Fifteen-year-old Laura Dekker,aiming to become the youngest person to sail solo around the world, was in good spirits after completing the 2,200 nautical-mile (2,532 land-mile, 4,074-kilometer) trip from the Cape Verde Islands off West Africa.Dekker’s venture stirred an intense controversy about whether young people should be allowed to sail the world’s oceans alone.
A Dutch court originally blocked the voyage and only permitted her to set off after she took measures to manage the risks. Dekker took courses in coping with sleep deprivation and First aid and bought a sturdier, bigger boat than the one she originally planned to use,equipped with radar equipment and advanced navigation.
Dekker anchored Guppy, her 38-foot (11.5-meter) ketch, just outside Simpson Bay Lagoon after what she called “a very nice trip” so far. She later steered it into the lagoon as a crowd gathered at the docks and take some pictures.”It’s really weird. It’s not moving and not bouncy,” she told The Associated Press as she tried to find her land legs while strolling in flip-flops along a sidewalk to the Dutch territory’s immigration office. “I don’t think I can live in a house at the moment.” Laura started her trip from Gibraltar on Aug. 21 and spent two months in the Canary Islands waiting for the hurricane season to pass.
She left the Cape Verde Islands on Dec. 2.Her round trip attempt started two months after a 16-year-old American,Abby Sunderland, had to be rescued in a remote part of the Indian Ocean during an attempt to circle the globe. Earlier this year, Jessica Watson of Australia completed a 210-day voyage at age 16.
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