INDEPENDENT NEWSPAPERS
Dutch teenager Laura Dekker on board her boat. Picture by: S'bonelo Ngcobo
Dutch teen Laura Dekker, who went to court for the right to go to sea, will become the youngest sailor to circumnavigate the globe alone when she reaches the Caribbean island of Sint Maarten Saturday.
“At 3.00 p.m. (1900 GMT) tomorrow, Laura will arrive in Sint Maarten, at the Dutch part of the island, a year after her departure on January 20, 2011,” her manager Gerard van Erp said Friday.
The teenager, who turns 17 on September 20, will beat the current record by some eight months, as she effectively has to complete her journey before September 16 to beat the record for the youngest sailor to make an unassisted world tour.
The current record holder is Australian Jessica Watson, who achieved it in May 2010, three days before she turned 17.
But unlike Watson, who circumnavigated non-stop, Dekker sailed from port-to-port and was never at sea for more than three weeks.
Dekker's achievement will not be entered in the Guinness Book of World Records, which has refused to recognise records by minors which are considered “unsuitable.”
Neither would the World Sailing Speed Record Council - the official body that validates such records - acknowledge the feat.
“All that matters is speed, we don't do any personal records, age doesn't matter,” John Reed, the council's secretary, told AFP.
Dekker's manager has stressed that what matters to the teenager is not the record. “What is important, is for her dream to become reality,” he said.
A welcoming ceremony has been planned for Dekker's arrival, with her parents, island officials and journalists expected among guests.
“We have already received more than 240 requests for interview, the whole world wants to speak with Laura,” said van Erp.
The Dutch teen originally set off from Gibraltar on August 21, 2010 in her yacht Guppy after winning a 10-month court battle with child welfare authorities.
But a change of her planned course led her to make the starting point from her trip Sint Maarten instead.
A Dutch court had blocked plans for her to cast off a year earlier - when she was just 14 - and placed her in the care of welfare officers on the grounds that she was too young to guarantee her safety at sea.
She ran away to Sint Maarten, an island of the Lesser Antilles divided between France and the Netherlands, and police had to escort her back home.
Born on a boat in New Zealand of a seafaring family, she also lived on a boat in the Netherlands with her father Dick and dog Spot before setting out on her voyage.
- Sapa-AFP
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