Free Republic

Dutch teen Laura Dekker on Saturday became the youngest sailor to complete a solo circumnavigation of the world, a year after going to court for the right to make the attempt. The 16-year-old completed her solo round-the-world journey when she sailed into harbour on the Caribbean island of Sint Maarten at 3:00 pm (1900 GMT). Dekker, who left the island nearly a year ago to the day -- January 20, 2011 -- beat the previous record by some eight months. As she turns 17 on September 20, she had to complete her journey before September 16 to beat the record...

You can probably imagine the kinds of nightmares a teenager on a solo voyage round the world might suffer from: pirate kidnappings, treacherous coral reefs or perhaps scary encounters with mysterious sea creatures. But not Laura Dekker. The 16-year-old schoolgirl's sleep is haunted by memories of the traumatic experiences she suffered at the hands of the Dutch authorities. And ever since she set her sights on sailing round the world she says Dutch social services have done their best to stop her from pursuing her dream. ~~~~ Earlier this month truancy officers issued her father with a summons claiming that...