
Friday, 10 May 2013
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Guppy 'tantrum' Photo: Laura Dekker (2013-05-10) |
Deutsch
http://bit.ly/nNWr2o
Dutch
http://bit.ly/qymxpG
English
http://bit.ly/ddLVWC
Spanish
http://bit.ly/nml30G
Friday, 3 May 2013
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Under the Magnolia tree (Laura Dekker & Laetitia Lenoir) Photo: Somira Sao |
Get in the shade with Laura's latest Weblog! ...... And new pictures! :-D
Deutsch
http://bit.ly/nNWr2o
Dutch
http://bit.ly/qymxpG
English
http://bit.ly/ddLVWC
Spanish
http://bit.ly/nml30G
Thursday, 18 April 2013
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| Photos: Laura Dekker Collage: Thomas Weber |
Laura's latest Weblog! :-D
Deutsch
http://bit.ly/nNWr2o
Dutch
http://bit.ly/qymxpG
English
http://bit.ly/ddLVWC
Spanish
http://bit.ly/nml30G
Sunday, 24 March 2013
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NZ road trip / Spring 2013 Photos: Laura Dekker Collage: Thomas Weber |
Laura's latest Weblog! :-D
Deutsch
http://bit.ly/nNWr2o
Dutch
http://bit.ly/qymxpG
English
http://bit.ly/ddLVWC
Spanish
http://bit.ly/nml30G
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