Displaying items by tag: Maidentrip

15th December 2013

New Documentary Charts Dutch Teen's Solo Round-The-World Voyage

#LauraDekker - A new documentary is bringing the inspirational story of young Dutch circumnavigator Laura Dekker to the big screen.

As Scuttlebutt News reports, Maidentrip was produced by a team of female filmmakers who followed the teenager over two years of her life as she made history by sailing solo around the world, with no follow boat or support team.

Dekker was just 14 years old when she set out on her own in January 2010, after fighting a court battle for the right to achieve her dream.

Two years later, aged 16, water baby Dekker sailed into Sint Maarten in the Caribbean to complete her voyage and smash the world record for the youngest solo female circumnavigation.

Catching up with Dekker at various ports of call along her route, the filmmakers combined their footage with candid self-shot scenes from the young sailor herself alone on board her 26ft vessel.

The end result is a remarkable coming-of-age story as Dekker, already mature beyond her years, literally and figuratively grows up at sea.

Scuttlebutt News has more on the story HERE.

Published in News Update

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Esailing & Virtual Sailing information

The concept of e-sailing, or virtual sailing, is based on a computer game sailing challenge that has been around for more than a decade.

The research and development of software over this time means its popularity has taken off to the extent that it has now become a part of the sailing seascape and now allows people to take an 'active part' in some of the most famous regattas across the world such as the Vendée Globe, Route du Rhum, Sydney Hobart, Volvo Ocean Race, America’s Cup and some Olympic venues too, all from the comfort of their armchair.

The most popular model is the 'eSailing World Championship'. It is an annual esports competition, first held in 2018 and officially recognised by World Sailing, the sports governing body.

The eSailing World Championship is a yearly competition for virtual sailors competing on the Virtual Regatta Inshore game.

The contract to run the event was given to a private company, Virtual Regatta that had amassed tens of thousands of sailors playing offshore sailing routing game following major offshore races in real-time.

In April 2020, the company says on its website that it has 35,000 active players and 500,000 regattas sailed.

Virtual Regatta started in 2010 as a small team of passionate designers, engineers, and entrepreneurs gathered around the idea that virtual sailing sports games can mix with real races and real skippers.