Dutch teen sailor reaches Africa
Dutch teen sailor reaches Africa
A 14-year-old Dutch sailor aiming to become the youngest person to sail solo around the world says she has reached Spain's Canary Islands off northwest Africa but declined Thursday to say where exactly she was.
In an email Thursday to The Associated Press, Dekker said she would not specify where she was for fear of attracting the press.
"Sleeping, eating, navigating and all the other things on board went well," she wrote in the website message.
"I'll have to look at land for a while now, but with the beautiful weather and great view here that will be fine," Laura added.
She is expected to stay in the Canary Islands while waiting for the Atlantic storm season to abate. During her stay she will be able to catch up on her schoolwork, receive family visits and install cameras on her yacht for a film to be made of the voyage.
Her venture has stirred an intense debate about whether young people should be allowed to sail the world's oceans alone.
After the Canary Islands, Laura intends to head south to the Cape Verde Islands off west Africa before continuing to the Caribbean on a trip expected to last a year or more.
Laura's website features links titled "My Coordinates" and "Where is Laura," but neither was working Thursday.
The schoolgirl plans to stop at dozens of ports and may even return home for a visit before resuming her trip.
The attempt comes two months after Abby Sunderland, a 16-year-old American, had to be rescued in a remote section of the Indian Ocean during an attempt to circle the globe. Earlier this year, Jessica Watson of Australia completed a 210-day voyage at age 16.
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- Posted on August 30, 2010
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Wow. The fact that she could even navigate through such a large area shows that she has talent. And to double it, she tries to do it alone. At age fourteen, she is already known for being a very young entrepreneur. I think what she did was very clever.
Fish-fingers and custard.
I think its cool that a young teen wants to sail around the world. I do think her parents are on something though ,because I would never let my kids do that. Hopefully she makes it and gets to be the youngest girl to sail the globe. I don't want her to end up like the football players who died out at sea.
No way that the girl reached it all the way to Africa and didn't need to stop. The girl probably just said that she made it up. People try to get famous and the picture is fake if that were true i want the girl to come to northern middle school in Dillsberg.
I think that is a cool goal for a teenager. Going on a boat trip by yourself. I mean she would have had a lot of training to do that. If i did that I would probably scare because I always like boats but i hated to be on them by myself.
I find it amazing that this teenage girl has such a brave goal for herself. I am wondering what would be her goals in the future for sailing wise. It is nice to see her waiting for the storms in the Atlantic ocean to calm down before the Dutch starts to get going again. Good luck!
So, my thought is, even with this great accomplishment, doesn't she still have to go to school? if you spend a year going around the world alone, when you come back i am pretty sure you would be very behind on your work. Besides that, It is amazing that a person so young can successfully navigate through the oceans of the world, without getting hurt with such large storms. Another thing i would be woorried of, is if she won't tell where she is, if she got lost, or her boat got damaged, nobody would know where to find her.
Wow, this is so cool! She is so lucky to be able to sail across the ocean visiting different places around the world. One of the things I would love to do is visit different countries around the world. This 14 year old is very brave to go out in the middle of the ocean by herself... Anything could go wrong.
Sailing on a boat for that long would make me crazy. I couldn't ever see myself being on a boat for 4 hours let alone around the world. Well it's something to talk about.
Wow shes 14 and she can do all that by herself.. I no i couldnt be alone that long..There is alot that can harm her yett i dont know how she is not afraid to take the journey..:D
thats cool that she is traveling around the world like that. she probably thinks it is so fun to do this, i know it would be fun to me. she has probably always wanted to do this. she is probably living the dream. this would be awsome