Dutch Teen Sails Solo Around the World

Laura Dekker, a Dutch teenager sailed into the Caribbean harbor of St. Maarten to a happy, cheering crowd today after circumnavigating the entire globe, the Telegraph reports. Controversies have surround the 16-year-old sailor, who fled Holland in 2010 when officials tried to put a stop to her voyage.

Dekker claims to be the youngest sailor to go round-the-world, but it’s unofficial as Guinness World Records has stopped recognizing “youngest” sailors after Dekker announced her plan to sail at age 13.

The free-spirited teen eventually won a 10-month court battle with Dutch authorities before she embarked from an undisclosed port in Portugal in August 2010.

In blogs that she wrote while at sea, Dekker expressed her anger at Dutch officials and wrote that her five court appearances would “haunt her for a long time.” She added that the controversy surrounding her has grown so tiresome, she may move abroad, maybe to New Zealand, where she was born aboard a boat during a 7-year trip made by her parents.

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