12 days, 1450 miles to go- youngest circumnavigator already looks back
by Nancy Knudsen on 13 Jan 2012
Laura’s journey so far SW
12 days and 1450 miles to go... Laura looks back. Just about to become, all going well, the youngest sailor every to circumnavigate the world, Laura Dekker has been so scarred by the attitude of authorities in the Netherlands where she was prevented from many months from going solo sailing, she is contemplating moving to New Zealand when she completes her journey.
Feeling the negative effects of bad publicity so early in her young life, Laura also almost shuns the spotlight where she can, preferring to 'hang out' with other cruisers and people her own age when in port. Neither has she had major sponsorship for her voyage, appealing for financial help on her website to allow her to complete her cruise.
But in her always-low-key way, the journey has meant a great deal to her, as she approaches Sint Maarten in the Caribbean, where she will cross her outbound leg and - unofficially as there is no official record - become the youngest circumnavigator ever.
This is more than ever exemplified by what she has now written - in both Dutch and English - in her almost daily weblog:
I am looking forward to my arrival and officially end my journey even though I feel like I already accomplished what I had set out to do a long time ago.
I have learned very much about myself along the way and I also have learned very much from all the different places and the many different people that I came in contact with in so many different countries.
I have learned from The Pacific Ocean and its islands I had only seen in my dreams.
I have learned from the Indian Ocean which snapped me out of my world of dreams showing me bad weather, storms, calm winds and what a long crossing is.
And so too I am learning from the South Atlantic Ocean with its soft Trade Winds and smooth sailing that lets me look back in time and assimilate all the wonderful experiences I had going around the world.
But the time just went by too fast.
It caught up to Guppy and everything will abruptly change soon as we will come under the media limelight...
I am so glad that I still have 12 more days on the Atlantic Ocean before that time comes because that part never appeared in any of my dreams...
Laura's story:
Sail-World Cruising has followed Laura's saga through all its stages, (search 'Laura Dekker' in Sail-World http://www.sail-world.com/CruisingAus/search.cfm!search_facility.) However, the full story of the young sailor, her fight to be allowed to go solo sailing, and the journey she has taken so far, is now showing in http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laura_Dekker!Wikipedia
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