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Dutch teenager starts her historic bid to sail around the world solo

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Dutch teenager Laura Dekker has set off today on her long-awaited voyage to try to become the youngest person to sail the globe solo, according to Reuters.

The 14-year-old had to battle for a year with child welfare authorities in the Netherlands to be allowed to set sail.

A Dutch court ended state supervision of Laura last week, saying she had met all conditions imposed by child welfare authorities and that the journey would pose no risk to her social and emotional development.

“Since I was eight years old, I wanted to sail around the world and when I was 10 I was really sure I wanted to sail off, but then my parents didn’t approve of it,” Laura said while on the pier next to her boat, shortly before departure.

A large crowd of journalists and observers came to watch Laura set off and she was followed in the water by other boats as she sailed towards the open sea.

Her father is accompanying her to Portugal to complete final preparations before starting the official solo part of her journey from there.

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