Jessica Watson at the "Mayersche Buchhandlung", Düsseldorf, Germany
January 21st, 2011
After a one-and-a-half hour journey by train from Windeck to Düsseldorf
via Cologne, I arrived at about 7 PM at the "Mayersche Buchhandlung",
Königsallee 18, in Düsseldorf. It is a huge, four floor bookstore.
Taking the escalator I went up to fourth floor. Of course I knew that I
was much too early; however, I wanted to take a look around first. The
space is nothing special or cosy just 300 red, hard seats and a round
stage - actually, it is more like a black, round desk. Then I went to
get my ticket. The e-mail that was sent to me said that the tickets were
to be at the "Abendkasse" (evening cash-register). OK, but where was
it?! Actually, there were no cash registers on the fourth four. So, I
went down to floor two and there I asked for my reserved ticket. "You
will find it on the ground level," the salesperson told me. Well...
Back down to the main floor, again! And... Yes! They had my ticket. So
far, so good. At the cash register I noticed a father and his son who
were also buying tickets for the event. "...but you will have to get the
signature for yourself," the father was saying to his son.
I went back to level four and took my seat.
Two women and an older man, were busy preparing a video projector for
the event. I also noticed that some of the seats in the first row were
labelled with a reserved sign. The man talked with one of the women,
obviously a representative of the "Mayersche Buchhandlung", about the
planned course of the event. "First I will... then you will... and then
you will say..." and so on. I learned later that the man was from
Delius-Klasing, the publishing house that produced the German version of
Jessica's book. In the meantime, some more people had taken their
seats. One man asked the woman from the bookstore if Jessica would be
signing her books and if it was necessary to buy them now. "You can buy
one later of course, the cash-register will stay open. Nevertheless, if
you want to avoid waiting you should buy it right now," she replied.
This was the catchword for me too. So, I went downstairs once more and
bought two copies of "Solo mit Pink Lady". The time: 7:14 PM says the
printed receipt. Back upstairs again, I decided to take a different seat
than the one I had first chosen. In the meantime some more people had
taken their seats. Also the moderator of the event, Mr Tim Kröger, came
in for a quick chat with the man from the publishing house. Then Mr.
Kröger left. Two strange looking fellows took place in my row. I
overheard them talking about Jessica - and Laura! "She is in St. Maarten
right now...". I would have liked to say "No, she is not", but I was
too far away from them. I took a look at my watch: 7:45 PM. 'Obviously,
Germany is not too interested in Ms. Watson,' I thought, most seats were
still empty by 8:00 PM with 15 minutes left before the opening remarks.
I tried too stay calm. At about 8:10 PM the lights were turned down and
only the spots for the stage kept shining. Luckily, most seats were now
filled. A group of people entered the room and took place on the
reserved seats. I could only recognize one of them: Mrs. Julie Watson,
Jessica's mother.
Then the event began. First, the
representative of the bookstore took the microphone, explaining about
tonight's event. Then the representative of the Delius-Klasing
publishing house adressed the audience. He told about Sailing and its
popularity in Germany, then of the idea to bring about Jessica's book in
German and getting all the necessary licenses etc. He also introduced
the host of the event. While he was still talking I noticed a man to my
right looking behind himself. I turned my head - THERE SHE WAS! In the
dim light I could see Jessica waiting for her appearance call about ten
meters behind me. "Please welcome Jessica Watson!" Applause. Jessica and
Mr. Kröger walked towards the stage. Jessica walked by very close to my
seat. Some people took pictures; there were also at least two
professional photographers on the scene. In the very beginning, it
seemed that Jessica was not feeling too comfortable. She was looking
around in a shy way. Mr. Kröger then introduced Jessica and what
she had succeeded in doing. Jessica shortly addressed the audience and
then Mr. Kröger told about the programme for the evening. First they
would show a short movie, then Jessica would tell about her tour herself
and finally, the audience would be allowed to ask questions to Jessica.
Mr. Kröger also had the function of interpreter. He insisted very much
on the fact that Jessica did her circumnavigation "in the right manner,
around the capes, and NOT sailing the Trade-Winds-Route". He did not say
so directly, however it was clear to me that he was talking about
Laura. By the way, no one spoke out the name "Laura Dekker" during the
event or asked a question about her to Jessica – even though no
restrictions had been made. The movie, about ten minutes long,
showed some of the highlights of Jessica's world tour, including the
"Welcome Home" scene when she is being hugged by her parents. It is
still a very emotional and touching scene, and I had to look at the
floor for a moment... Obviously many people in the audience did not know
about the pictures of Jessica's arrival in Sydney. Lots of "Ahs" and
"Ohs" as the movie showed the 70,000 spectators in Sydney harbour. Did
they know Jessica at all?! After the movie, Jessica narrated about
her tour from the very beginning, including the collision with the
Chinese freighter ("Not good!"), to the very end. Mr. Kröger had to do
the translations. He also told about his own sailing experiences. Many
pictures were shown during Jessica's speech. Of course, I already knew
most of them. Halfway through, two persons entered the room and took
place on the two remaining reserved seats, an older Lady which I did not
know, and a young man. It was no one else but Mike Perham. He took his
place in the first row, directly opposite Jessica. As she noticed him
she gave him a discreet smile- so quickly it was hardly noticeable! In
my opinion, most people did not realize who he was. Nevertheless,
Jessica seemed to feel a little more comfortable after his arrival.
There were again a lot of "Ahs" and "Ohs" as Jessica told about the
knockdowns she experienced in the South Atlantic Ocean. She told about
how she could then stand inside the boat "with one foot on the side and
with one foot on the cabin's roof". Mr. Kröger translated it
incorrectly, telling that Jessica "had walked around on the cabin's
roof". He also was very surprised the rig could take it all. Usually,
the mast would break off in situations like these. Jessica then told
that the hardest leg of her tour was the final one, along the south
coast of Australia. She showed a weather chart - there had been many
storms at the time. However, she said she really enjoyed her final week
at sea. With this final remark from Jessica it was on to the Q & A
period.
The audience -me included!- was a little too shy asking
questions. Finally, someone asked one about the reasons for the
collision with the freight ship. You could notice that Jessica was not
feeling too good about this question. "Yes, yes, I had slept too long
and the alarm did not go off. There was a huge report written about the
collision and they blamed the container ship 50 % and me 50 %."- I
actually thought it was a coal-carrier. Well! The next question was about her friends being jealous at her. Jessica denied that.
Then someone asked where "Ella's Pink Lady" was now, about her state
and what would happen with her in the future. Jessica answered that EPL
is drydocked at this very moment and that there are plans to exhibit her
at a museum. She also said that her general shape is good but that
there is very much wear and tear throughout. Jessica also said that
her mother had the hardest part of her adventure because she stayed at
home and had no choice but to worry about her. Mr. Kröger (addressing
Mrs. Watson): "We could ask mom about it...". Unfortunately there was no
reply. Mr. Kröger also spoke about Jessica's preparations. He
said (obviously, he was on board of EPL before the departure) that
Jessica had perfectly prepared for her trip. "I went through the boat
and I can say, if she was not well prepared, who else would have been
prepared," - with the exception that she forgot to take enough
spaghetti-sauce with her! He also told about the communication equipment
then and now. He said that in past days, you had no possibility to
communicate with long distance sailors when they were sailing a long
leg. If they reached the next harbour, then you knew they had made it.
Otherwise, well, then you would know, too... Laughing from the audience.
Mr. Kröger also said that in the South Polar Region it is unnecessary
to turn on the position lights because no one will see them since there
is no one else but you. Looking at Jessica he said, "down there [in the
South Polar Region] the closest thing to you is the satellite above
you". A woman who sat next to Jessica's mother asked a question.
Jessica then went into some general facts about her youth, her future
etc. Mr. Kröger then jumped in and talked about her schoolwork.
Actually, he said, she HAS done some schoolwork, but only to say THAT
she had done something about it... Again laughing from the audience.
Also his remark about the Prime minister of Australia embarrassed
Jessica a little bit (but in a positive way). Jessica then asked
the audience, especially the kids, there were some if there were any
further questions. Unfortunately there was none. Mr. Kröger then thanked
Jessica and the audience and closed this part of the event. Cheering
from the audience! Time: 9:15 PM. Then the representative from the
bookstore gave gifts to Jessica and Mr. Kröger. The book signing was to
take place on the ground floor. I stood up, putted on my coat and took
my two books with me. Before I turned to leave, I could see Jessica
giving a hug to Mike.
As I reached the ground level, there was
already a big crowd of people waiting for their books to be signed. I
think Jessica took the elevator down. Mr. Kröger also signed books and
answered questions. I decided to wait a little for the rush on Jessica
to be over, so I walked around inside the store. After a while I joined
the queue. Jessica's mother stood next to me in a corner of the store
chatting with Mike and the older Lady. Mike tried to go to the shop's
basement via the escalator but it was switched off. Well, Mr. Perham, if
German shops are closed they ARE closed. The signing went a lot faster
than I expected. 'Unpack the books!!!' I thought. This was not so easely
done and moreover, there was no trash container for the foil. Then the
bookstore representative came by asking everyone who would like to have a
personalized note by Jessica to write it down on a small sheet of
paper. To fight down some of my nervousness, I took a few pictures of
Jessica signing and talking to the other people. There were two young
men ahead of me. They talked to Jessica telling her that they are
sailors, too. Then it was my turn.
"Hello!" Jessica said to me.
"Hello!", I said.
I gave her my book including the sheet of paper with my name written on it.
"Thomas? Like my brother Tom!"
"Oh really? Nice!"
She signed my book and gave it back to me. I tried to pull the other
book out of the bag. Unfortunately, it jammed in there. Jessica found it
very funny. Then I gave it to her, including this magic little sheet of
paper, labelled "to [...] aka 45N73W".
"Unfortunately he could not join the party at New York" I said to Jessica
"[...] aka... ahhhhh the blogger, YES!" she replied.
"He was invited for the party at New York but..."
"... he could not make it, yes."
Jessica signed the book. I took two pictures while she did so. She found this also very funny.
"By the way, we do the translations for Laura Dekker's website", I said
to her... Maybe I was talking too fast or not loud enough.
"For who?"
"Laura Dekker."
"Oh! All the best to her!"
She gave the book back to me.
"Thank you!" she said.
"Thank YOU!" I said.
Time: about 9:35 PM. Laura arrived in the Îsles Des Saintes at about the same time...
The next minutes are a little bit unclear in my memory. I remember
someone from the bookstore saying goodbye to me as I left the store. I
managed to go back to Düsseldorf Central Station. There I found the
train to Cologne; I climbed aboard the train back home where I arrived
at about 0:25 AM.
What a day. What a GREAT day!
Thomas Weber Co-founder ZEILMEISJE LAURA DEKKER on Facebook
