THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — Teenage Dutch sailor Laura Dekker says she is setting off to cross the Atlantic Ocean in her yacht, the most challenging leg yet in her ambitious plan to sail around the world by stages.
The 15-year-old says on her website she expects to take three weeks to cross 2,200 nautical miles (2,532 land miles, 4,074 kilometers) from the Cape Verde Islands off West Africa to the Caribbean island of St. Maarten.
In a blog entry dated Thursday, Dekker said she was sailing past the last two Cape Verde islands with “a nice crosswind” and with waves rocking her yacht, Guppy.
Dekker is sailing around the world in stages, a plan that has her waiting in ports, sometimes for weeks at a time, between sailing legs.
