Column-Logbook for the Algemeen Dagblad
March 17, 2011
Translation for Zeilmeisje Laura Dekker on Facebook
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Each week in her column-logbook for the Algemeen Dagblad Laura Dekker will relate her journey around the world aboard her sailboat Guppy on her attempt to become the world's youngest circumnavigator.
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En Route to Panama


I am on Route again, 600 nautical miles on and I hope to be in San Blas tomorrow which will be my last stop before the Panama Canal. I was planning on going to Curacao or Aruba to make food provisions for the crossing of the Pacific Ocean, but then I changed my mind since I have learned that it could be done cheaper in Panama. There it won't be necessary to import everything from the Netherlands. So I'll just sail on. The Panama Canal is a highly frequented traffic lane where one has to go by the rules. First, your boat has to be measured and inspected and then you have to search for a crew. This is the only leg of my journey that I won't be sailing alone. The Panama Canal is narrow and to avoid accidents a pilot has to be aboard along with four helping hands for the locks. As it is, it is important to stay in the middle of the lock as it fills up to as high as nine meters. So four cables are streched from the sides of the lock and have to be mended. It does take some time until all this is organized. And then you are told when you will be allowed to go through...This may take several weeks. Anyway for now I am enjoying sailing, some 50 nautical miles off shore with nothing but water around me in the past days. I have had cargo ships passing me by, two of which were on a collision course with me and one didn't answer my VHF-radio call, but luckily I was able to spot it far in the distance. It is full moon and so I can see far into the night which is useful for spotting squalls but up to now I have had great weather with winds coming from behind at force 6 (?) on the Beaufort scale, can't be better.

Regards from the sea, Laura