14-year-old Dutch girl who wants to sail around the world

[amicus]

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/worl..._sunderla.html

Here we go again.

Quote:
A 14-year-old Dutch girl who wants to sail around the world was given the thumbs up by her mother—less than five weeks after an American girl ran into trouble attempting the same trip, which prompted a highly-publicized, 20-hour rescue mission.

Laura Dekker's plan to become the youngest person to circumnavigate the globe was squashed when a Dutch court ruled she was too inexperienced last year. They took temporary guardianship over her, worried about her physical capability and mental state if she went on the two-year trip.

~~~

Perhaps with the low birth rate and the pre-eminence of same sex marriages in Holland, they don't want to risk a potential mother?

egads, folks!

edited to add: http://soloround.blogspot.com/ (Abby 16's Blog)

ami

***

I posted this on the Abby 16 thread, but I guess it is old news and no one seemed interested.

This is the third teenaged girl, that I have heard about, with similar intentions to sail around the world singlehanded. Although the 'pedophile' accusations will rise again no doubt, I venture forth with yet another extrapolation, this time concerning the 80 plus Conservative women running for election in the United States in the upcoming November elections.

This is a little stretch, perhaps, but indulge me...Men and boys, used to be the 'risk takers', the 'individualists' in society...that is until the feminist movement virtually emasculated the male population in the Western World.

Warned you it was a stretch...

Instead of young boys setting forth on bold adventures, is it now young girls who feel a sense of empowerment in society and are rising to the surface?

If so, the outcry by some, that these are 'children'; wards of the State, and should be prevented from realizing their dreams and that their parents should be charged with a crime...?



Amicus

 

[Kev H]

Heh, that's great amicus--oh, what a stretch!

Of course, it was never possible before, because no parent would ever okay this; the dream would get squashed before it was ever in the planning stages, and yet another girl would be prepared for breeding. Happily, times have evolved, where girls at least have a chance to think up insane undertakings and get a supportive nod from somebody. So rather than there being no more guy risk takers and having women/girls fill the void, perhaps it's the more likely scenario in that girls are thought of as more than possessions. She's her own person, who can have her own ridiculous dream.

Seriously, my fingers are crossed for her if she eventually gets the go-ahead.

 

[amicus]

Heh, that's great amicus--oh, what a stretch!

Of course, it was never possible before, because no parent would ever okay this; the dream would get squashed before it was ever in the planning stages, and yet another girl would be prepared for breeding. Happily, times have evolved, where girls at least have a chance to think up insane undertakings and get a supportive nod from somebody. So rather than there being no more guy risk takers and having women/girls fill the void, perhaps it's the more likely scenario in that girls are thought of as more than possessions. She's her own person, who can have her own ridiculous dream.

Seriously, my fingers are crossed for her if she eventually gets the go-ahead.[/QUOTE]

~~~

Hello, Kev H, welcome back, hope things are well with you and yours...oops, that might be interpreted as 'possessive', and you would never refer to 'your' wife/husdand, or 'your' children, implying possession......

Girls have been 'coming on' since Wonderwoman and the Power Puff anime's, so I guess it is not such a leap of faith...

Along with you my best wishes go out to her and Abby 16, and there is another one who did a circumnavigation, good on all of them!

Ami

 

[amicus]

I want to add another dimension, if I may; being one who read all the single handed 'round the world sailor's books and logs and contemplated an attempt myself.

I did own a sailboat, a 36' gaff rigged cutter out of Miami, and I did single hand it across the Gulf Stream and into the Bahama's. Recalling the storms and the calms and the absolute aloneness of the ocean, I would propose that it takes a very special kind of individual, male or female, of any age, to go out into that dark night all alone.

"The Sea Is so Wide and My Boat Is so Small..." by Marian Wright, comes to mind as illustrative of the true isolation of a small boat on a large ocean.

There is a visceral response once the horizon shows only ocean in all directions and night begins to fall.

I was well into my 20's during my sailing days and had three years of sea duty in the Navy before that and still...it was a challenge to face the unknown.

Might be a new generation aborning out there as these very young people set forth on their grand adventures.

Amicus

 

[Kev H]

I want to add another dimension, if I may; being one who read all the single handed 'round the world sailor's books and logs and contemplated an attempt myself.

I did own a sailboat, a 36' gaff rigged cutter out of Miami, and I did single hand it across the Gulf Stream and into the Bahama's. Recalling the storms and the calms and the absolute aloneness of the ocean, I would propose that it takes a very special kind of individual, male or female, of any age, to go out into that dark night all alone.

"The Sea Is so Wide and My Boat Is so Small..." by Marian Wright, comes to mind as illustrative of the true isolation of a small boat on a large ocean.

There is a visceral response once the horizon shows only ocean in all directions and night begins to fall.

I was well into my 20's during my sailing days and had three years of sea duty in the Navy before that and still...it was a challenge to face the unknown.

Might be a new generation aborning out there as these very young people set forth on their grand adventures.

Amicus

I love your descriptiveness here--I can barely fathom the amount of fortitude it would take. If the girl has prepared with previous long journeys and truly knows the undertaking, I hope those who grabbed control of her will relent and let her go for it (however, I'm glad they stopped her if they detected how unprepared she is). Heh, what do you do to train for something like this? Pick just one ocean at first and go with holes in your sails?

 

[amicus]

Thank you again, Kev H...and now...a little serendipity...

I have been watching a new series on Discovery Channel, "Powering the Future", a rational approach to the oncoming world wide energy crisis, it is on now, but during a commercial, I switched over to Huckabee on Fox, just as he was introducing a 16 year old Canadian girl singer, Nikki Yanofsky, as a new phenom on the music scene.

The girl performed an Ella Fitzgerald standard, "I got Rhythm"..I smiled as she plunged into the song with vigor; when she added 'scat' to her repertoire, I found chills and even a tear at her rendition.

What is it with these 16 year old and younger girls knocking the woild on its' keester?



ami

edited to add...with a slice of irony...will there be those who accuse the parents of Nikki of letting a child embark upon a dangerous voyage in the world of pop music and advocate forbidding her to do so?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eaJ-9c_WHss

she is good!

 

[Loring2]

Amicus ... we live to see

... what we can see.
I remember as a child the lyrics to a simple poem; the bear went over the mountain to see what he could see ...

My mother was like that; she ferryed planes, multi-engine, to Ireland during WWII and when somebody asked her why she did it she said, "I just had to". My Grandma took care of her 3 kids.

No one made me volunteer to fly fighter planes in combat but I was compelled to, by myself and all my compatriots were of the same order.

Noone picked Armstrong or Aldrin to stand on the Moon; They chose themselves and the 14 year old Dutch girl is not a publicity stunt as some believe. She just has to do this.

Those who are indistinguishable in the crowd will never understand.

Loring

 

[amicus]

]... what we can see.
I remember as a child the lyrics to a simple poem; the bear went over the mountain to see what he could see ...

My mother was like that; she ferryed planes, multi-engine, to Ireland during WWII and when somebody asked her why she did it she said, "I just had to". My Grandma took care of her 3 kids.

No one made me volunteer to fly fighter planes in combat but I was compelled to, by myself and all my compatriots were of the same order.

Noone picked Armstrong or Aldrin to stand on the Moon; They chose themselves and the 14 year old Dutch girl is not a publicity stunt as some believe. She just has to do this.

Those who are indistinguishable in the crowd with never understand.

Loring[/I]

~~~

You just created some literature there, Loring, thank you for sharing those lovely thoughts...I was fortunate to view, perhaps on the Military Channel, or the History Channel, a documentary of world war two era women who ferried planes all over the place, some entirely across the Atlantic to Great Britain.

I have much admiration for that hardy breed of women who do such things and for the vitality of youth that dares venture forth.

regards...

Amicus

 

[Loring2]

~~~

You just created some literature there, Loring, thank you for sharing those lovely thoughts...I was fortunate to view, perhaps on the Military Channel, or the History Channel, a documentary of world war two era women who ferried planes all over the place, some entirely across the Atlantic to Great Britain.

I have much admiration for that hardy breed of women who do such things and for the vitality of youth that dares venture forth.

regards...

Amicus

My Mother, Fran, was one of those women. Fran was as good as they get.

By the way she was a Dutch girl too ... USA born ... Dutch heritage

 

[SeaCat]

Such a conundrome.

Keep them at home and protect them or let them follow their dreams.

Should we allow males to do what they wish and protect the females? Or shall we allow all children to do so?

What then is Willful Child Endangerment? Is it different for males and females?

Questions to which I have my own answers but society doesn't.

Cat

 

[amicus]

Questions indeed, Cat...I watched an NBC propaganda piece last evening, one that followed a migrant family from Texas up through the midwest picking crops as they ripened.

The entire family went on the journey which lasted all summer, even to a formerly purchased small house in one area.

The big beef? Children in the family picking Blueberries and such.

The LABOR department of the US Government was informed by NBC News of unlawful child labor practices and fined the farmer and the family is and will be, without that farm to work on in the future.

Even more questions,eh?



ami

 

[Loring2]

A conundrum ...

Such a conundrome.

Keep them at home and protect them or let them follow their dreams.

Should we allow males to do what they wish and protect the females? Or shall we allow all children to do so?

What then is Willful Child Endangerment? Is it different for males and females?

Questions to which I have my own answers but society doesn't.

Cat

Yes Cat and I think your last sentence encapsulates the conundrum as it should be for public usage. Noone should be allowed to tell anyone else how to do such personal things.

That said, "Willful Child endangerment" is another thing all together. The phrase is poorly defined under law and this I suspect is because there is no way to define it closely. A friend who is a Judge once said this about the law. Show me the particulars and I can begin to see if it is a case of willful endangerment or one of parental stupidity.

We should always remind ourselves that society does not have a mind. The collective is mindless because the collective in fact does not exist except in the minds of a few people who envision themselves as superior and should therefore rule.

Loring

 

[amicus]

Excellent point, Loring, excellent...one might include the nine Justices of the Supreme Court....how many 5/4 decisions are handed down on a regular basis?

Even the so called best judicial minds in America cannot agree on principles, and yet we try to hammer out equitable decisions on issues as complex as any here on this forum.

To even imagine that a hired bureaucracy of clerks and an elected majority of lawyers could resolve an issue as huge as Energy fo the Nation, is insane!

Amicus

 

[TE999]

The best of luck and good fortune to Ms. Dekker when she embarks on her journey.

There have always been the bold and the fearful among us, pioneers and stay at homes, the latter find reasons not to voyage far, the former ignore them.

Death comes to us all, however it is better to live your dream and deal with the inherent risks involved than creep around the baseboards weeping like Chuchundra the Muskrat.