Charles Stock or Laura Dekker

[dylanwinter]

Charles Stock or Laura Dekker

I confess that I find myself utterly unmoved by her accomplishment

I can accept that it was a great achievement for a fifteen/sixteen year old girl

not sure it was either time or money well spent

and I am still not sure what it was all for

she was knee deep in electronics that seemed to do most of the sailing for her

Charles Stock, with his quiet humble prose and pea stick echo-sounders has taught me a lot about sailing.

Dylan

 

[photodog]

Oh, now you've dont it Dylan... this lot dont like to hear anything less than wholesome about Laura....

 

[VicS]

Charles Stock or Laura Dekker

I confess that I find myself utterly unmoved by her accomplishment

I can accept that it was a great achievement for a fifteen/sixteen year old girl

not sure it was either time or money well spent

and I am still not sure what it was all for

she was knee ddep in electronics and plastic

Charles Stock, in his quiet humble prose and his peas stick echo-sounders has taught me a lot about sailing.

Dylan

I think the two are almost at opposite ends of the sailing spectrum. I dont think you can even begin to compare them.

Your style is very much closer to that of Charles Stock than that of Laura Dekker, except that CS did not have an engine in Shoal Waters!

I wonder .. if you had the cash to splash would you move towards Laura Dekker's style ... or just get a new engine in The Slug ?

 

[dylanwinter]

Bless

I think the two are almost at opposite ends of the sailing spectrum. I dont think you can even begin to compare them.

Your style is very much closer to that of Charles Stock than that of Laura Dekker, except that CS did not have an engine in Shoal Waters!

I wonder .. if you had the cash to splash would you move towards Laura Dekker's style ... or just get a new engine in The Slug ?

Bless you for throwing my name around with Charles and Laura

I am hideously unworthy

four years to get from the IoW to the Wash is truly pathetic



as for comparing Laura to Charles

nothing wrong with comparing two different types of sailing

if they are the same then there is no comparison

I am very happy to compare peas to steak

chalk to cheese...

why not




as for the money thing and the way it influence my own sailing choices

if I had £5,000 I would buy a new engine for the slug


- if I had a million quid I would still only buy a Centaur and crawl up creeks with it.

It would be a good centaur though - one of the ones that some other bloke has really lavished his love on. I might fit a hand cranked windlass to the front for the anchor though.

I would like to have a go at the Atlantic single handed before I die just to see what happens inside my head under such circumstances.

However,not likely to happen

as for spending a year rushing around the World in a high tec plastic ocean greyhound with more electronics on it than the average fighter plane while diligently updating my face-book page.....

not for me.



Charles is a skillful and thoughtful bloke

Laura demonstrated diligence and determination for sure..... beyond that....open to suggestions

Dylan

 

[mikeinkwazi]

not the same thing at all

Laura demonstrated diligence and determination for sure..... beyond that....open to suggestions

Dylan

Sorry Dylan, you just don't get it! No amount of electronic trickery will get you across an ocean, not even a little one like Biscay. What you need is guts. Now, all you need in a creek is an anchor!

 

[dylanwinter]

Correct

Sorry Dylan, you just don't get it! No amount of electronic trickery will get you across an ocean, not even a little one like Biscay. What you need is guts. Now, all you need in a creek is an anchor!

you are correct - I just don't get it

guts for sure...

although she always had the "beam me up scottie" option

where as Charles Stcok could always get the bus home



as for the skills required.....

I might be wrong but Charles did most of his own steering and navigating

 

[Seajet]

Dylan,

I understand what you say.

To be honest, I wasn't that turned on by Dame Elle's achievements either; more computer management & met' knowledge than sailing, in the good old days it took an ex-SAS bod like Chay Blythe, or seriously determined nuts like Sir Francis Chichester and Robin Knox Johnston - not forgetting the quiet, modest Sir Alec Rose ( the only person I ever asked for an autograph, when rather younger, still have it ).

I almost think there should be a seperate category for ' modern, aided by electronics '

Then again I'm sure it still takes mighty guts, if I win the lottery I'll have my bluff called !

 

[Reverend Ludd]

Surely each to their own.

I guess you like life up the creek given that if you had a million you would still be there. I admire you for achieving your goal, or perhaps I admire you for working towards your goal in a way that suits you.

My guess is that Laura deserves the same respect, no more no less.

 

[Koeketiene]

although she always had the "beam me up scottie" option

What exactly do you mean by that?

 

[richardbayle]

You know the one thing that is rapidly putting me off this whole forum is the pain in the a** sailing folk who believe that unless you've got a long keeler, at least 30 years old with minimal comfort below you are somehow not a sailor.

For crying out loud, what's wrong with electronics and comfort. So Laura used electronics to assist her, so what, so does the odd pilot or two. Oh and in case you missed it a ship bristling with electronics sunk last week!! Laura did a bit better than that.

 

[Cloona]

there does seem to something amiss about the young dutch girl - meanwhile I shall be trying to build up my number of trans Solents again this year - desperate to acheive tidy little voyages but well executed for my satisfaction.

There is something wrong about the culture of "success" apparently meaasurable by column inches of press ....... something that goes against the quiet individualism of yachtsmen like Stock - Griffiths, Acton, Hiscock and the original long distance guys...

But I have never been happier than when slipping a mooring at dawn in Brightlingsea and reaching up the coast to Walton-on-Naze ....

 

[Seajet]

Richard,

I for one don't mean to belittle Lauras' achievement,, it's very unlikely I will ever do the same and I'm a lot older & supposedly more experienced, she has done brilliantly.

What I ( and I think Dylan ) was getting at is that with GPS, autopilots, plotters, sail handling systems, sat links to give met forecasts etc, it IS a lot easier than it used to be; though still demanding mighty skills and commitment.

If you read books like 'My Lively Lady', 'A World of My Own' & 'Gipsy Moth Circles the World' ( actually 'The Lonely Sea And The Sky' was a better book and clue to how much of a man Sir Francis was ) you'll see that they spent weeks or months out of any radio contact at all, let alone being sent the real time weather pics !

 

[MoodySabre]

You know the one thing that is rapidly putting me off this whole forum is the pain in the a** sailing folk who believe that unless you've got a long keeler, at least 30 years old with minimal comfort below you are somehow not a sailor.

For crying out loud, what's wrong with electronics and comfort. So Laura used electronics to assist her, so what, so does the odd pilot or two. Oh and in case you missed it a ship bristling with electronics sunk last week!! Laura did a bit better than that.

well said

 

[Mark-1]

My guess is that Laura deserves the same respect, no more no less.

+1

Vive la Différence.

 

[dylanwinter]

thank you

You know the one thing that is rapidly putting me off this whole forum is the pain in the a** sailing folk who believe that unless you've got a long keeler, at least 30 years old with minimal comfort below you are somehow not a sailor.

For crying out loud, what's wrong with electronics and comfort. So Laura used electronics to assist her, so what, so does the odd pilot or two. Oh and in case you missed it a ship bristling with electronics sunk last week!! Laura did a bit better than that.

thank you for the kind words and calling me a pain in the backside

I was just soliciting a few opinions and not looking to be insulted

I cannot really see how I have anything to do with your backside - but there you go

if it gives you pleasure to resort to unpleasantness then that is wonderful

.....for you

if on the other hand, a posting on a sailing website upsets your nether regions or raises you blood pressure to dangerous levels then it might well be time to step away from the computer and have a nice calming cup of camomile

but back to the subject

I think that however you measure it she is more of a sailor than I am

but possibly less of a sailor than say Blondie, Acton, Sir Robin or even Charles Stock

but I am sure I am wrong

Dylan

 

[toad_oftoadhall]

possibly less of a sailor than say Blondie, Acton, Sir Robin or even Charles Stock

I saw our Village team playing cricket last summer.

Not one of them was as good as Len Hutton or Botham.

I shouted at them that it was a "waste of their time and money" and that I wasn't "sure what it was all for".

How dare they waste their own time & money like that.

I'm also a great (non-paying) fan of this guy who makes superb films of pottering about in a Mirror Offshore. They are excellent & I enjoy them, but the joke's on him, because his films aren't as good as Tarrantinos, and he's not as good a sailor as Moitessier. Just wasting his time and money, not sure what it's all for.

Fortunately, I'm a far better sailor that Blondie, Acton, Sir Robin & Charles Stock so I'm not wasting my time and money every time I hop in a boat.

 

[Seajet]

Dylan,

Nil El Illegitimo Carburundum...

Reading up and learning seems to be regarded by some as witchcraft unless it's on an electronic display...

thank you for the kind words and calling me a pain in the backside

I was just soliciting a few opinions and not looking to be insulted

I cannot really see how I have anything to do with your backside - but there you go

if it gives you pleasure to resort to unpleasantness then that is wonderful

.....for you

if on the other hand, a posting on a sailing website upsets your nether regions or raises you blood pressure to dangerous levels then it might well be time to step away from the computer and have a nice calming cup of camomile

but back to the subject

I think that however you measure it she is more of a sailor than I am

but possibly less of a sailor than say Blondie, Acton, Sir Robin or even Charles Stock

but I am sure I am wrong

Dylan

 

[xyachtdave]

If you read books like 'A World of My Own' ......

What I remember of this is RKJ drunk shed loads of booze and spent quite a bit of time asleep.

That in no way undermines his achievement, nor does a bit of electrical support for Ms Dekker.

 

[xyachtdave]

You know the one thing that is rapidly putting me off this whole forum is the pain in the a** sailing folk who believe that unless you've got a long keeler, at least 30 years old with minimal comfort below you are somehow not a sailor.

For crying out loud, what's wrong with electronics and comfort. So Laura used electronics to assist her, so what, so does the odd pilot or two. Oh and in case you missed it a ship bristling with electronics sunk last week!! Laura did a bit better than that.

Also funny how they have embraced the Internet to get this back to basics approach across!

 

[Wansworth]

Not sure I should enter the arena on this.There is no doubt that the dutch girl had guts to do her trip anyone who has been at sea on wild windy night can appreciate that the sea is at times not a nice place.The electris and stuff make it easier as it takes the knowing where you are problem and gives you a position,in theory.asd opposed to running blind on a fix made mabe a day ago .So many people have gone offshore following in the footsteps of those original cruisers.Following on behind is easier than being the first as in any human endevour.Even so each to his own and I will be taking on a nes boat this summer and will be trating my solent crossings with as much fun and fear as if I was off to the Azores and I will be pleased if I make a seamanlike go of it.