Magazine / Magazine: Waters and sport
Gift idea: Kalea the sailing girl and Fin the dolphin
Two sailors on a round-the-world voyage wrote a children's book on board. Ten ten-minute stories about the ocean, in German, for reading aloud from age five.
1 November 20265 min readNAMMERT Assekuradeur GmbH
Some books are written at a desk. This one was written at sea. Laura Pape and Arne Weidtke cast off from Leer in north-west Germany in July 2024 aboard Moana, a steel ketch, to sail around the world. They have since crossed the Atlantic and are now cruising the Caribbean. Moana is insured with us, so we follow the voyage closely. On the way they wrote a children's book: ten adventure stories of the sea with Kalea, a girl with her own small sailing boat, and her dolphin friend Fin.
Kalea sails to islands and coral reefs, listens to whales singing, watches baby turtles reach the water and swims with dolphins through glowing plankton at night. She meets a clever octopus and sharks that turn out to be part of the ocean's balance rather than villains. Each story takes about ten minutes to read. The authors describe the book as their contribution to protecting the oceans.
The book is written in German, which makes it a good present for German-speaking children and for families raising their kids bilingually on board or ashore. It suits the winter months, when the yacht is laid up and children still want to hear about the water. The paperback has 112 pages, and the publisher gives a reading age of five to twelve.
The voyage also shows what to look for in the policy before a long passage. Anyone cruising the Caribbean is inside a hurricane zone, with the season officially running from 1 June to 30 November. Some policies on the market carry a named windstorm exclusion for those months or require the yacht to leave a defined box. Read that clause in the wording before you plan the season, not after a loss.
Sailing with children raises two more questions. Third party liability pays for damage you cause to others; it does not pay when someone in your own crew gets hurt, which is what personal accident cover for people on board is for. And every child needs a life jacket that matches their weight and the waters you sail. Our life jacket finder helps you choose the right buoyancy class.
The book is available through Laura and Arne's book page or directly from Amazon. The paperback costs 13.90 euros and the Kindle edition 8.99 euros on amazon.de as of 1 November 2026. If it is meant for Christmas, order early rather than in the final week. We earn nothing from it; it is simply a lovely book by two people who know the sea.
Get the book
10 Abenteuer-Geschichten vom Meer (in German), with Kalea the sailing girl and Fin the dolphin. Paperback, 112 pages, 13.90 euros; Kindle 8.99 euros on amazon.de (as of 1 November 2026). ISBN 979-8317370770.
Worth checking
Common questions
Where can I buy the children's book by Laura Pape and Arne Weidtke?
Through the book page on lauraundarne.de, which links to the retailer, or directly on Amazon. There is a 112 page paperback and a Kindle edition, both in German.
What age is the book for?
The stories are written for reading aloud from age five, and the publisher gives a reading age of five to twelve. Each of the ten stories takes about ten minutes.
Is a yacht insured in the Caribbean during hurricane season?
That depends on the wording. Some policies exclude named windstorms between June and November or require the yacht to stay outside a hurricane box. Check the exclusion clause and the cruising area before you sail there.
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