Dutch teenager on course to be youngest to sail the world solo

A DUTCH teenager attempting to become the youngest person to sail solo around the world has arrived in the Caribbean territory of St Maarten.

Fifteen-year-old Laura Dekker has docked her twin-masted sailboat Guppy in Simpson Bay Lagoon. She arrived yesterday in St Maarten, the last stop in the Atlantic Ocean-crossing phase of her journey. She sailed 2,200 nautical miles (4,074 kilometres) from the Cape Verde Islands off West Africa.

Dekker’s venture stirred a debate about whether young people should be allowed to sail the world’s oceans alone.