Last weekend I sailed solo to England with “Guppy”. On Friday at noon,
directly after school, I sailed to the Roompot-lock and set course to
England. On the first part of the trip I had the currents from astern but
some wind from ahead which caused a lot of swell. But “Guppy”
managed the waves very well. On the open sea I set the main-sail. The
wind was still coming from ahead and so I kept the engine running
while fixing the main-sail at midships position. When night came there
was also a good wind coming and I also set the Besan-sail. And in the
morning I even could roll out the Genoa-sail which took us to a speed
of 7,1 knots!!
Saturday around midday I sailed into Lowestoft harbour. I moored
the boat at the marina. There were also some people who recognized
me at once. And we had a nice chat, too.
Sunday morning I got up at 5 am, when it was daylight and not much
wind. I knew that the wind would change its direction more head on,
so I decided the earlier I would leave the more I could sail. And at one
time there was enough wind for wonderfully sailing. With all the sails
set “Guppy” was running at 7 knots. That was great. I stood at the bow
to stare at the endless seas as a fin rose near my boat. It was a dolphin
swimming next to the boat!! I have nerver seen one in the north sea.
Around midday I was in the first big traffic way and the wind changed
its direction so that I could not keep the Genua-sail up any longer.
After a while the course that I had to sail was against the wind so I
decided to start up the engine. When I was in the middle of the traffic
way the engine suddenly stopped. I checked the engine but could not
see any defect. I ran to the swimming platform and found a big fishing
net around the propeller. Why not later? In the middle of the trafficway.
Why could this not happen later. I tried to start up the auxilliaryengine
because just by sailing I could not get out of the shipping-way.
But after a few seconds the fishing-net was wrapped around the
propeller of the auxilliary-engine, too. There was only one thing left to
do: swimming. Without loosing time I put on my wetsuit and secured
my lifeline I went into the water and tried to cut off the fishing-net
with a sharp knife. It was not so easy but I managed to get the net off
the auxilliary-engine´s propeller and most of it off the main-engine´s
propeller. Now I could leave the traffic-way of the “Big-Boys”with only
the auxilliary-engine running. There was not enough wind, otherwise I
could have moved out of there just by sailing. After some hours and
having left the traffic-way and also warmed up I again decided to go
into the water since it was still daylight. After a one hour battle the net
won so I would have to keep running on the auxillary-engine alone. I
managed to cut off the remaining parts of the net that it could not
reach the propeller of the auxilliary-engine again.
Later as I planned I reached the Roompot-lock. I sailed in the lock and
at 5 am I was in my berth.
There was not much time for sleeping because I had to attend the
hearing in court. Jeugdzorg [Youth Welfare Department] changed its
request for extending the supervision over me from one month to two
month. The courts decision will be proclaimed on Thursday. I don´t
get it why they asked for an extension. With my solo-sailingtrip to
England and all the other things i did in the last half year I met all the
conditions set up by the court of Utrecht. I met them.

Laura