Wild weather, unexpected coral reefs and dangerous sea creatures... these are the nightmares   you can imagine a teenager on a solo voyage   around the world might suffer from. But for Laura Dekker, sailing around the globe seems less a price to be paid than a prize to be treasured. As the 19-year-old Dutch sailor said in Maidentrip, a documentary released last year about her experience of becoming the youngest person to sail around the world alone in 2012, "I was born on a boat. I lived my first five years at sea. And ever since, all I have wanted is to return to that life." With her yacht Guppy, Dekker began her journey at 14 and sailed 50,004 kilometers in 519 days. The flying fish keeping her company, the dolphins following in her wake and the warm days spent on deck playing the flute as she watched another unforgettable sunset were enough to make others jealous. But these didn't always go well. There were terrible moments in which Dekker feared death. On one occasion, a whale almost turned Guppy over. Another time, she battled extreme winds and Guppy surfed down 8-meter-high waves. Out on the open sea alone, she also got used to living without a fridge, a flushing toilet, and a hot shower. "As a human being you don't need much," she told Stuff.co.nz. " They might make life more comfortable, but you really don't need them to be happy." In fact, her outlook on life was shaped by the trip. "I wanted the storms. I wanted the calms. I wanted to feel loneliness," she told The New York Times. "And now I know all these things. It's the end of the dream I had as a child, and it's the beginning of my life as a sailor." How did Laura Dekker think of her life on the sea?
It was so dangerous and almost ruined her. It made her experience happiness and better understand life. It is the sailing on the sea that made her well known. It brought her great happiness and much comfort.