Laura Dekker

Laura Dekker (Dutch pronunciation: [ˈlʌuraː ˈdɛkər]; born 20 September 1995) is a Dutch sailor. In 2009, she announced her plan to become the youngest person to circumnavigate the globe single-handed. A Dutch court stepped in, owing to the objections of the local authorities, and prevented Laura from departing while under shared custody of both her parents. In July 2010, a Dutch family court ended this custody arrangement, and the record-breaking attempt finally began on 21 August 2010. Dekker successfully completed the solo circumnavigation in a 12.4-metre (40 ft) two-masted ketch named Guppy, arriving in Simpson Bay, Sint Maarten, 518 days later at the age of 16.

Early life

Dekker was born in the city of Whangārei, New Zealand, during a seven-year sailing trip by her parents. Her father, Dick Dekker, is Dutch and her mother, Babs Müller, is German. Dekker has Dutch, German, and New Zealand citizenship. Her parents divorced in 2002. She lived with her father after the separation of her parents, and her younger sister Kim went to live with her mother.

Dekker spent the first five years of her life at sea and sailed often with her father after the family's return to the Netherlands. She has owned several boats, all named Guppy. The first was an Optimist dinghy she received for her sixth birthday, and which she promptly learned to sail solo, initially accompanied by her father on a windsurfer.

For her eighth birthday (in 2003), she received the book Maiden Voyage, Tania Aebi's memoir of her round-the-world sailing trip.