youngest circumnav ever!!

Dutch bid to thwart young sailor
Laura Dekker in court, 24 August 2009
Sailor Laura Dekker says she wants to 'live freely'

Social workers in the Netherlands have taken legal action to try to stop a 13-year-old girl from sailing around the world on her own.

They want Laura Dekker to be made a ward of court, so that her parents, who support her plans, temporarily lose the right to make decisions about her.

Laura's father, Dick Dekker, has had a request for her to miss two years of school turned down.

Laura had a yacht by the age of six and began sailing solo when she was 10.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/8219443.stm

 

and now
A 13-year-old Dutch girl born in New Zealand is fighting to be declared a Kiwi so she can sail around the world alone.


aura Dekker is battling child protection authorities in her Netherlands homeland who are taking the case to court in a bid to stop the teenager from making the trip.

But the teenager, who was born on a yacht off the coast of New Zealand during a seven-year world trip her parents were making, is now looking to gain residency and a New Zealand passport to get away from Dutch authorities and make the solo trip from here.

Laura and her father, Dick Dekker, yesterday spent the day pleading with judges and child protection authorities to let her make the trip.

She told a Dutch television news show: "Since I was 10 years old, I've known that I would like to sail around the world. I want simply to learn about the world and to live freely."




Laura is reported to have had her own yacht at the age of six and was only 10 years old when she started sailing by herself.

She plans to sail on her boat, dubbed Guppy, on September 1, when she will be 14.

If she is granted the right to make the trip, she will miss out on almost two years of school and will be the youngest person to sail around the globe alone.

The current youngest person to make a solo sailing trip around the world is 17-year-old Zac Sutherland who finished his 13-month journey last month.

A Dutch judge will decide on Friday whether the teenager will be taken into child protection custody.

 

Latest http://www.nrc.nl/international/art..._world_sailing_tour_made_into_reality_TV_show
Some rumors about "disappearing" also http://www.rnw.nl/english/article/laura-dekker-goes-missing

 

Damn. I wan't her to succeed. The authorities have no business in this. On first blush, thirteen is perhaps too young, but there were going to be many people accompanying her, following her, and tho the guinness thing may have been jeopardized by film crew, the right is hers and her parents. This is a totally different situation than the Australian girl sailing alone.

 

poor kid adn parent too
nothing wrong with Zing for life
But say if these things seeded in her head years ago, then her parents(I feel) should have steered her away
I mean how we bring up our children is our concern, but I guided mine quite strongly until they got to 17== 18. they say now, it was the right thing to do
Frinstance one wanted a motorbike, and because I used to ride, I was able tell em, no, but hey , you can go track riding if you want

 

If another boat accompanies her (at a close distance), sure why not.

Alone - no ways. I doubt that people at that tender age can make the right decisions given the troubles they can run into. It will be pure luck if she makes it alone like in alone.

I don't know what it takes to circumnavigate, but children ? I dunno man.

 

The thing Teddy posted, http://www.rnw.nl/english/article/la...r-goes-missing , will lead to the answer. If she ran away and pouted, she may not be mature enough. If she escaped the government so that she can acheive her objective, she's got grit. I'm voting for grit!

 

Looks like some of you guys are saying that it's OK for her to do it alone, as long as she isn't really alone....

I don't think trying to be the youngest by a matter of months is a very good reason for what she wants to do. There were several cases here a few years ago of children vying to be the youngest to pilot an airplane across the country. Even with adults as co-pilots it eventually ended badly, with one of them crashing and dying.

 

I think some are overlooking a fact That 14 year old girls are somewhat scatter barined, they are going through puberty. They do irrational things they also run away a lot
I only hope she is safe in every way

 

"...are saying that it's OK for her to do it alone, as long as she isn't really alone..." - that's what I'm saying. What a life-changing, wonderful experience for her but Troy, I've seen the ocean and anyone single-handed is a stretch. She's thirteen.

 

"...girls are somewhat scatter barined." - You have a point.

 

Having grown up with five brothers and umpteen cousins and uncles, and having been young myself, I can testify that young boys aren't always that focused mentally, either.....

Unless there's a girl walking by, of course.

 

Then, they are focused! Actually, I was typing the above for my thirteen and fifteen-year-old daughters - and I got beat-up for it!

 

Someone explained to me that it's a matter of males having an insufficient blood supply. There's enough to supply either their head or their crotch, but not enough for both at the same time.

 

She was found yesterday at Saint Martin in the Caribbean. Her boat is still in Holland.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/wor...l-sailor-found-on-Dutch-Caribbean-Island.html

Regards,
Angel