The Dutch royals visit Sail 2010, while Laura Dekker sets sail. Crime reporter Peter R de Vries lands in a cell while murder suspect Joran van der Sloot’s case could be lost in translation. And it’s festivals galore in the Netherlands.

Dutch royals visit Sail 2010
The Dutch royals paid a visit to Sail 2010 in Amsterdam on Sunday, as 50 tall ships and hundreds of historic vessels and other special boats were on view in the Dutch capital at the weekend. Crown Prince Willem-Alexander inspected the fleet dressed in full naval regalia. He changed into less formal gear to steer his mother’s private yacht, de Groene Draeck (the Green Dragon) through the busy waters in Amsterdam’s eastern docks. Photos in de Telegraaf show Queen Beatrix catching a cabbage thrown by the captain of a barge carrying vegetables, as Princess Máxima looks on and laughs. Earlier the royal family visited Italian tall ship the Amerigo Verspucci.

The mass circulation paper looks back on a successful eighth edition Sail. One and a half million visitors came to the capital to see the ships, and although Sail is Europe’s largest nautical event this did not break any records. Five years ago 2.4 million people came to Sail 2005, although the event lasted a day longer.

Mayor of Amsterdam Eberhaard van der Laan is pictured behind the steering wheel of tall ship Stad Amsterdam, which is perhaps better known as the Beagle after it featured in a television series sailing in the wake of Charles Darwin’s voyage of discovery. Today the ships leave port to sail to various destinations around the world.

Laura sets sail away from the cameras
The tall ships are not the only ones to be setting sail. Fourteen-year-old Laura Dekker left port on Saturday in an attempt to become the youngest person to circumnavigate the world solo. According to de Volkskrant, she managed to shake off the paparazzi by sneaking away with her boat Guppy to Gibraltar, rather than leaving from Portimão in Portugal.

Her manager says “she had had enough of the media,” after almost a year-long tug-of-war with social services which tried to prevent her from leaving because of her young age. AD writes that the change of plan took place after a visit from the Portuguese maritime police who pointed out that it is against Portuguese and European law for minors to leave port unassisted. The only member of her family to wave goodbye from the pier was her father, as her mother and sister were still on holiday.

The paper tells us it is unlikely that camera-shy Laura will be talking to the press as she has sold exclusive rights to her voyage to TV production company MasMedia. For the time being the company will have to make do with footage from a handycam as there was no time to rig the yacht with cameras. This will be done in ten days time when she reaches the Canary Islands.

Crime reporter arrested in Australia
Crime reporter Peter R de Vries has got into trouble with the Australian police. Mr de Vries is best known for secretly filming Joran van der Sloot, prime suspect in the Natalee Holloway disappearance, describing how she died and how he disposed of her body. This time, he was after the suspected murderer of a 23-year-old Dutch woman, Mariska Mast, who was killed in Honduras two years ago. The suspect is a British-Australian diving instructor.

In AD, the reporter describes his night in an Australian cell. First he and his assistant had to strip and bend over to make sure they were not smuggling anything. He could not sleep on the plastic mattress on the floor and heard shouting and swearing all night. Besides that it was very cold as it is winter down under.

Mr de Vries was arrested for trespassing when he tried to deliver a letter to the suspect’s house. After a night in the cell, he was released on bail and banned from entering the suspect’s street. The crime journalist has refused to admit trespassing as he claims he should be able to pursue a suspect and question him. Now the tables have turned and the Australian press is camping in his garden. “Maybe there’s a sense now that it is strange that a journalist who tracks down a murder suspect is put in a cell, while the suspect is protected,” says Peter R de Vries.

Joran’s case could be lost in translation
The case against Joran van der Sloot, who is in prison in Peru as the main suspect for the murder of Peruvian woman Stephany Flores, may be in jeopardy as there is no official translator available, according to de Telegraaf. Van der Sloot’s lawyer says the case cannot continue as there are no sworn translators who can translate Spanish into Dutch. The Dutchman who is also implicated in the disappearance of Natalee Holloway in 2005, is also appealing against his deportation from Chile as it was not carried out according to the book.

Meanwhile the paper reports that Joran has made new friends in prison. One of them, US murder suspect William Trickett, is accused of murdering a woman in a hotel room and disposing of her body at sea. Chillingly Stephany Flores was murdered in a hotel room and Natalee Holloway’s body was allegedly disposed of at sea.

A tale of three festivals
Three festivals have made it into the papers today. While Arnhem’s good festival reputation is shot into oblivion, fears of violence in Hook of Holland proved unfounded. And pop festival Lowlands has an unlikely visitor.

Trouw decribes how in Arnhem the 10th edition of summer carnival Rio on the Rijn ended in tragedy when a man opened fire on a crowded city square. One person was killed and two people were injured. The incident destroyed the city’s image as the Netherlands’ best event city in one foul swoop. Arnhem had spent years distancing itself from the poor reputation it had back in the 1980s. “An idiot with the brain of a shrimp, who emptied his pistol on a busy square full of partying people and children,” responds the event’s organiser.  According to nrc.next, the gunman put his pistol in his belt and just walked off as if he were Clint Eastwood. So it is no wonder police were able to arrest him and another man just around the corner.

Meanwhile Hook of Holland proved it could hold a party without violence. Exactly a year ago a man was shot dead by police after they became surrounded by hooligans during the Sunset Grooves beach party. Trouw writes that the local council even tried to stop the ‘Ministry of Beats’ from staging the dance party. The tickets-only event especially hit a raw nerve with the police. But party-goer Wesley tells the paper there is nothing to worry about. “This is just a chill party. Nothing wrong at all.”

And Lowlands pop festival had an unlikely visitor at the weekend, reports de Volkskrant. The Netherlands Chief of Defence, General Peter van Uhm, spoke to festival-goers about recognition for soldiers returning from combat. Although the general is not used to receiving applause, he felt quite at home in the festival encampment.