What gives with these girls?  There’s this mania to go to sea and let’s face it – I’d rather they were out there than in the unhealthy environment back on shore.  Maybe they see it that way too.

Anyway, while Jessica Watson continues to make progress [report below], Laura [remember her?] has run away from the Dutch careworkers whom the court gave her to earlier in the year.  Interestingly, she has now been found:

Police have reportedly found Laura Dekker, the Dutch teenager who went missing after being prevented from sailing solo around the world, on a Carribean island.  Dekker, 14, had been reported missing since Friday and an international alert to find her had been issued, Dutch police said.

Two months ago she was barred by a youth court from pursuing her dream of becoming the youngest sailor ever to circumnavigate the world solo.  Police said Dekker’s boat was still moored at its usual berth, so they had not thought she had set sail.

Dutch media said police had found Dekker on St Maarten in the Caribbean. They cited police on St Maarten and the Dutch Child Protection Agency.  It also placed the teenager – whose father Dick Dekker supported her ambitions, but whose mother expressed doubts – under the protection of child care officers until July 1 next year.

Well, who wouldn’t run away?  What have they against sailing anyway?  It woud be interesting to see what support crew she woud have had in her bid and whether it would have matched that of Jessica Watson – that’s a mighty impressive back-up crew Miss Watson has.

Not having run a Jessicawatch here for sometime, basically, the rules required that she cross the equator twice, which she did and now she’s heading south, prior to catching the Roaring 40s for Cape Horn, which is not a particularly enticing propect and will really test her for the first time.

That episode where she went up the mast the other day [photo below] was only the usual maintenance but all the same, I wouldn’t fancy being up there.  Cold weather is on the way [although it is their summer] and she’s preparing.

Back to Laura Dekker – there’s something very strange going on there and it would be good to have more complete details.  She withdraws thousands of euros and ends up in the Caribbean?  She has a yacht in the harbour at that age and authorities check to see if she’s taken it?  Sounds bizarre to me.

Is she crazy?

All lone sailors are.  Chichester was.  Jessica Watson is her own person.  The trouble with Laura Dekker is that she’s still a bit young to be trying this thing on without complete backup and the Dutch authorities seem to have killed that off.

And spare a thought for 17 year old Mike Perham who got back to Portsmouth in August and is the current holder of the title.  Perham sailed into record books as the world’s youngest round-the-world solo sailor by covering 28,000 miles (45,000 kilometers) in just nine months before crossing the finish line off the coast of Cornwall, in southwestern England:

Next up [the boat's ready and she is up for sea trials soon] is American Abby Sunderland [16] in a 40 foot yacht and if she does it, it will give her the title. You might like to bookmark Abby too and follow her adventures:

Poor Laura – couldn’t they get some consortium going to back her?  Surely there’d be enough blue water sailors of substance to help out but as for the 26 foot Guppy, it’s a bit small for the Antarctic.  Jessica’s 34 foot Sparkman and Stephens is about the lower limit.

She’s obviously right into it and her site mentions the other two girls as well:

Welkom op LauraDekker.nl!

Hallo, welkom op mijn website.

Zolang ik nog niet op reis mag,kunnen jullie al wel vast alle verhalen over de solo non-stop wereldreis van jessica watson uit Australie lezen.

http://www.jessicawatson.com.au/

En natuurlijk ook de voorbereidingen voor de wereldreis van Abby Sunderland uit Amerika.

http://www.soloround.blogspot.com/

Je hebt de afgelopen weken vast veel over mij gelezen en gehoord in de media. Nu heb ik zelf ook weer iets te vertellen. Ik heb de route die ik ga varen in kaart gebracht, bekijk ‘m hier. En ook heb ik het veiligheidsplan voor mijn boot gemaakt.

[Be very careful - the top google ranking is called Laura Decker website but it is an attack site.  There is no Engish language site by her - you'll need to take the Dutch one linked above.]

UPDATE

Apparently the record is held by 17 year old Zac Sunderland now.   :

I wonder if he is the brother of Abby?  His site is here.  Yep – she’s his little sis.

Hmmmm – I wonder if there’s a record for oldest person to circumnavigate the world alone?  Now, all I need is the money.  Er … and the trimaran.

Filed under: Diversions, Leisure & travel