Laura Dekker's Equatorial Circumnavigation

She is in Portugal now. The start date will be announced shortly.

See: Dutch teen arrives in Portugal ahead of solo sailing bid

Dekker 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, allowing her a little over two years to complete the trip, during which she intends to stop at several ports along the way.

Dekker has said her route from Portugal will take her across the Atlantic Ocean and into the Pacific via the Panama Canal. She plans to stop at the Galapagos islands before heading to Australia, Thailand and through the pirate-infested Gulf of Aden back to Europe.

This is not the same race as Jessica Watson's. It is similar, but it is not the same.

Jessica Watson sailed The Three Capes route. Laura Dekker is sailing the equatorial route. Another difference is that Jessica Watson sailed non-stop and Laura Dekker will make port in several places.

I am less comfortable with Laura Dekker's adventure then I was with Jessica Watson's.

Laura Dekker is very young. Many people will object on that alone. While I find her age to be a little worrisome, I am more concerned about the route that she will travel. Jessica Watson traveled south and sailed around the three Capes, Cape Agulhas, Cape Leeuwin and Cape Horn).

Where Watson had to brave stormy seas, Dekker will have to brave filthy pirates. I would prefer storms over pirates. Where as the sea and the storms are indifferent and lack malice, pirates are the scum of the planet. Pirates are malice.

Training can solve most problems associated with age, storms and seas. Pirates are different. With Pirates, age becomes a problem.

Laura Dekker will be at sea for over a year. She will travel around the equator and pass through some of the most pirate infested waters of the world. She will avoid the physical dangers of the three capes. Hopefully she will be able to avoid the Pirates as well.

May she find easy sailing fair winds on her way.

23,000 Nautical Miles

Jessica Watson is home after seven months at sea. Seven months without stopping anywhere along the way.

See: Australian teen completes round-the-world sail

The route took Watson through some of the world's most treacherous waters, and the teen battled through monstrous storms, suffering seven knockdowns.

Watson said she had moments of doubt during those times, but generally kept her spirits up.

"Amazingly, I just enjoyed it much, much more than I ever thought I would and handled the challenges better than I thought," she told journalists. "You don't actually have a choice - you're in the middle of a storm, you're being knocked down - you can't fall apart."

Joshua Slocum was the first person to sail solo around the world. His was a much more leisurely passage. He was not in a hurry. His trip took over 3 years.

Many others have followed in Slocum's wake. Some have done it to be the first, the youngest, the fastest or for any other of a number of reasons.

Few seize the opportunity to complete an audacious achievement. Fewer still succeed. We can celebrate the courage and the daring to do a great thing. We can celebrate those that succeed.

Jessica Watson has succeeded.

Her effort and her success are worth celebrating.

Good work Jessica.

Jessica Watson's Big Advenure

Something grand in Australia's The Age.

TEEN sailor Jessica Watson left the marina yesterday to cheers of ''hip, hip hooray'' aboard her pink yacht, beginning her attempt to become the youngest person to circumnavigate the world

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Such adventurers as this make all of our live richer.

We all could do such things ourselves.

Life IS worth living.

UPDATE

Check out Jessica's Blog.