Today, Mike Perham crossed an imaginary line off the Cornish coast, sending himself in to the record books for being the youngest person to sail solo around the world. This was unquestionably an extraordinary feat for anybody to achieve, but does his age have any relevance?
Mike’s journey has no doubt qualified him as a truly capable sailor, and every respect should be paid for that, but why the focus on his age? It’s hard to avoid posing the reason that it made the challenge that much harder, but if that is true, then surely it was only harder for the wrong reasons.
If age did have any effect on the difficulty of this epic challenge then it must surely be down to a lack of mental, or perhaps physical preparation. If that were indeed the case, then it cannot command any more respect. Worse still, it would make the entire feat condemnable.
Of course, I’m not suggesting that Mike was ill prepared, far from it, he had a solo Atlantic crossing under his belt, and I am absolutely not questioning the man’s ability as a sailor, but what of his age? It is irrelevant, and the fact that the press are focusing on it is dangerous, which leads me to another story which has been in the news over the past few days – a 13 year old Dutch girl, set on following in Mike’s footsteps to become the youngest solo circumnavigator.
I have to question the motives for such an attempt. I fail to believe that this girl wants to undertake such a monumental challenge for the only two reasons that would be acceptable, and that is either self challenge, or to beat the French. If it was to test one’s mettle, if indeed a 13 year old has been around long enough to developed any, then age doesn’t matter. She could easily wait a few years until she is both physically stronger and mentally more capable of dealing with the potential close encounter with one’s own mortality. If she does set off at 13 and is prepared both mentally and physically, then it is no more of a challenge and deserves no more respect than any other circumnavigation. If she is, as is likely, not mature enough to deal with the task, then it is foolish, poor seamanship, and should be frowned upon.
Let us stop this obsession with age, it is irrelevant to the accomplishment, and it’s pushing people into doing things that are quite frankly unacceptable. A fast round the world non-stop sail will take her three months. That is a long time for a child to, as Sir Robin put it, spend in “solitary confinement, with hard labour”.
I wonder if her parents would let her move to another country, live in a flat on her own, cook for herself, clean for herself, and climb on to the roof top in a violent storm in order to fix the TV aerial? Or maybe they would be happy for her to be involved in a sexual relationship? Surely you can’t compare under age sex with sailing around the world, I here you say, but I can. If she is mature enough to be totally responsible for her life, to be able to mentally deal with the horror that I can only imagine, and console herself against ultimate physical abuse, then on her return she should be allowed to go out to the local pub, get lashed on Dutch lager, and sleep with whomever she pleases, because she would be more grown up that your average adult. Do you think that is acceptable for a 13 year old? I hope not.
I don’t believe that children should be wrapped in cotton wool, far from it, but in this case I can’t help but agree with the Dutch government stepping in. Unless she can prove she is capable of doing it, as did Mike Perham in a solo trans-Atlantic, with his father nearby in another boat, then she has no place in risking her life for public attention.
I expect this may prove a bit of a controversial one from you, Nathan.
I agree with you on the major points about focusing on the wrong things and I think the idea of a 13 year old taking on the kind of conditions we’re talking about when we say “circumnavigation of the world” is pretty horrible.
Take your flat example and while she’s up on the roof in the storm, throw in a chance of a rogue wave and a few things like adrift shipping containers, icebergs and wales to destroy the flat in the process.
I’ve met some pretty mature kids, but I can’t see a single one of them being able to cope with the truly terrible conditions one has to endure on a voyage like that.
As for the focus on Mike Perham’s age, I actually do think it is somewhat relevant. I agree that focusing on it too much could be a dangerous precedent, but in so far as it is remarkable that someone so young can be so mature and be so capable of handling a boat his age is absolutely relevant.
I was discussing this with my girlfriend this evening and the main thing that put me off the idea of someone as young as her circumnavigating is what I’ve read in the books by Dee Caffari and Ellen MacArthur… they have to learn to do some minor surgical procedures including stitching up wounds… I have serious doubts that a young girl would be capable of undertaking such tasks. I read today how Ellen MacArthur had to put a hot wire through her fingernail to release the buildup of blood after she trapped it. She was in her 20s and that can’t have been easy… for a 13 year old? Nah!
All that said – well done Mike!
Hmm…
I’ve just been reading up about Laura Dekker, the 13 year old, and I have to say I’m not so sure it’s necessarily bad. I’ll have to take back a few things I’ve said.
Born on a boat, sailing her whole life and already has solo ocean passages under her belt.
It seems she’s much better prepared than the British news are making out and I have to say, the authorities trying to take her away from her family to block the trip is pretty sick.
If we say she’s been sailing for 8 years (probably reasonable) and we already know she’s sailed solo and out of sight of land, and acknowledge she’s not going via the great capes (which makes the whole thing far less hairy) I find the whole thing a far more reasonable prospect and think stopping her on the grounds she won’t be in school is disgusting. The experience of sailing around the world would probably be FAR more beneficial than sitting in a classroom.
She could be in Geography class being bored learning the basics about isobars and maps or actually out on a boat using isobars and maps/charts several times a day.
I still question whether she’d be emotionally suited to the job and the potential medical issues… but I don’t think it’s as bad as some are making out and certainly not bad enough to take her into “care”.
This is an interesting discussion and I agree with Nathan on this. As a parent the is no way i would allow a journey like this to happen at that age- experienced or not. I imagine that Nathan’s experiences since he set off will be to the fore in his mind when commenting on it.a 13 yr old has a whole life ahead to do this journey. At that age there are more important development lessons for learning.
I say if she does it to beat the French then it’s a no brainer!
Seriously, I am with Nathan on this, sort of. There may very well be girls who are mature enough to sail around the world alone at age 13, but then those girls even should have sex, given the right to vote and drive a car.
It’s all about drawing lines in society, either there are lines, and then they should be the same for everybody, or there are none and every case is to be judged individually.
The second option is quite attractive. But I am afraid it’s not practical…and who should be the judge anyway?
There is no way I could imagine that a 13 year old has the emotional maturity to run a vessel around the world. (I barely trust my teenage sons to run a bath !!!! ).
Appart from anything else, she is in the middle of one of the most dramatic changes her body & mind have had to go through – puberty !
Strange things happen to their heads at that age. They cease to be “of this World”. Hormones are running riot. Every adult is ‘the enemy’. Have her parents never watched Kevin & Perry?
On a more serious note, you have to consider what actions she would be capable of taking under extreme circumstances. Would she have the physical strength, emotional calmness, mechanical aptitude or lateral thinking to figure out how to Jury Rig something if it broke in severe weather?
While I applaud the sense of adventure, I can’t help but wonder who the main driving force might be behind it all. I get the gut feeling (and I hope I am wrong here) that there are similarities here with the “child beauty queen” scenario, where the parent seems to be very much more into the idea than the child.
Another thing; if I was to send my 14 year old son away camping for 3 months, I have a funny feeling the Social Services would be knocking on my door pretty damned quickly.
I think Mike’s achievement is remarkable, given his young age. The point is not age per se but that at 17 he can’t possibly have the experience of making decisions and accepting the consequences that one might have by, say, the mid-twenties. In a way it’s a bit like Chay Blyth who set out on a solo circumnavigation not as a teenager but with minimal sailing experience.
I think the arguments about Laura Dekker’s case are really interesting. The modern view of ‘children’s rights’ is that children should be treated as autonomous, should be consulted and their views taken into account in decisions about their lives. Only Laura and those who know her well will have any idea why she wants to make a circumnavigation and it’s a bit bizarre to use legislation that’s mainly about protecting children from exploitation and abuse to prevent her. I think she should be able to go if she wants to.
The second option is infinitely more attractive and completely practical.
The lines are easy to draw – governments only have 3 jobs, punishing criminals, keeping invading armies out and protecting the rights of the individual – anything else they do should not NEED judging. If the girl wants to go and her family don’t mind then it is nobody else’s place to stop her. She might die, but she might die walking from her house to her friends, that’s no reason at all to stop her going – noone is abusing anyone else so there should be no line drawn and no judgement made.
There’s only a problem when one group of people tries to tell another how to live their lives because (however they rationalise it) they “know better”.
You wouldn’t let your child go, and perhaps most parents wouldn’t, but that’s no reason to stop her going. “Most” parents now in the UK won’t let their kids walk to school alone or walk to a friends house due to a whole raft of fears, real and imagined. I wouldn’t take that as any reason whatsoever to act accordingly.
What lessons are more important at that age? Maths, foreign languages geography and P.E.? Or maybe she’d be better dealing with randy teenage boys and bitchy girls whispering?
School doesn’t really teach us anything worth knowing that 9 months at sea wouldn’t teach better – even less prevent her from learning at all. I say that as a son of a teacher who is starting to qualify to teach… not as someone who just hated school and thinks it’s a waste of time.
One of the most important things girls her age can learn are self esteem and self confidence. It’s that age where the whispering, snide remarks and so on happen. It’s at that age that many parents see their lovely child start to question her beauty, figure, worth and so on. A big adventure like that would give her the thickest skin imaginable.
Just a thought.
(In contrast to my tired post last night, I seem to be coming round to the idea now – I’m kinda surprised about it – but the more I think about it the less it seems like anyone’s business… especially when you consider her lifetime of sailing and the solo ocean passages she’s already undertaken.)
Just a thought for you, Ron…
Every adult is the enemy, not because of puberty, but because the child is becoming an adult in both mind and body and yet they are treated like children. It’s a mind-blowingly frustrating time and no wonder there’s so much conflict and “Kevin” moments.
If you were to send your son away camping for 3 months social services may well come knocking, but they’d be wrong to do so.
If he *wanted* to go away camping for 3 months then allowing him to do so should be applauded.
I think there’s only a problem here when one group of people think they know better than another group and take away their freedom to do what they consent to do even though it doesn’t harm any other.
The only person fit to judge whether she should do this trip is Laura Dekker. It’s down to her parents to make sure she’s up to the task, and from the sounds of her sailing experience, and knowing how much faster kids mature when given a lot of freedom and good parenting, she could well be as mature and capable as Mike Perham was when he set out.
Although as a parent I accept most of the arguements why Laura shouldn’t be undertaking this voyage and I question for whose benefit such a voyage is being considered, I just feel that it is none of the state’s business. They interfere in far too much already!
Haha, I thought this might ruffle some feathers. I promise not to make a habit of it, but I gave it quite some thought and decided I felt strongly enough to write about it.
The job of a parent or guardian is to nurture the development of their child, I presume, not being a parent myself. You have to allow your child to push boundaries and develop as a person, but impose limitations, where they lack the wisdom to know better themselves.
I don’t know about you, but I still got a metaphorical kick up the backside from my dad for stepping out of line, well in to my twenties. I’d still get a stern talking to now, no doubt, but I’ve grown up enough to not need them.
I fail to see how this trip could aid her development at 13 years old. She may well want to do it, but teenagers want to do a lot of things.
If she grew up with parents that smoked, and at 13 decided she wanted to smoke as well, would that be ok? Maybe it would?
The point is, it will cause absolutely no harm to make her wait for 3 years or so. Why go now? The only answer must be that she or her parents want to profit from the attention, and that is an inexcusable reason to risk your child’s life in my opinion.
It was a good post, Nathan. Feathers need ruffling sometimes!
I agree completely with paragraph 2. Paragraph 3 is exactly how it was/is for me too.
As for the trip aiding her development… IF she’s capable (and it’s a big IF, not one anyone but her and her family can really know) then I can’t see how it wouldn’t. Such freedom and adventure can only serve to speed one’s development, self reliance, independence, confidence and much more besides.
Strangely it could also give her a huge sense of the importance of family – something many teens simply don’t understand. You’ve read a few round-the-world books. Against the Flow for example, and it’s true of Taking on the World too, both those women (and yes, “women” may be key here) talked a lot about how it affected their relationships with their families and how they appreciated them so much more after.
Smoking? No, I’m not sure that would be OK… in part because it certainly doesn’t have any adventure or character building qualities, and yet is known to do serious damage – I don’t think they really compare. Then again, maybe it *would* be OK. I certainly don’t think so, but I don’t suppose it’s my business to interfere and stop it. I can’t see any right to call self-harm a crime.
Maybe it would cause harm to make her wait. Maybe she’s been preparing for a long time and being stopped would damage her relationship with her family and her faith in society. Maybe it’s the perfect time in her life to go. Maybe she won’t get a chance later.
I suppose what I’m getting at, is if she can sail well enough and is mature enough then I can’t see any more reason NOT to go than I can see for any sailor who’d attempt something so mind-bogglingly difficult.
I don’t think anyone but her and her parents are in any fit position, or have any right to make that call.
As for risking life, I don’t think the parents are risking the child’s life – but that she’s risking her own. We’ve all done it (crossed busy roads – jumped out of trees for a dare – waded and swam in rivers – crossed large drops on a log-bridge – gone rowing in inflatable dinghies – and much more besides) even at young ages.
Of course – if she IS being pushed into it by her parents that’s a whole different kettel vissen.
You know…
For some reason this whole debate reminds me of “The World’s Worst Mom”.
http://www.spiked-online.com/index.php?/site/article/5043/
I think that’s the attitude I like. You limit your kids while they learn, extend and then drop each boundary as and when they are ready to cross them. Maybe Dekker has done just that. Maybe she had her boundaries extended with her crossing from the Netherlands to England and now feels it’s time to move on again.
Just like riding the subway…
…for months…
…in violent storms…
…with no help…
…alone…
…no it still sounds kinda crazy for me! Haha.
Still, hope she manages it if she really wants to go.
OK… one last post!
The “World’s Worst Mom” has a blog and I just went to see if she’d mentioned the whole Laura Dekker thing… she has… and is completely in favour of the state stepping in and stopping her going.
I’m actually inclined to disagree with her on this one – even though I agree with her on just about everything else she has to say about kids.
http://freerangekids.wordpress.com/2009/08/27/weighing-in-on-the-13-year-old-wants-to-sail-solo-round-the-world/
Back to work!
Well I just saw the news…
…the Dutch child protection agency has got part custody and is blocking the trip.
The more I’ve thought about it today the more wrong it seems for them to get involved and now I’m really quite annoyed about that. Hearing what she’s said in articles like this one make it seem even more inappropriate for anyone to stop her. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/8226196.stm
Especially considering she was planning to make the whole trip by port-hopping to avoid the really bad weather.
Gah!
Poor kid.
Actually I think it’s a good decision (characteristically, very civilised people IMO) by the Dutch court. An uninvolved person/s with expertise in undertsnding teenagers is going to make an assessment of Laura’s motivation, preparedness and understanding of what she is setting out to do, and could well recommend that she should be permitted to carry on. Good call I think.
I dunno…
…even Holland has gone WAY down the pan on the government-busybody front recently.
I wonder, how much do these shrinks know about sailing?
There’s another huge problem though, and it’s not that she’s been stopped, but that someone who has NO right to interfere in the matter is taking the decision away from the only people that DO have that right.
Government has no business protecting people from themselves. That’s one of the great things about sailing in the UK, thus far we’ve managed to get the interfering busybodies that ruin everything else good and decent have left us the hell alone.
Whatever her motivation and preparedness I find it sickening that anyone (and in this case not even someone democratically elected – for what difference that would make – i.e. none) other than her and her parents feel they have any right to give or deny permission.
It’s the very definition of illiberal and should be frowned on by all and sundry.
As for expertise in understanding teens, “poppycock”… Firstly no 2 people think alike so the concept of an expert in that case is flawed to begin with… Secondly this is clearly an exceptional girl (she was sitting in a library in Lowestoft after sailing from Holland and would have sailed back again if the same race of busybodies (this time English ones) hadn’t jumped in and ruined things.
She’s so obviously more mature and capable than some people as much as 10 years her senior that she’s probably a lit like the really bright, different kids that get pumped full of RITALIN by exactly these kinds of child “experts”.
Grr…
I’m going out to calm down – all this is starting to wind me up – nothing personal mind, just the whole subject. It just seems so obviously wrong.
Coincidentally, I’ve just this moment replied to a friend about this, who emailed me a news article (like, as if I hadn’t heard). Here’s part of my reply, which sums up my feelings on the matter…
Thirteen is too young – don’t care how long she’s been sailing. If she sets off and all goes well then she’ll be OK, but it’s mental attitude that counts when you’re on your own and something goes wrong. Can’t see any thirteen year old being resourceful enough to be able to cope if it goes tits up. Having a ‘press a button and help will come’ mentality is dangerous when you’re thousands of miles from land.
I’m not sure I see where the idea that she’s got a “press a button” mentality comes from.
Even if everything you’ve said is right though, maybe it is too young… maybe she wouldn’t be able to cope… but why is it anyone else’s business or anyone else’s right to say whether she goes or not than her and her parents?
Personally I think it’s a bloody crazy idea, though I admire her courage, ability and determination… but considering the plan (2 years as opposed to 6 months or so) – via both canals and no great capes – waiting for weather windows… it seems like a MUCH more sensible trip than people have been making out.
It’s a big undertaking, but not the same kind of extreme sailing you’d find in a non-stop solo via the capes – crazy, yea. But I see no reason she should be stopped.
i think she should do it. i wonder if the reason some are so against it is not so much concern about her well-being but a sneaky little bit of annoyance that she is clearly a much more capable and accomplished sailor that many of us. she’s already crossed oceans solo. unlike ellen or dee she is not putting herself under any time contraints and she is not attempting to do it non stop.
it is impressive when someone of tender years can do something really accomplished. like that teenage olympic diver. personally i also find it impressive when someone old manages to do a challenge too. if this was someone in their 80s or 90s i’d find it just as praiseworthy.
one think i particularly disliked about the worries over the 13 year old girl were the concerns about how she might be “attacked” at port. the people statistically most likely to be attacked (ok not sexually, but knifed etc) are teenaged boys and yet no one attempts to curtail their freedoms to roam and be where they like.
here’s laura’s website. personally if i were a teenager again i’d find her much more of an inspiration than high school musical wannabees etc.
http://www.lauradekker.nl/English/About_Laura.html
and another inspirational young female..this time planning to do a nonstop. i wonder if there is an element of blokes feeling their challenge is a little undermined if a teenage girl can do it?
http://www.youngestround.com/
Teenage girls can do lots of things I can’t, and there are many many many better sailors then myself out there, but thankfully, I don’t do it for Kudos, I do it for myself, and it’s irrelevant who has done it before me.