14 year old Laura Dekker, a Dutch girl, wanted to sail around the world, single handed. She does it. She also narrates the film, and took all the at sea video. It's a heartwarming tale. Laura films scene after scene, of good weather, of her ketch foaming along with a bone in her teeth, of a cheerful sunlit cabin, of threatening thunder heads, of glorious sunsets, and of running the lee rail under in heavy weather. Clearly Laura loves to sail and loved the trip. It takes a while, she sets off at age 14, and is 16 by the time she finishes. You can see her growing up in the video, she looks a lot more grown up at the end of the trip than at the beginning.
There were a few technical details that I would have enjoyed knowing, like about her boat. I never did catch a name for it. She did mention that it was forty feet long, which makes it a big yacht. I never saw it sailing under Genoa job, the sail of choice of modern yachts. Did Laura know celestial navigation or did she rely upon electronics to guide her from port to port? There are no shots of Laura holding a sextant or consulting a chronometer. No comments upon how well the autopilot could hold course at night while Laura was sleeping. No comments upon what her yacht did for electric power during 18 day passages off shore. Did she have to run the auxiliary engine once a day to charge the batteries? Did she carry solar cells or a wind driven generator?
Anyhow, a heartwarming film. I enjoyed it. The photography is very good, especially for an indie film. Netflix has it.
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