Published January 23, 2012 12:00AM
On Saturday, Dutch teen Laura Dekker became the youngest sailor to circumnavigate the globe solo when she sailed into the Dutch Caribbean island of St. Martin. Dekker, 16, spent a year and a half at sea on her boat, a 38-foot Jeanneau Ginfizz ketch named Guppy. Netherlands authorities originally tried to block Dekker from leaving, prompting her to run away to St. Martin in 2009. A Dutch court eventually consented to the trip, provided that she take a first aid course and enroll in a distance-learning program. Dekker, who also holds New Zealand citizenship, says that she has no plans to return to the Netherlands.
Read more at the BBC