Laura Dekker makes land on St Maarten

[rikhall]

Very well done Laura. You are terrific and so is your accomplishment.

In her own words: "But here I am having almost circumnavigated the whole world. Yes, that idea is slowly sinking in... But I don't really believe it."

Believe it lady! You did it. I wish you many more happy times at sea.

Rik

[killarney_sailor]

We crossed paths with Laura in the South Pacific. At the same time she is an ordinary teenager and an extraordinary sailor. In the advertising vernacular, she just did it. Congratulations.

[neverknow]

Originally Posted by deow

Sailing solo around the world is dangerous and no one wants to encourage an activity that could result in the death of a kid.

I don't mean to diminish Laura's accomplishment, but I also don't want to see younger and younger kids sailing single-handed around the world to try to beat a record. I just can't see it ending well.

Declining to verify the record is the right thing to do IMO.

I think it's sad these days that ppl do not raise their kids with any responsibility.

200 yrs ago 14 year olds were married and had kids. Today that would be considered illegal.

She sailed around the world but the most dangerous thing she'll do now is get in a car...

[KIVALO]

Well put.

Originally Posted by neverknow

I think it's sad these days that ppl do not raise their kids with any responsibility.

200 yrs ago 14 year olds were married and had kids. Today that would be considered illegal.

She sailed around the world but the most dangerous thing she'll do now is get in a car...

[HDChopper]

Originally Posted by neverknow

I think it's sad these days that ppl do not raise their kids with any responsibility.

200 yrs ago 14 year olds were married and had kids. Today that would be considered illegal.

She sailed around the world but the most dangerous thing she'll do now is get in a car...

You got that right Neverknow , I was one of them and it wasn't 200 years ago lol.

Again welldone Laura!

[hellosailor]

Wasn't it Galileo who supposedly said "Nevertheless, it turns." ?

Guinness can decline to keep records, but that's eventually just going to mean someone else will take their place. They'd accomplish more by recognizing her record, and publicizing her video clips where she was discussing how scared she was. Show that it has been done, and show how dangerous it can be. Like Tanya Abbei, who said she couldn't figure out how to use a sextant when she left NJ and was extremely lucky not to have missed Bermuda and been lost at sea before her first landfall.

Maybe Guinness will also stop publishing football records, since the NFL has finally come out and officially said all that head-banging is killing their players and putting them into dementia in huge numbers at early ages?

[JimMcGee]

Here are several other accounts. She is an impressive young woman.

Dutch girl, 16, becomes youngest sailor to circumnavigate globe single-handed | Sport | The Guardian

Dutch teenager completes world solo-yacht trip - YouTube

Cookies must be enabled | The Australian

Interesting that after sailing around the world the thing she seems to fear most is the Dutch authorities...

[sawingknots]

she has much bigger cojones than me,but i think those shrink with age

[JedNeck]

I'm reading "Dove" right now, about a 16 year old boy that sailed (over several years) around the world.

Some things should be done while you still know everthing.

[SloopJonB]

Originally Posted by neverknow

I think it's sad these days that ppl do not raise their kids with any responsibility.

200 yrs ago 14 year olds were married and had kids. Today that would be considered illegal.

She sailed around the world but the most dangerous thing she'll do now is get in a car...

Kids are indeed overprotected these days but keep in mind that 200 years ago, she might well have died in childbirth and if she survived that, she would likely not have lived much past 50.

14 years olds back then were a LOT older than they are now and IMHO, that was not a good thing.

The G.O.D.'s WEREN'T.