By Judy H. Fitzpatrick
PHILIPSBURG--The public will get a chance to see the ups and downs of the solo journey of Dutch teen sailor Laura Dekker.
Dutch Director Peter Wingender of Screentime and Dutch Producer Pieter van Huijstee of Pieter van Huijstee Film (PHF) have collaborated to produce a documentary of Dekker's solo sailing journey around the world. If she succeeds Dekker will be the youngest person to complete the feat.
The two were in St. Maarten filming Dekker's official arrival to St. Maarten as well as capturing other aspects of her stay here.
Wingender told The Daily Herald that the entire two-year project is expected to cost between 300,000 to 400,000 euros and that interest has been expressed by third parties to fund the project.
He said the international documentary will be in Dutch and English (with subtitles) and will be feature length - about 75 or 90 minutes. The goal is to have it premiered in the cinemas and subsequently broadcast on television.
The filming crew arrived in St. Maarten on December 16, two days before Dekker's arrival on December 18, to prepare for shooting.
He said the crew will be flying to meet with Dekker at key points in her journey for filming. "There could be some damage on the boat and it might be a good idea to travel to her to see what will happen; you never know - it's a documentary, it's not a feature film," he said. "You can think of an end but there can be several possible endings."
The director said he can relate to Laura's journey because he too lived on a "houseboat" and sailed a lot as a crew member when he was her age. "I can identify myself a bit with her story. I wasn't travelling solo, but I was part of a six-people crew and we were not racing to break a record but I have some experience in the field."
Based on Dekker's tentative travel schedule, there are some key points that are likely to be filmed. "There are certain fixed points that she must meet in order to set the new record and those points are fixed because of the hurricane season all over the world. She has to be in Bonaire by February/March 2011; in the Panama Canal by April 2011 and she has to be in Darwin, Australia by December, if she does not succeed she has to wait until the hurricane season is over and it will cost her months. She also has to be in the Suez Canal by June 2012, I think. She has to be at her point of arrival in Gibraltar four days before she turns 17 in September 2012."
Elaborating on how he got the exclusive rights for filming for the documentary, Wingender said he had prepared and sent a proposal to Dekker's father for exclusive rights to film for a documentary during the initial stages. At least two other companies, Mass Media and Eyeworks, had also expressed interest in filming her. At one point there were uncertainties due to the earlier court case.
The discussions with the two other companies fell through and Wingender said he was contacted by Dekker's grandfather who asked him if he was still interested when Dekker was preparing for her journey. A contract was subsequently signed with Dekker's father for rights to film the documentary.
Everything came through just two weeks before Dekker was scheduled to arrive in St. Maarten. Wingender said it was decided that he should travel to St. Maarten to capture her arrival here since it marked her breaking one record, being the youngest person to cross the Atlantic from Europe to the Caribbean in a solo journey.
"I can imagine that it would be nice to have a film of Laura's journey. Ten years from now it would be nice to see what you did when you are 15 travelling the world by yourself, that's the main thing."
Speaking about his experience filming Dekker thus far he said: "She is cool and very daring and courageous." He recalled going on a cliff about seven metres high in St. Barths, where Dekker spent the Christmas weekend. He said while he was hesitating, Dekker climbed the cliff, said in jest that he was a coward and she jumped off into the water.
He said St. Maarten had been very nice to Dekker and the filming crew. "The people in St. Maarten treated her incredibly nice and a special thanks to Petra [Gilders of the St. Maarten Yacht Club ed.] because she made things happen not only for Laura, but also for us because we did not have the time to go around and meet people because we were busy shooting.
"Laura also had to work on her boat because there was some damage due to the crossing. There were things like a small tear to her sail. Some people here are helping her to fix the damage to the sails. She also had to clean the boat because it was very salty and she had to wash her clothes because being three weeks out on the sea – there are things you would have to do.
"It was quite interesting shooting her; how a little girl is coping on her own. She doesn't have a washing machine on her boat. She washes the old fashioned way with a piece of soap."
The Screentime owner wished Dekker success in her journey. "I really hope that Laura has a safe passage and will end her journey by the end of September 2012, hopefully in good shape and with her boat in one piece. That would be a nice accomplishment and we would be there in Gibraltar to shoot her."
