Today Laura Dekker, 14, is finishing up the final equipment tests on her 38-foot boat named Guppy before setting off tomorrow for her journey around the world. She announced her plan to circumnavigate the globe in 2009 but had to jump through many hoops with child protection agencies because of her age and safety concerns. Luckily in July, the Dutch government gave her the green light to make this dangerous trek.
Dekker is no stranger to the rock of a boat. She was actually born in one in a New Zealand port during a seven-year trip her parents took, spending the first four years of her life out at sea. When she sails tomorrow, she will start in Portugal and go west.
Jessica Watson, 16, from Australia is the current record breaker. Dekker turns 17 years old in September 2012, so she has two years to become the world’s youngest person to sail around the world.
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Photo by sierragoddess via Flickr.