Column-Logbook for the Algemeen Dagblad
June 30, 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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No winds and out of it


I have had it! I am sick... I must have catched the flu back in Bora Bora. I spent yesterday on the couch just totally out of it with a hammering headache and a sore throat. Usually when there is no wind it is bad news for a sailor but this time I liked it. No swell is very much better for my aching head. I am feeling somewhat better today but I am still far from my top condition. Because of the sore throat I cannot eat not even a single bite and I my voice sounds like that of a frog, and I am sure that I will get a cough when the stuff in my nose comes loose. Oh well, the worst days are already behind me, I hope. I slept better last night. So, being sick aside, this leg is going great even though there is no one else around, not even a flying fish. Twice a day via short wave radio I talk with other boats that are either far ahead or far behind me. I like being alone and I am enjoying the long-distance crossings more each time. I will be at sea for at least eight more days even though I am still I still not sure where I will end up exactly... At first, I had planned to go to Niue which is still 700 nautical miles away but now I am seriously thinking about sailing to Tonga which is another 200 nautical miles further but is exactly the halfway point of my journey and that would be a fantastical milestone to reach. But then what with no winds now, do I really want to go the extra distance by running the engine? I have enough of diesel-fuel so that is not the point, it is that it would be more fun to arrive under sails...after all it is a solo sailing journey I am on... Maybe I am worrying too much. But just as I was finishing writing these lines, some wind came up for first time on this crossing and I am now going under sails again. Let's hope and beg it stays that way...

Sincerely, Laura