AMSTERDAM — Teenage Dutch sailor Laura Dekker is nearing the finish of her solo sailing trip around the world almost the same way she began it — in good spirits, despite endless debate about the terms under which she is allowed to be at sea.
Now 16, Dekker is on the final leg, a long stint from Cape Town, South Africa, to the Caribbean island of St. Maarten, where she set sail in 2010. Amid blustery weather, she’s on pace to reach port in Philipsburg around Jan. 24, her lawyer Peter de Lange said Wednesday.
But in her native Netherlands, the story of her voyage has once again been overshadowed by conflicts with the Dutch school system and bureaucrats about approval for her trip.
De Lange confirmed a report in De Volkskrant newspaper Tuesday that truancy officers issued her father a summons to appear late last year after a newspaper quoted her as saying she hadn’t been giving her studies full attention.
De Lange said the report was a misunderstanding, based on her saying she needed to concentrate on sailing while weather in the Atlantic was poor.
When her father refused to turn up, the truancy agency notified child protective services, infuriating the family.
“Who knows, maybe they’ll be waiting for her with handcuffs at the finish line,” De Lange said.
There are no questions of world firsts or records attached to Dekker’s trip. Guinness World Records and the World Sailing Speed Record Council have decided they will no longer recognize records for “youngest” sailors to avoid encouraging dangerous attempts.
Unlike other young sailors to circumnavigate the globe in recent years, Dekker stopped at ports along the way to rest, repair her 38-foot ketch Guppy, and catch up on her studies before resuming her trip.
Her circumnavigation attempt started two months after Abby Sunderland, a 16-year-old American, had to be rescued in a remote section of the Indian Ocean during an attempt to circle the globe. Jessica Watson of Australia completed a 210-day solo voyage at age 16. Dekker is now on day 508 of her voyage.
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