Laura Den Osse August 04, 2010
photo credit: Thomas Weber
Prologue
"Het is geweldig dat ik nu oficieel weg mag en dat gaat gebeuren op woensdag 4 augustus om 9 uur."
"It's so great that I can officially set sail and that will be on Wednesday, August 4 at 9:00 AM."
That‘s what Laura wrote in her blog on Saturday afternoon, July 31 th. I
had been following Laura for almost a year and it had become pretty
clear to me: when she gets the permission to set sail I will wave her
goodbye at her departure from Den Osse, Netherlands. This meant that I
would have to travel five hours by car, stay in a hotel for one night
and drive back home after Laura‘s departure. Getting a hotel room was
not so easy during vacation-time but after writing many mails I managed
to get one. In Scharendijke, only three miles away from Den Osse.
A few month ago I made friends with , another follower of Laura,
via the Dutch "Hyves"-network. He visited Laura many times during the
refit of her boat. He also gave her the bottle of Champaign that was
used -smashed- at the launch of "Guppy". I made an appointment with to meet at Den Osse harbour on Tuesday evening. A special tip
from him: bring some chocolate for Laura!
Meeting there would
also mean missing an organ concert at Cologne Cathedral on Tuesday night
that I was looking forward to for a month. However!
I spent
the next two days with packing and searching, cleaning and recharging my
photo and film equipment. I wanted to take many pictures and shoot some
film, too. Would I be allowed to do so? Maybe there will be no access
to the dock except for the press, I thought. My equipment: a Nikon SLR
camera for 35mm films, an older HP digital camera, a Samsung digital
camera and a Beaulieu Super-8 camera.
The road to Laura
3 August 2010
My schedule for this day: Departure at ten, arriving at Scharendijke at
3:00 PM. Due to some little incidents I departed at eleven. First I had
to buy batteries and two slide films for my Nikon camera. Heading
for Cologne, then Düsseldorf, Mönchengladbach and over the border to the
Netherlands. No problems until Eindhoven. There I missed the correct
highway and I didn’t notice it! Later I realized that I was on a road to
Antwerpen, Belgium. The route planner I used suggested this route, but
for some reason I wanted to avoid it. Of course it’s impossible to read a
map and to drive a car at the same time. U-turn? Too late! OK then,
Antwerpen! Then there was the next problem: the needle of the fuel gauge
moved continuously to Empty. And there was no gas station in sight! In
between I reached the Netherlands again. I took the next exit I could
find, searching for a gas station. After many, many miles I found one -
and realized that the German term "Super bleifrei" (Super unleaded) is
not common in the Netherlands! Of course I lost the route again. Well,
that’s what I thought. While driving through villages and little towns
searching for a gas station I spotted the sign "Zierikzee". I could not
believe. I was on the right way! For the next 20 miles there were no
problems at all! I got closer and closer and finally reached the
Schouwen-Duiveland island. I followed the sign "Brouwershaven". Then the
name appeared on a sign: "DEN OSSE"!
Guppy
I arrived
at Den Osse at about 4:30 PM. I left my car in the parking place near
the diving-jetty (Duiksteiger Kerkweg), took my Nikon and my HP and
headed towards the harbour. After a walk of nearly 10 minutes I reached
the jetty near the parking area of the harbour and I looked for the
Dekker´s living-family boat. Gone! And "Guppy" was also not there! Well,
not where I expected them. "Guppy" was moored at the dock to my right.
Needless to say that my excitement grew while I walked down the path to
the dock. There was a German family walking up the path talking about
Laura: "When she makes it she’ll be famous. Such a nice girl!". While
walking through the gate to the harbour I spotted the Dekker’s boat.
"There is still much work to do, Mr. Dekker", I thought. Slowly I
walked towards "Guppy". She looked so beautiful in this bright, soft
afternoon sunlight that the photographers love so much. With this blue
fleecy clouded sky in the background it was the perfect scene for taking
pictures. Then, there she was! Laura stood on the deck of "Guppy",
chatting with another girl. It may sound paradoxal but my excitement was
completely gone at this moment. Laura wore the same "Sea shepherd"
t-shirt from the photo in her blog of August 2nd. I looked around. There
was one cameraman taking pictures of the Dekker’s living boat. I
noticed a car from the RTV-Utrecht TV-station at the parking earlier. I
also spotted the presenter of the NOS-Jeugdjournaal (Youth-TV-Magazine),
Tako Rietveld, sitting at the dock talking to his cameraman. After
taking pictures (slides and digital) for more than half an hour it was
time to drive to the hotel. I hadn´t lunch and I hoped to get a dinner.
Luxury
Unfortunately the hotel was more difficult to find than I expected. I
missed the right road and then I completely lost the way. I’m still
wondering how I managed not to overrun one of those many cyclists in
those narrow roads. After an odyssey of nearly one hour I found my
hotel. In fact I only had to follow the road from Den Osse to
Scharendijke... I asked for my reservation. Did I expect too much?
Maybe. "This is your key, can you pay right now, Mr. Weber?" Of course I
could. Did they show me the room? No. "It’s over there, outside" the
young lady explained to me showing me the direction with her finger. Did
someone help me with my bags? No. My room was overheated with no
air-conditioner installed. "Luxury-room" with tea and coffee" - Ha! Just
two tea-bags, some instant-coffee and a water boiler. Oh, and two cups.
Anyway, the room was clean and very new. There was also a little
balcony with two chairs (no table!). They said that you could see the
north sea from there. Maybe if you used a ladder. After I got all my
stuff to my room I took a shower, dressed up and drove to Den Osse
again. No time for dinner! It was 6:45 PM and I wanted to meet Gerard at
7.
Laura
This time I had no problems getting there.
After parking my car I fixed the shoulder tripod to my Beaulieu and
started to take some scenes. Then I noticed a man walking towards me.
Was it Gerard? Indeed it was him! Handshakes, the usual formalities "did
you have a good journey?" and so on. He is a very friendly man. But at
this point I realized, that I had overrated my knowledge of the Dutch
language. I can read Dutch and I am able to write it, but I cannot speak
it! Well, we managed to understand each other. Gerard told me that
Laura had gone for lunch. We reached the dock. There were some
people standing around, taking pictures and discussing about Laura’s
plans. The team of the NOS-Jeugdjournaal was still there, preparing for
an interview with Laura. Suddenly someone climbed out of the hatch of
the Dekker’s living boat. It was not Laura but the unknown girl Laura
was talking to at my first visit. She looked very similar to Laura and
some people thought that she was her. Then another person stepped in the
main deck - Laura! She carried some clothes with her. Both girls walked
down the little ladder to reach the dock. Then it all happened very
quickly: Laura stepped closer to us. addressed her: "Hallo
Laura!" She turned to him. "I’d like to introduce someone to you." He
pointed at me. "That’s Thomas, your translator". I cannot say that I was
nervous but this situation was very strange to me. There she was! The
one and only "Zeilmeisje"! Little, fragile, lovely. And I didn’t know
what to say to Laura. "Hallo!" she said. I replied "Hallo!". That was
it. I think Laura wanted to shake my hand. She gave the clothes to the
other girl. "Don’t drop them into the water" she gave order to her. She
wore some kind of gloves and took them off. Unfortunately my right hand
was attached to the security strap of the Beaulieu - no shakeing hands
possible! said something that I couldn’t understand that fast.
Something like "She is very little, isn’t she?". Damn, Thomas, say a
thing, anything. WHATEVER - TALK TO HER! No such chance! Hopeless. asked Laura if it was OK for her having a photo with me. She
accepted. "Look at each other" he said. We did and she gave me a x
qualificatif smile. took two photos with his camera. "Please take
my camera and take another photo" I wanted to say to him. But Laura was
already walking towards a group of kids who also wanted to take photos
with her. I shot that scene on Super-8. Then Laura walked towards "Guppy" for the interview with NOS-Jeugdjournaal. I thought "Wooow! That was her."
There were still some people taking pictures of "Guppy". Someone asked
me (first in Dutch, then in English) when Laura will depart. "Tomorrow
at 9 o’clock in the morning" I answered. An older gentleman from
Germany talked to me. Some general thoughts (negative ones, too) about
"Guppy" and Laura’s plans. Then and I walked towards the Dekker’s
living-boot. Spot, Laura’s dog, was on deck - with his life-jacket on!
He barked at us. Indeed, the Dekkers don’t need a doorbell. In the
meantime Laura had returned from her interview. There was something I
had forgotten: the chocolate. Of course I took two bars with me ("Milka"
alpine milk). Shame on me: I was too shy to give it to her. I asked
Gerard to do it for me. "Dank je wel!" - "Thank you very much" she said
to him told her that it was from me. Laura then went at a party
that was given for her at the clubhouse. Even Laura’s lawyer, Mr. de
Lange, appeared on the scene. After that I noticed a German couple
next to "Guppy", obviously sailors, who talked to each other. I stepped
closer to them, they noticed that I was interested and we had an
interesting discussion. Someone told them about Laura’s plans and they
got it completely wrong. They thought, Laura would do a non-stop
circumnavigation and would spend the whole two years permanently on
board of "Guppy". I told them about Laura’s plans. Then we went into a
discussion about kids and their dreams, the couple’s own (sailing) kids
and so on. I cannot deny that they were critical and doubtful about
Laura and her plans. I had to answer a lot of questions. Laura’s mother?
Yes, she exists, I replied. They were also curious about me. I told
them that I - we, of course! - do the translations of Laura’s blog. I
also explained our method of work. The husband told me that he is
British (I didn’t notice that) and that he also does translations for
German companies. They wished success to me (!) and then we said
goodbye. also had to leave. Unfortunately it was not allowed to
walk on the wooden jetty where "Guppy" was moored. I’d have liked to
give him a pat: take good care of Laura! No chance for this. I took some photos and drove back to my hotel.
Hungry
When I arrived at the hotel I was looking forward to a nice dinner. It
is then I realized that the restaurant was already closed, it was after 9
PM. Drive around and searching for another restaurant? NO! Enough for
today! I had one bar of chocolate left; that will have to do! And I made
some tea, too. I recharged all my cameras. What a day! Was it real or
was it a dream? I checked my digital images. It was real!!! Fortunately,
I had a cigar with me, that I smoked at the balcony until midnight. I
could see the Westhoofd lighthouse, even without using a ladder! Then I
went to bed. About 2 AM I fell asleep. Hungry but happy.
Den Osse Harbour - for the last time
August 4, 2010
I awoke around 5:30 AM, hungry! No chance for breakfast. In this hotel
you can get breakfast from 8 AM to 10 AM. But I had to be at Den Osse
before 8 AM, so no breakfast. At 7:30 AM or so I was on the road to Den Osse. The weather had changed over night. The sky was cloudy and it looked rainy.
I arrived at Den Osse, parked my car and walked towards the dock. There
was also security-personal. Damn! No access to the dock except for the
press. Gerard was already waiting for me at the gate. The security-guys
let us pass. Great! There were at least ten teams of journalists from
all over the world, even Russia! We walked around a little bit. The
people from NOS-Jeugdjournaal were also there. Suddenly there was
action at the Dekker’s living boat. Several people climbed through the
hatch to the deck, family-members I presume. This boat must have very
much room in it, I thought. Then also counselor de Lange climbed on deck
and walked over the ladder to the quay. It seems that he has only
striped ties! He addressed the press about the procedure of Laura’s
departure. Obviously he enjoyed the attention to his person. I moved
closer to the living boat. Within a short time I found myself
surrounded by the film teams all of us waiting for "Zeilmeisje" Laura.
One of the professional cameramen was interested in my Beaulieu-camera.
He said that he also had one, a 4008, but is not using it anymore.
Questions about film stocks, batteries etc. - and about my client. No
client, just me, for fun! In between Laura also appeared on deck.
"Which one is Laura, the girl on the right?" "No, that’s not her" "Take
that dog!". Laura wore again the "Sea shepherd" t-shirt and the
sponsored Imhoff clothing with her name on the back. I also noticed a
girl, a close friend of Laura also on Hyves. Then the show began.
Laura stepped forward onto the little ladder to the quay. All cameras in
action, mine also! Very difficult to handle three cameras at the same
time: the Beaulieu, the Samsung and the Nikon. I’m still wondering how I
managed not to break one of them. Laura gave us time to take our
pictures. On a cue from de Lange she stepped down from the ladder. Later
I realized that this was a very big step for her - leaving her home for
the next two years! And then she was by my side. I followed her very
close, so close that I almost touched her with the lens of my camera. I
let the Beaulieu running the whole time when not looking through the
viewfinder. All the press teams followed her, people applauded! In
front of the wooden jetty where "Guppy" was moored Laura and Mr. de
Lange gave a press-conference. He first addressed the press in Dutch,
talking about the past year. He cited a very common Dutch saying: "The
best captains sit on land". He talked about the book by Laura’s
grandmother. In contradiction to the announcement of the publisher he
declared that it would be released in October. It also might be
published in English and eventually in German. Then Mr. de Lange
repeated the whole speech in English. A Q + A followed. I’m still
wondering that no one of the reporters fell into the water! Laura was
very patient. She answered questions in Dutch and in English. But you
could see that she didn’t like the situation; that was eager to set
sails. I managed to take good photos of her. used a ladder to
take his pictures! I noticed Dick Dekker walking towards "Guppy"
with a bag. There were also two other persons, Peter from Nimbus
Kunststoff (he wrote an interesting article about sailing with Laura)
and someone from the "Sea shepherd"- organisation. Then the Q + A
was over. Laura moved towards "Guppy". Again applause! Laura turned
around and waved to us. Then she stepped aboard "Guppy". She sat down
for a group-picture with her father, Peter and the Sea shepherd-guy. The
press-people were not amused about this.__"De twee ander maannen er
weg!!!" ("The two other guys away!!! Just Laura and her father") they
yelled to them. Then Laura received a phone call from Captain Watson
(no, not JESSICA Watson), the founder of "Sea shepherd", as I was to
find out later. Another photo with Laura and the Sea shepherd-flag. She
hoisted it at the bezan-mast. Some kisses to Peter and the Sea shepherd
guy. Dick Dekker also stepped on board. I can remember that a fisher
boat sailed out and the guys on it yelled something to Laura; it sounded
like__"Don’t do it, Laura!" to me, but I might be wrong. Then THE
moment came. While her father worked on the bow cable Laura loosed the
stern one. The engine was already running. I filmed the whole scene. I
must confess that I got a bit emotional during it! Impossible not
getting deeply touched by this scene. It was so symbolic. On the other
hand I thought: "Hurry up, Laura! I got only 15 feet left on the film
roll yet". Then "Guppy" was free. Laura steered to starboard heading for
the Grevelingen-lake. "Guppy" was escorted by many boats, sailboats and
motorboats. It was really impressive. The cameramen ran through the
harbour gate up to the dike to take some final pictures. I followed them
but soon realized, that it wouldn’t make sense to take pictures from
there. So I went back to the dock. Then it got really difficult for me.
"Guppy" was gone, Laura was gone! I had to fight against some
overwhelming emotions. I had to be alone for a few minutes. Then I
catched up with . He was chatting with the parents of Laura’s
friend. presented me an expert about Laura. Counselor de Lange
was still giving interviews. Also Laura’s grandmother also gave an
interview to the Russian team in English! Spot was not allowed to
accompany Laura and her father. Grandma took him with her. By the way:
Laura’s mother and her sister did not show up. According to a newspaper
they were on vacation in the Czech Republic. About 9:40 AM Gerard and I left the scene. We went to our cars. Then we said goodbye. I drove back to my hotel.
Titanic
Breakfast? I wasn’t interested; I was still too agitated. So I took my
bags, put them into the car and gave the room key back. Believe it or
not: when I entered the hotel lobby there was a famous song sounding
over the PA: "My heart will go on" from the movie Titanic. That was
enough for me! Out! As quickly as possible! The time: 10 AM.
The final act: the Roompot-lock
Before I left him at Den Osse I suggested to to wait for Laura
at the Roompot-lock. He said to me that he has not been there before and
that he was not sure if he would go there. Fortunately the hotel gave
me a map of the Schouwen-Duiveland island. I figured out how to get to
the lock. It was not too difficult. Guess who I met there. Correct: ! It was 10:30 AM at my watch.
Then we had to wait, walking up and down the lock. Thirty minutes. One
hour. Two hours. Three hours. Four hours. There were around one hundred
persons waiting for Laura. I waited in my car. At 3 PM came
running to me and said that Laura has been spotted. I took my cameras
and an older woman lend me her binoculars. There she was. No, Madam, I’m
not working for a TV-station! Strange: right ahead of Laura another red
sailboat, also a ketch, sailed into the lock. Some people behaved
irrationally. The lock-master had to address them over the PA: "For your
own security: Watch those barriers!" But no one fell into the water - a
miracle. Impressive to have a look at Guppy from 30 feet above. Then
the lock gate closed. The gate to the sea opened. Applause! __ "En
behouden vaart toegewenst!" "Have a good trip!". "Guppy" was sailing out
of the lock, heading to the open sea. I let the Beaulieu run. Through
the tele-lens I could see Laura waving to us. Then she set the main
sail. In retrospect, THIS was the most impressive and most touching
moment. After a year of sorrow and desperation Laura was free! No one
will hurt her anymore! "Mach´s gut, kleine Laura, und pass auf Dich
auf!" I thought. About 3:15 PM "Guppy" got out of sight.
Heading home!
After saying goodbye to for the second time I headed home. To
keep it short: I had no lunch and no dinner, I missed again some roads, I
had to find a way through Tilburg, when I reached Cologne there was
heavy rain but I would reach my home safe and sound.
Two absolutely crazy days! Great success! Results: 140 digital photos, 72 slides, five exposed Super-8-cartridges.
Not need to say when I got back home I was very hungry ... but very happy!
