The fourteen year old Danish solo sailor, Laura Dekker, arrived yesterday in Marina Rubicon in Playa Blanca. Laura is attempting to set a new record on her round the world trip, as the youngest ever solo sailor, beating the current record holder, Australian Jessica Watson, who accomplished the same feat two days before her seventeenth birthday.
Laura arrived on Lanzarote on her boat Guppy after sailing her from Gibraltar and plans to spend two months in Canarian waters, undertaking her schoolwork which she is committed to fulfilling during her epic journey.
She will also be waiting until the hurricane season in the Atlantic is finished before crossing to the Caribbean. It is estimated it may take her two years to complete the trip, with planned stops in Panama, the Galapagos Islands, French Polynesia and Australia before her return to Holland.
The teenager’s plans have already suffered an unexpected delay due to a Dutch tribunal ruling that the journey was too dangerous for someone so young. As a result, Laura has been put under her father’s custody, but he has now given her his blessing to get underway, especially as she has spent a year in preparation and training.
