New Zealand-born sailor Laura Dekker successfully completed a solo circumnavigation arriving in Simpson Bay, Sint Maarten, 518 days later at the age of 16 breaking the record for being the youngest to singlehandedly sail around the world, between the years 2010 – 2012.
However, her circumnavigation was not uncontroversial. A Dutch court stepped in, owing to the objections of the local authorities, and prevented Laura from departing while under shared custody of both her parents and suddenly she was all over the news in Holland.
Dekker later commented about the authorities in an interview, saying "They thought it was dangerous. Well, everywhere is dangerous. They don't sail and they don't know what boats are, and they are scared of them."
“The fact that I did do everything myself from the beginning was a very important preparation”