Teenage dreams on the Indian Ocean

Lives Less Ordinary

BBC

Society & Culture, Documentary, Personal Journals

4.6 • 814 Ratings

🗓️ 11 June 2023

⏱️ 41 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

At the age of 13 Laura Dekker fought for her right to sail solo around the world.

Laura comes from a family of sailing enthusiasts, and her father taught her the ropes early. By 11 years old she was sailing unaided for weeks at a time, and at 13 she felt ready to tackle her biggest challenge yet. Her parents supported her decision, but the Dutch authorities had concerns; was it responsible to allow a child to circumnavigate the world alone?

Presenter: India Rakusen Producer: May Cameron

Transcript

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0:00.0	You are about to listen to a BBC podcast and I'd like to tell you a bit about what goes into making one.
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0:16.0	relationships, identity, comedy, even one that mixes poetry, music and inner city life.
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0:51.5	It's there to save lives. It's great to go to bed night knowing that we can help. Listen now by searching for the global news podcast from the BBC
0:57.7	World Service, wherever you get your podcasts.
1:07.2	People were mean. They were really, really mean. They would write things like, I hope she's going to be raped by pirates. I hope she's going to sink. I hope she's going to, like, fail. Her parents should be locked up. These were things that weren't just written. If I would walk on the street, they would say that. They knew where we lived as well, so very often in the morning,
1:28.4	even if I wanted to go to school, I'd look out of the window and there's just reporters standing
1:34.2	everywhere. Imagine making a decision when you're 13 years old that shocks the world.
1:43.1	Should a 13-year-old girl be allowed to sail solo around the world?
1:47.0	Laura Decker and her parents in the Netherlands say yes,
1:50.0	but the Dutch child protection authorities say no.
1:53.0	In 2008, Laura found herself on TV screens around the world.
1:58.0	But tonight, Laura Decker remains determined to pursue her goal.
2:02.4	She has two months to persuade social workers that at 13, she's old enough to conquer the oceans.
2:09.2	She would eventually win the right to sail around the world solo and become the youngest
2:14.1	person in the world to do it. But this is a story about more than just ocean voyages,
	...

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