Laura Dekker, who at 15 is attempting to become the youngest sailor to solo-circumnavigate the planet, is on a leg from Bora Bora to Tonga and is fairly close to where a 7.8-magnitude earthquake struck Thursday morning (local time) north of New Zealand.
Tsunami warnings were issued for the Keramec Islands, New Zealand and Tonga. Dekker is not in any danger, of course, being at sea in deep water.
But it's interesting to note that fellow adventurer Abby Sunderland, when she was trying to sail around the world last year, was in fairly close proximity to a massive earthquake that devastated Chile and resulted in tsunami warnings and advisories being issued as far north as Alaska.
Sunderland's followers expressed concern and her family posted on her blog: "The ocean depth is so great where she is there is very little chance that she will experience even an unusual swell. The effects of a tsunami are felt when the wave action reaches shallow coastal waters. In fact being near the Southern California coast, we may be in more danger than her!"
Dekker, who is from The Netherlands, had not mentioned the earthquake on her blog. Her latest post was about an encounter with another Dutch yacht. "A solo sailor on a small Midget 26," wrote Dekker, who is aboard a 38-foot boat named Guppy. "We got closer and a middle-aged man played some songs on his accordion as we quietly bobbed alongside for a while.
"I tried to throw a chocolate bar over to him but after landing on his yacht it bounced into Neptune's kingdom."
Dekker plans to arrive at Tonga within 48 hours. By then the current warnings will have been lifted.
-- Image shows Laura Dekker's present location
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http://www.facebook.com/pages/Zeilmeisje-Laura-Dekker/129715607107698?sk=wall
Posted by: Thomas | Jul 06, 2011 at 03:57 PM