Dutch teenager’s sailing bid, still suspended

A Dutch court yesterday upheld the suspension until at least July 1 of a 14-year-old girl’s bid to sail around the world solo, citing fears for her safety and ordering her supervision by authorities.
“The court is of the opinion that the two-year solo sailing trip as planned ... holds great and unacceptable risks for the child” Laura Dekker, the appeals court in the eastern city of Arnhem said in a written judgment.
“It has not been shown that the safety of the child would be sufficiently guaranteed during the trip.”
Dekker seeks to become the youngest person ever to sail solo around the world. She needs to complete the two-year trip before she turns 17 on September 20, 2012.
Her initial plans to set sail in an 8.3 metre (27-foot) yacht named Guppy last September were thwarted by the intervention of child protection services and a subsequent ruling by the district court in Utrecht in the central Netherlands, against which she appealed.
In December she breached the court order, which placed her under the supervision of child protection authorities, by running away to the Dutch Caribbean island territory of Sint Maarten. Police had to escort her back to the Netherlands.
The appeals court yesterday upheld the Utrecht court’s ruling which barred the girl from setting sail until at least July 1, when the school year ends. But only if no more court applications were brought.
In August last year, British teenager Mike Perham, 17, became the youngest person to sail solo around the world, though with assistance and stopovers.
Australian schoolgirl Jessica Watson, aged 16, is currently less than 1,000 miles (1,600 kilometres) from Sydney, the finish line of her 23,000 nautical mile solo round the world voyage.