source A Dutch court has put into state care a 13-year-old girl who wants to become the youngest person to sail solo around the world, amid fears for her wellbeing during the attempt.
Child protection authorities will take charge of Laura Dekker for two months while she is assessed by psychologists, although she will continue to live with her father. Dekker had planned to set sail next month on a trip due to last two years.
She wants to challenge the record set by the British teenager Mike Perham, 17, who was celebrated yesterday after becoming the youngest person to sail around the world solo. Perham, from Potters Bar, returned to the UK after a nine-month, 24,000-mile voyage during which he was alone except when stopping for repairs.
Social workers have argued that Laura Dekker is too young to properly assess the dangers of the voyage. Psychologists have said that being alone for so long would be damaging at an important time in her development.
"A 13-year-old girl is in the middle of her development and you don't do that alone, you need peers and adults," said Micha de Winter, a professor of child psychology at Utrecht University. Adults could choose to be alone, he said, "but for children it is not good".
The presiding judge, M Oostendorp, ruled that the trip held significant potential dangers for someone Laura's age. "She would be confronted with difficult situations that will challenge her mentally and physically," she said.
Before the verdict, the Dutch Council for Child Protection said it feared her plans could be linked to a need to impress her relatives, who are keen sailors. "Laura has divorced parents and it is very normal for a child of this age to be very loyal to the parent [he or she] was living with," said Richard Bakker, on behalf of the council. "How much does she identify herself with her father, who is a good sailor?"
The council said it supported the court's decision and called upon Dekker's father "to co-operate with the investigation and ensure Laura's safety".
This year, Dekker was picked up by police in Britain after sailing from the Netherlands alone. Officers were called to a library in the port of Lowestoft on 2 May after being told she was in the country alone.
Dekker, who had been sleeping on her boat, was placed in a care home for a night after her father initially refused a request to come to Britain and escort his daughter home. A police spokesperson said the father believed she could sail back alone. "His attitude was that she was a competent sailor and he was happy with her sailing to the UK." After the first night he agreed to fly to Britain and accompany his daughter in the boat back to the Netherlands.
Although Perham's round the world trip was a success, he had to cope with autopilot failures, rudder problems and bad weather that forced him to stop for repairs several times. Dekker's trip would be much longer than Perham's nine months, to allow her to spend time in ports during poor weather conditions.
Perham set off around the world aged 16. In January 2007 he had become the youngest person to sail solo across the Atlantic, at the age of 14. Commenting on Dekker's plans, he said: "Thirteen is a young, young age. But then I sailed across the Atlantic on my own when I was 14 and if I could do that when I was 14 then in theory she could do it when she was 13.
"But, yes, for me age is only a number. It's whether she's got the physical strength, the mental strength and the technical ability. You know, can she strip an engine blindfolded? You know, can she build boats, is she an electrician, is she a mechanic as well – because you can't just be a sailor to do a trip like this."
Dekker's lawyer, Peter de Lange, said: "There is no legal debate about her [sailing] skills." Both of her parents tried to discourage her but she convinced them to let her go, he said.
Dekker would have to drop out of high school to make the trip and teach herself while at sea or in ports. Dutch authorities say such home schooling must be supervised by an adult.
She was born in New Zealand while her parents were on a round-the-world sailing trip and spent the first four years of her life on the ocean. She got her first yacht aged six and has been sailing solo since she was 10. "My parents always knew it was a dream of mine to do this," she told a children's TV programme. "And I want to do it while I'm still young, so I can break the record."
"In the beginning they [my parents] asked if I was sure I really wanted to do it. They have sailed around the world so they know what could happen and that it's not always fun, but I realise that too. But I really wanted to do it so my parents said, 'Good, we'll help you.'"
Guinness World Records would not comment on her case but said it stayed away from many such records. "[We have] a standard policy that does not sanction, endorse or encourage attempts by minors [people under the age of 16] on records which are dangerous or potentially life-threatening," said Daniel Field, a spokesman.
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