Laura Dekker, 14, next in line to sail around the world alone

Abby Sunderland, make room for Laura Dekker, the latest kid mariner hoping to take on the world and its tempestuous and unforgivable oceans alone in a sailboat.

Sunderland, 16, as much of the world knows, was walloped last month by a monstrous wave that crippled her 40-foot vessel and made her the subject of a dramatic Indian Ocean rescue.

The Southern California adventurer had hoped to become the youngest sailor to solo-circumnavigate the planet but instead her voyage was harshly criticized and Laurence and Marianne Sunderland were barraged with complaints about their parenting skills.

Dekker is only 14. The Dutch sailor had hoped to set sail on a voyage around the world last year, but her mother voiced strong objections -- her father supported the trip; the parents are separated -- and the courts stepped in and placed Dekker in custody of the state.

But the influence of a child on a parent apparently is a powerful thing. The mother now supports her daughter's journey and a court will decide Tuesday whether she should remain a ward of the state. If Dekker is free of that restriction, expect the serious planning to begin.

Babs Mueller, Laura's mother, is quoted in a Dutch newspaper as stating: "I know she can do it, she's a strong girl who does not give up easily. Of course no mother on earth likes it if her daughter goes to sea alone. I will have sleepless nights from the worry, but this is about Laura and how I can help her."

Dekker's planned route is not considered as dangerous as the Southern Ocean course followed by Sunderland and Australia's Jessica Watson, who in May completed a seven-month, nonstop solo-circumnavigation.

Dekker will stay well north of the Southern Ocean, sail in more temperate seas and make many stops. It's similar to what Zac Sunderland did over the course of a 13-month odyssey that ended last July when he was 17.

However, Zac endured numerous hardships, including a brief encounter with suspected pirates and a three-day sleepless period trying to hold his rigging together in a violent storm.

Like the Sunderlands, Dekker has sailing in her blood. She was born on a boat while her parents were sailing around the world. Dekker sailed by herself from The Netherlands to England and back when she was 11. Her 38-foot boat is named Guppy.

-- Pete Thomas

Comments

[Kent]

I'd rather sail around the world at 14 then deal with parents the quarrel such as to make me a ward of the state too. Here is an idea... maybe if the parents got their act together the kid would have a better chance of getting home alive or would have been raised with the good sense not to go in the first place.

[steve]

Can you stop with the Pirate thing. There were no pirates, no military jet, nothing it was a fabrication of the media you know this Pete. The biggest problem with and for the whole Sunderland family is the perpetuation of the lies told by this family.