Teenage globe sailor takes down Dutch flag

RNW, 11 January 2012

Photo: Laura Dekker, Hvyes

Solo yachtswoman Laura Dekker has taken down the Dutch flag from her sailing boat and replaced it with a New Zealand one, in response to renewed efforts from Dutch school attendance authorities to force her to continue with her education.

Authorities claim 16-year-old Laura has been doing too little school work. When her father refused to make an appointment to discuss the issue, attendance officers announced they intended to complain to the Dutch council for child welfare.

Laura – who aims to become the youngest person to circumnavigate the world single-handed - is currently crossing the Atlantic Ocean, headed for the Dutch Caribbean island of Sint Maarten where she will complete her journey in her boat, Guppy. It is expected that she will arrive within two weeks provided there are no setbacks.

Battle to sail with authorities

In 2009, when Laura first announced her plans to circumnavigate the globe, Dutch authorities intervened and insisted she should first finish school. The child welfare authorities brought the case to court and a judge ruled that the 13-year-old was too young to travel alone. Laura then ran away and took a plane to St Maarten, where she was arrested and sent back to the Netherlands.

In July 2010, a judge gave her permission to carry out her plans - provided she agreed to a number of conditions, including continuing her secondary-school education through an online teaching programme set up for Dutch-speaking children abroad.

Dutch newspaper de Volkskrant reports her lawyer, Peter de Lange, “is furious about the latest action of the school attendance enforcement officers.” Laura has had enough of Dutch authorities, he says. “She was almost put into care. And now this.”

A Dutch court had ordered authorities to take temporary guardianship of Laura when she was 13, while her case was being assesed by psychologists.

Turns back on Dutch citizenship

Officially, Laura does not have to comply with Dutch regulations concerning her education, as she is no longer registered as a Dutch citizen. She holds New Zealand citizenship because she was born on a boat there while her parents were sailing around the world.

De Volkskrant says the World School, which organises the education by correspondence, is afraid a precedent will be set if they don’t intervene. “Laura is contending with an 80-year school attendance battle. Compulsory school attendance is sacred in the Netherlands.”

Related Article:

Dutch court gives teenage sailor go-ahead

www.lauradekker.nl