Mother of Dutch teenager opposes daughter’s plan to be youngest sailor to circle the globe

Mom opposes Dutch girl’s plan to sail the globe

AMSTERDAM — The mother of a 13-year-old whose hopes of becoming the youngest sailor to circle the globe solo were put on hold by a Dutch court says she is opposed to the voyage.

Babs Muller was quoted in the Volkskrant daily as saying her daughter, Laura Dekker, has the technical capability to make the trip but that the teenager is not yet mature enough to deal with the psychological challenges of two years of being on her own.

“If it were up to me, Laura wouldn’t go,” Muller told the paper.

“She can sail like the devil, that’s not the problem,” she said. But Laura “is not yet grown up.”

It was the first public comment on the planned voyage by Muller, who earlier had been reported to be unopposed to the trip. She is divorced from Laura’s father.

A court last week ordered Laura placed in the custody of child care authorities for two months, and appointed a child psychologist to report on her capacity to cope with the risks of the voyage and possible harm of lengthy isolation during such formative years. Muller has did not appear at a court hearing last month on the case.

In the interview, Muller said she was worried about her daughter’s safety in ports in some developing countries.

“I have never in my life had to make such a difficult decision,” she was quoted as saying, but she did not want to risk not seeing her daughter again.

Muller and Laura’s father, Dick Dekker, sailed the world together for seven years, and Laura spent her first four years on a boat. She was born in New Zealand.

If she were to set off on the voyage and successfully complete it, Laura would break a record set one week ago by 17-year-old Mike Perham of Britain, who sailed 28,000 miles (45,000 kilometers) in nine months.