Tell us what you think. Should a 14 year old be allowed to sail round the world alone? Is this good or bad parenting? Are the courts right to say OK?

From the Telegraph:

Laura Dekker, the Dutch girl who won a 10-month legal battle Tuesday in her bid to become the youngest person to sail solo around the world, was born on a similar sea voyage 14 years ago.

"Sailing is my life," the blonde teenager writes on her website, sprinkled with photos of her yacht, sailing instruments and images of the sea.

"As soon as I get on my boat, something inside me changes. Then I really feel what living is."

A Dutch court Tuesday denied a request by child protection authorities to place her under their supervision for a further year until August 2011 to stop her imminent departure.

Dekker later addressed journalists from around the world with remarkable ease at the harbour of Den Osse, in the southern Netherlands, where she lives on a boat with her father, Dick, and dog, Spot.

"I simply want to see the world, different cultures, and to acquire life experience," the slender, vivacious girl told AFP.

"I like to travel. I don't like staying in one place for too long."

Dekker was born in New Zealand during the third of a seven-year, around-the-world sea journey and spent the first four years of her life at sea with her parents.

"I was four when I first stood at the helm on my own," she writes.

She set sail on her first, six-week solo holiday to the northern Dutch province of Friesland at the age of 11.

Her boat, an 11.5 metre-long (about 38 feet) jeaneau gin fizz ketch, is named Guppy.

"This boat is my second home. Guppy means everything to me," Dekker says on her website.

She describes herself as a sailor "first of all", and says that other people perceive her as stubborn.

"I follow my own head. And if I'm determined to do something, then I'll make sure that I make it happen."

In tenacious style, Dekker fought the state's attempts to kill her dream, addressing the courts' concerns one by one such as learning first aid and sleep management techniques.

She plans to continue her formal education via the internet while at sea.

Shortly after the authorities thwarted her initial departure last year, the headstrong youngster ran away to the Dutch Caribbean island territory of Sint Maarten (St. Martin) in December. Police had to escort her back home.

She says she understands people's concern about her age, "but I would like to show other young people what you can achieve if you really have a dream".

Dekker describes her hobbies as windsurfing and snowboarding. She does not watch much television, and when she does it would be a film "involving water".

"When I'm not surfing or sailing, I am to be found at the harbour working on my boat," she says.

She is an avid sailing magazine reader, and "I like Donald Duck".

Dekker says she has found the media attention in recent months hard to understand.

"I couldn't believe that everybody is interested in me," she writes.

"I'm just a person with a dream."

The Plastiki, the catamaran made from 12,500 PET (polyethylene terephthalate) bottles sailed into Sydney Harbour yesterday (Monday 26 July). The project head David de Rothschild, heir to the banking dynasty, sailed approximately 9,000 miles across the Pacific from San Francisco to Sydney. "It's totally overwhelming," he exclaimed. "We're so excited to be here."

The Plastiki, which takes its name from Norwegian explorer Thor Heyerdahl's 1947 Kon-Tiki expedition from South America to Polynesia on a raft of balsa husks, set off in March. The boat, whose six crew included Heyerdahl's grandson Olav, travelled through a waste-strewn area of the north Pacific and stopped in the Line Islands, Western Samoa and French territory New Caledonia before leaving for Australia.

The Plastiki's bottles are lashed to pontoons and held together with recyclable plastic and glue made from cashew nut husks and sugarcane, while its sails are also made from recycled plastic. The crew relied on renewable energy including solar panels, wind and propeller turbines and bicycle-powered electricity generators, and used water recycled from urine.

The 45 competitors taking part in the 2010 edition of the classic summer solo race, La Solitaire du Figaro, are set to sail from Le Havre for Gijón on a 515 nautical mile leg today, Tuesday 27th July; the first of four stage race over the course of the next four weeks. With 8 rookies geared up for their first participation, 5 non French sailors wishing to leave their mark and 3 women including the return of Karinne Fauconnier, the 2010 line up promises to produce some memorable racing.

After yesterday’s Prologue, won by Gildas Morvan (Cercle Vert), the solo sailors have spent the day making final preparations for tomorrow’s 14:00 start. The first leg comprises a 515-nautical mile run, the longest of the four legs, from Le Havre, in Northern Normandy to the pretty port of Gijón in Asturias on the Cantabrian coastline. “It is a very technical and difficult leg route across the to Cherbourg peninsula and then though renowned difficult areas across the Breton coast before crossing the Bay of Biscay.” Explains Jonny Malbon, who returns on board Artemis for his second participation.

The weather forecasts vary and there could be either very light wind for the start of up to 10/12 knots from the northwest depending on which module you look at, explains Sylvain Mondon (Météo France). “In the worst case we could have little and variable breeze for the start or if we look at the more favourable modules, we could see the northwesterly breeze established for the upwind run to the Cotentin headland for the first night. The breeze should freshen up and we could see up to 25 knots as it backs to the west and the turning tide, which will make for a tough first night of racing.” Continues Mondon. Once the fleet round the Brittany point, with the wind of the beam, the forecast is for the breeze to lighten providing for a comfortable run with some it should be a straight down wind run towards Spain. “We can expect to see the first reach Gijon in the early hours of Saturday” predicts Mondon, if the forecasts do not develop and change too much.

The worlds leading solo sailors inevitably pass through the challenge of participating in the classic Figaro race. This 41st edition is no different. We see experienced sailors returning to hone their skills against the young future stars aiming to leave their mark. Previous winners include Jérémie Beyou (BPI), Kito de Pavant (Groupe Bel), Eric Drouglazet (Luisina), Armel le Cléac’h (Brit Air) and Nicholas Lunven (Generali).

Race Director, Jacques Caraës foresees the first leg complications to be three points of passage: Barfleur, the Raz Blanchard (the island of Aurigny to be left to starboard), then the Four channel. “The first part is pretty much coastal. Setting certain passage points avoids the DST (maritimes traffic) off Aurigny and Ushant. This should make the racing more interesting, particularly now that the skippers can better navigate delicate areas where current and rocks can come into play. It should be an interesting first race as all are well prepared and rested.” Summarises Caraës.

In 1993, at Bodega Bay, Russell lon took his last ride on Longshot, his custom Ketterman built trifoiler, which had just been outfitted with new foil wings. She bolted out of the gate a blasted up to near 50 knots when the back stay parted and she "blew up" scattering pieces about the harbor.

Russell emerged shaken but unscathed. Longshots parts were gathered and eventually trucked to Southern California.

Russell soon followed another passion, in protecting the environment and has spent the past 15 years working with projects such a his Blue Water Network and Friends of the Earth Which among other things ended the use of 2 stroke engines on Lake Tahoe and forced the fuel efficiency issues in Washington and Detroit.

Longshot was recently towed back to Watsonville, had a few tweaks and adjustments made and readied for another go at the record books. She Still holds the class A 500 Meter Course record set in 1992 in Tarifa Spain of 43.55 knots according to speedsailing.com. Russell has his sites set a bit higher, that being the overall 500 Meter speed record set by Hydroptere of 51.36 knots set in Hyere's France in 2009.

Featuring 11 crews ready to battle in match and fleet race disciplines, the RC 44 2010 Season Championship resumes here tomorrow on the Mediterranean Sea.

Pieter Heerema of The Netherlands leads his No Way Back crew into action atop the season standings. Last year’s season champs have amassed the low score of 8 points on finishes of 3-3-2, but Heerema sees trouble on the horizon.

“We’ve been consistent, but this isn’t the moment to talk about the standings,” said Heerema, a veteran sailor of dinghies and keelboats. “After this regatta each team gets to discard its worst finish, so the standings will change.”

Three points in arrears is the Russell Coutts-led BMW ORACLE Racing crew aboard Deal Breaker. Torbjorn Tornqvist’s Artemis holds third place with 12 points, followed by Chris Bake’s Team Aqua with 14 points and Harm Mueller-Speer’s Team Sea Dubai in fifth place with 16 points.

“They’ve been very consistent,” said Team Aqua professional helmsman Cameron Appleton of New Zealand. “Pieter has put in a lot of time and effort and it’s paid off. They’re a strong unit.”

Other competitors in the event include Igor Lah’s Team Ceeref of Slovenia, BMW ORACLE Racing’s Boat 17 led by skipper James Spithill, Guennadi Timtchenko’s Katusha of Russia, Daniel Calero’s Islas Canarias Puerto Calero and René Mangold’s AEZ RC44 Sailing Team of Austria.

Day one of the German 18ft Skiff Grand Prix took a heavy toll on the fleet as the teams from Germany, Denmark, UK and Hungary battled fresh winds and 2-metre waves at Travemuende.

A steady 16-knot breeze, increasing to 18 knots, with gusts between 19-22 knots, made it essential for each team to use the small rig.

It wasn’t the wind, however, but the big waves that made conditions so treacherous.

Norbert Peter, skipper of German skiff Magic Marine, said: 'Going upwind was like riding a wild mustang and downwind a mixture of huge jumps and nosedives. Nearly everybody succeeded today in nosedives'.

Results on day one have the Danish GP Covers team of Flemming Clausen, Soren Clausen and Thomas Ebler in the lead after two wins from the three races.

UK’s Team Pica (Jamie Mears) follows in second place with a second in race two and a win in race three.

Team Pica’s win came when she was the only skiff to complete the course in race three after GP Covers capsized on the first gybe abd the race leader Magic Marine broke her pole coming down a large wave.

Among the casualties were a crewman with a broken finger on Team Pica, a 'bloody bruise' requiring stitches on the sheet hand of Berlinsyndikat, a broken wing on Hungary’s European champion Liberty Sailing Team and the broken pole on Magic Marine.

With so much carnage to most of the fleet, the regatta is wide open as teams prepare for the expected 17 knots of wind on day two.

Australian 18ft Skiff site - http://www.flying18s.com/index.php?p=1_4

The women who spent 51 days at sea in a tiny boat the length of two minis ended their epic 2,000-mile journey this morning at Tower Bridge in London.

By becoming the first women ever to row around mainland Britain their time of 51 days 16hours 42minutes has been accepted for a Guinness World Record.

Belinda Kirk, 35, from Bristol, Royal Navy nurse Laura Thomasson, 23, from Dover, IT support manager Beverley Ashton, 29, from Wantage, Oxfordshire and Angela Madsen, a wheelchair-bound 50-year-old grandmother and former US marine from Long Beach California are raising money for the services’ charity, Help For Heroes.

When they set out from Tower Bridge in London on June 1, they were taking part in Virgin GB Row 2010 - the world’s toughest rowing race.

They were racing a team of four men around the British mainland.

But when the male team gave up after less than two weeks, the women carried on alone and without any assistance for five more weeks.

Some superb sailing enabled Paul Cayard (USA) and the crew of Torbjorn Tornqvist's (SWE) Artemis (SWE) to take the third regatta in the 2010 Audi MedCup circuit - the Camper Regatta - Conde de Godó Trophy, sailed off the coast of Barcelona.

Artemis won after a fantastic finale, coming from eighth at the first windward mark to finish second behind Bribón (ESP) in the last race. This is the Swedish flagged team's first MedCup Circuit regatta win since 2007.

Artemis led by a single point, going into the one and only race of the final day. Soon after the start of the race, the odds looked suddenly to be stacked against Artemis when they picked the wrong side of the first beat and rounded the top mark in eighth place, with their main rivals Emirates Team New Zealand (NZL) in second.

But two electrifying downwind legs, twice gybing away for clear air and flatter water, diverging from the line taken by the pack, saw Cayard and crew gaining three places on each run to secure Barcelona's top trophy.

With 16 cameras shooting over four hours of sailing, more than 60 hours of video were captured yesterday as Russell Coutts and James Spithill of BMW ORACLE Racing put their boats through a series of close-proximity manoeuvres.

Three onboard cameramen (two on one boat) augmented the fixed and remote control cameras, and upwards of 25 microphones, including surround-sound microphones, captured the crews' voices and ambient noise.

The action became intense when the start box was limited to five boatlengths in width and depth. Required to stay inside the box, the two crews circled around each other for three minutes before breaking off to head to the start line.

The entrance of a helicopter with gyro-stabilized 3D camera was one example of the latest technologies being evaluated. The chopper blew hats off heads and soaked observers when it was just 50 feet off the water, trying to get a tight viewing angle.

Lots of video and pictures here: http://www.yachtingworld.com/performance-world/news/492668/america-s-cup-tv-t...

Sailing schoolboy Mike Perham, 18, has announced plans to become the youngest person to fly solo around the world. He launched the bid at the Farnborough International Air Show, just 11 months after he returned to a hero's welcome in Portsmouth last August to become the youngest person to sail around the world single handed, a record soon snatched away by Australian sailor Jessica Watson.

Perham hopes to be off next summer after completing flying lessons and masterminding the planning and logistics. Perham, who only passed his driving test a few months ago, has begun an intensive training programme for this next challenge at Elstree Aerodrome. Mike said, 'It is truly amazing to experience the freedom that flying gives. There is a lot to learn, but I'm loving it'.

Read the full story here: http://www.yachtingmonthly.com/news/492713/perham-to-fly-solo-round-world