Laura Dekker sails the world; emasculates boys everywhere

[Doomed Harlottt]

The non-Thinking Housewife has a couple of posts about the recent achivement of Laura Dekker, the Dutch girl who recently completed a 518 day solo circumnavigation of the globe, which she started at only 14.

Hell must be freezing over, because I actually have some sympathy for her position that this kind of adventure is not a good idea for such a young person. Certainly, if I were the parent, I would say, "If this is something you are passionate about, it can wait until you are 18. Meanwhile, I am responsible for your safety, and you also need to be in school." That said, I have mixed feelings about whether parents should be allowed to permit and enable their kids to do this kind of thing. On the one hand, the parents can assess better than I can whether the kid has the ability to sail safely and responsibly, and whether this will be a valuable experience for the kid. On the other hand, I worry that the prospect of media glory and the attendant financial rewards might encourage some parents to push or premit their kids to do this kind of thing when it really isn't safe. Also kids that age shouldn't be missing out on academic training necessary to succeed in our society. And lastly, some parents just don't have great judgment and, as a society, we should have some baseline standards of what we let kids do. I can't help but remember the 6 year old girl who was killed trying to pilot a plane by herself across the U.S. at her parents' behest.

Of course, non-Thinking H and her commenters manage to focus on the wrong thing. Commenter Josh is thinks Dekker's adventure is BAD because Dekker is a GIRL! She is trivializing something that could have been an inspiring masculine adventure. How she is trivializing it??? By doing it while being female. Apparently, anything a girl does, no matter how difficult or dangerous, is automatically rendered trivial. So even though a girl like Dekker clearly CAN perform challenging feats, they should hold back, I guess. This is kind of an amazing argument because it shows that the traditionalist notion of masculinity is little more than illusion. According to this guy's view, masculinity means the ability to do difficult things that women choose not to do so that men can deceive themselves into believing that no woman could. Josh is also worried that solo sailing trips around the world might give girls' silly notions that they can get by in life on their own.

Interestingly, the Harris brothers, the fundies at the Rebelution blog, are generally supportive of adventures by girls. I recall a few years back that they posted a flattering story about 16 year old sailor Abbie Sundersland and said that she was an example of their philosophy that teenagers should "do hard things."

[Conuly]

Was this the one that got into a bit of a squall a few years back and had to be rescued by Australia?

Regardless, I was shocked at the time how many commenters on the news articles seemed to think the girl should have been boarded by pirates and raped to teach her parents a lesson about sending her out alone.

(Meanwhile, the actual people who rescued her said "When somebody's in trouble on the sea, you save them. They'd save you. You can't just say, "Oh, you silly idiot" and let them drown." The silly idiot part is verbatim, the rest is paraphrase. And he's right, though - that seafaring individuals and nations save anybody who drifts into their waters has been international law and custom for a very, very long time.)

[Doomed Harlottt]

Conuly, This is not the same girl who had to be rescued. Apparently, there are quite a few young girls who are into sailing the world!

You reminded me that commenter Josh was also upset that Dekker's example teaches that radical autonomy can be "consequence free." Authoritarians get very upset when independent people don't face "consequences." Authoritarians use danger and risk as an excuse to maintain their authority ("You'd better do what I say for your own good.") so it drives them nuts when there are no consequences -- i.e. when a young girl sails around the world without getting eaten by sharks or raped by pirates, or when a woman has premarital sex and doesn't wind up with an STD or an unwanted baby.

[clever_name]

The one who needed rescuing was Abby Sunderland. She's an American. (Her blog is here: http://soloround.blogspot.com/) Personally (and I'm not a sailor), I think she was ill prepared for such an adventure. She didn't get far in the time it took her to get to where she needed rescuing. She was sailing VERY slow for her size boat and the conditions. She was also in a boat that was just too big for her to be singlehanding.

The other impressive gal is an Aussie named Jessica Watson. She went around the world non-stop, unassisted, solo at the age of 16. She sailed into Sydney on May 15, 2010 (after NINE months of non-stop solo sailing!) amid much MUCH fanfare. You can see all the parts of her homecoming broadcast on youtube, but the best is this one: (part 12... jump to about 5:45 in the video)

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If you watch the other videos, you can see the MASSIVE number of people who turned out to support her, both on land, and in the flotilla that sailed her into the harbor. When I hate humanity, I rewatch that video.

[Mama Mia]

I don't mind the parent's letting the girl miss school .. I would think it would be an amazing learning experience all on it's own, and I imagine she could take along plenty of reading materials. I'm sure, in the long run, it would be great to have such a motivated, independent, resourceful child.

BUT - there is no way in hell I would let my kid go sailing around the world at 15 ! I would be terrified. I would be terrified if they were an actual adult, but probably I couldn't stop them (at least not legally ) . I don't think it would make any difference if they were a boy or a girl .. that is not relevant.

[dirtyhippiegirl]

I started flying airplanes at twelve. This was around the time that a bunch of kids were trying to set records for being the youngest to fly cross country and that one very young girl - seven or so? - had recently died in a plane crash while attempting to be the youngest kid to fly something or somewhere...

I don't really know what to think. I'd never really thought of my own young accomplishments as being similar. I solo'd in a glider at 14 and in a fixed wing at 16, which are the minimum age requirements. But when that other girl who tried to sail around the world had to be rescued -- friends were asking about my opinion because I started doing what is generally perceived as an adult hobby as a fairly young girl, myself.

But I wasn't, like, trying to sail (or fly) around the world!

Surely there's a difference between letting your kid do something "hard" or that would otherwise be perceived as an adult past time and allowing them to take that extra leap where what they are doing would be considered dangerous even if they were over 18?

[gardenvarietycitizen]

I think the competition to be youngest was dangerous, and so I'm happy that at least some of the notoriety is taken out of it by Guinness no longer certifying the record (they've done similar for some other pretty crazy stunts done by adults too).

That's a separate discussion from the general topic of if minors should engage in dangerous activities. But there was some good discussion around the topic of "youngest" records when Sunderland sailed (in the WORST season to do so - possibly because she was chasing that record) and when the 13 year old climbed Everest - people had some legitimate questions, luckily (and there's a lot of luck involved on Everest no matter WHO you are) things went well, but what if it hadn't, would he have had the maturity to deal with it, etc.

As for girl vs. boy - yeah, The Nonthinking Housewife can stuff it. She's hardly the first to go down that road though, there's a whole horde of people out there who hold that it's a woman's responsibility to always "encourage" men and part of that is letting them win all the time. Eff that, quite frankly.

[PennySycamore]

I do sail although not nearly as much as I'd like. Abby Sunderland WAS totally unprepared for her voyage. She apparently did not have much offshore sailing experience and very little of that at the helm. Abbie went out in an Open 40 "racing sled" which is the wrong boat for the kind of voyage she was undertaking. (Open 40s need an experienced hand at the helm.) Furthermore, she was sailing the Southern Ocean in the austral winter. She was rescued down in the Roaring 40s, IIRC, which are some of the stormiest seas on earth.

Abby's older brother Zac had missed the "Youngest Solo Circumnavigator" record when the it was determined that his route did not meet the criteria for a circumnavigation. Zac was bested only six weeks later by British sailor Michael Perham who copleted his voyage at the age of 17 years 164 days. Abby and Zac's parents are pretty similar to some of the fundies we snark on: evangelicals, lots of kids, homeskooled, controlling patriarch. They just don't have the cultural stuff like skirts only and headcovering.

Laura seems to have done her voyage right. She planned her voyage very well: route, timing of voyage, vessel (38" ketch). Laura also has a ton of sailing experience. She was born aboard, spent the first 6 years of her life sailing in the South Seas with her parents and learned to sail an Optimist when she was 6.

Btw, the International Sailing Federation no longer recognizes "youngest" sailing records as they do not want to encourage reckless behavior in kids. Glad to see Guinness takes the same position.

[Conuly]

You reminded me that commenter Josh was also upset that Dekker's example teaches that radical autonomy can be "consequence free."

So, basically Josh is against reality and facts? Good to know he says so upfront!

Authoritarians get very upset when independent people don't face "consequences." Authoritarians use danger and risk as an excuse to maintain their authority ("You'd better do what I say for your own good.")

Now I see why I'm not the most popular grown-up on the playground, I refuse to tell the nieces not to do things "because it's dangerous" unless it actually IS dangerous. The most they hear out of me is "If you think you can do that, go ahead, but if you fall you might get hurt, and no, I won't help you down if you get stuck."

(It only took two sessions of "Oh, you can't get down? Well, drop!" before each niece learned not to climb before plotting a path down.)

Abby Sunderland WAS totally unprepared for her voyage.

I'll take your word for it :) However, I think her life being at risk and her face being all over the news in such an embarrassing fashion is more than enough punishment. No need to add rape to the list, or to let her die because, after all, she's not helping the gene pool. (And really, at that age, who is?)

[dirtyhippiegirl]

I do sail although not nearly as much as I'd like. Abby Sunderland WAS totally unprepared for her voyage. She apparently did not have much offshore sailing experience and very little of that at the helm. Abbie went out in an Open 40 "racing sled" which is the wrong boat for the kind of voyage she was undertaking. (Open 40s need an experienced hand at the helm.) Furthermore, she was sailing the Southern Ocean in the austral winter. She was rescued down in the Roaring 40s, IIRC, which are some of the stormiest seas on earth.

Abby's older brother Zac had missed the "Youngest Solo Circumnavigator" record when the it was determined that his route did not meet the criteria for a circumnavigation. Zac was bested only six weeks later by British sailor Michael Perham who copleted his voyage at the age of 17 years 164 days. Abby and Zac's parents are pretty similar to some of the fundies we snark on: evangelicals, lots of kids, homeskooled, controlling patriarch. They just don't have the cultural stuff like skirts only and headcovering.

Laura seems to have done her voyage right. She planned her voyage very well: route, timing of voyage, vessel (38" ketch). Laura also has a ton of sailing experience. She was born aboard, spent the first 6 years of her life sailing in the South Seas with her parents and learned to sail an Optimist when she was 6.

Btw, the International Sailing Federation no longer recognizes "youngest" sailing records as they do not want to encourage reckless behavior in kids. Glad to see Guinness takes the same position.

See, I love informed opinions like this. People would ask me and I'd be like "I have no idea. I don't even know how to swim and am terrified of the water."

[Deleted05]

Ha. My roommate and I were discussing why all these sailors we'd heard about were young gird. She said it's because boys are less mature at that age. Now I know it's just because they're emasculated.

[clever_name]

See, I love informed opinions like this. People would ask me and I'd be like "I have no idea. I don't even know how to swim and am terrified of the water."

If you're interested in more info, google "abby sunderland sailing anarchy" for a LOOOOOOONG thread about why she should've never been single-handing. (Never mind at a crappy time of year, in the wrong part of the ocean at the wrong time, and without the skills necessary for her to succeed.)

[PennySycamore]

Thanks for the google suggestion, clever_name. There's some good stuff there.

[gardenvarietycitizen]

Thanks for the google suggestion, clever_name. There's some good stuff there.

Indeed, I'll recommend it too. AH the hours and hours I lost to that site when it was going on (enjoyed every minute of it though, only have myself to blame!)