Laura Dekker's Contact Details

Laura Dekker's Company Details

Laura Dekker World Sailing Foundation

N/A, N/A, us • 5 - 9 Employees
Non-Profit

Our mission is to inspire young people through the challenge of sailing & land based adventures. A range of longer ocean voyages and shorter coastal trips aboard our sturdy training vessel will provide a uniquely powerful and extremely effective environment for the personal development of young people from a diverse range of backgrounds.My name is Laura Dekker - Starting at the age of 14 I set off on a journey to sail solo around the world, with the blessing of my parents but not of the Dutch government. I completed the journey when I was 16 years old which made me the youngest person to ever sail around the world single-handed.I was born on the 20th of September 1995 in Whangarei, New Zealand during a seven year sailing trip by my parents. During these years my father worked as a boatbuilder and my mother as a street performer. As a family, we travelled for another 5 years before returning to Holland.After my parents divorced in 2002, I stayed with my father, living in various places around Holland while he was building a new boat, a 60ft Norwegian cutter named ''Havorn''. Starting sailing alone at the age of 6 and upgrading my boats as I got older, I sailed in competitive dinghy races as well as offshore later on. At the age of 10 I had upgraded to a Hurley 700. This is a 7m seaworthy boat I bought myself from money earned by doing all kinds of different jobs. I sailed this boat solo around Holland and the North Sea. In May 2009 I sailed the Hurley 700 solo across to England. After that trip I was determined to achieve and realize my biggest dream. To sail around the world. In 2009, I started seriously preparing for my dream. The Dutch government though, thought differently about my plans and a 10 month court battle began. In July 2010, custody over me was given back to my parents and my journey began on the 21st of August 2010. I successfully completed my solo circumnavigation in '' Guppy" my 38ft Ketch arriving in Saint Maarten on the 21st of January 2012.