Dutch teenage solo sailor Laura Dekker was Friday sailing toward the Cape Verde Islands having resumed her round-the-world record bid after two months in port dodging the hurricane season.
Her red-hulled, 38 ft (11.5 meter) ketch Guppy had been moored in the Canary Islands, off the coast of northern Africa, for two months but she set sail again Wednesday.
“I again have to get used to the silence but it is great to see nothing but water and to enjoy sailing,” the 15-year-old wrote on her blog.
Dekker, whose bid had been held up for nearly a year by a Dutch court ban, begun her voyage from Portugal in August.
At the end of July she won a 10-month court battle with child welfare authorities who had been preventing the voyage for fear it would stunt Dekker’s social and emotional development.
The petite blonde wants to break the record for the youngest world solo sail set in May by Australian teenager Jessica Watson. Watson completed a non-stop, unassisted round-the-world trip a few days before her 17th birthday.
Dekker turns 17 on September 20, 2012, giving her plenty of time to complete the trip.
Born in New Zealand during a round-the-world sailing trip by her parents, Dekker completed her first solo voyage, to the northern Netherlands, at the age of 11.
A reminder of the risks she faces came in June, when 16-year-old Californian Abby Sunderland capsized in rough seas in the Indian Ocean while on a similar mission. She had to be rescued by a French fishing boat.