Only goes to the question as to determining who is more mature, the 13y.o. or the 38y.o. mother. Anyway back to the 13 y.o. Laura Dekker - sailor - it was reported prominently in the UK news that both the mother and the father tried to talk Laura out of doing the trip initially. But western modern parents are wooshes when it comes to saying - flat No.
- - Also Laura made a crossing of the
English Channel by herself and got the UK officials all bound up in their britches trying to figure out what to do with her. The father told them to tell her to sail back home. But the Brit's didn't want to do that so the father flew over and accompanied her back across the Channel. In the UK news story they quoted the
current 17y.o. solo around the world holder, Mike Perham, who started his
round the world journey as a 16y.o. and returned as a 17y.o.
- - Anyway he couldn't understand what the fuss was about with Laura - after all he crossed the
Atlantic Ocean solo - by himself - when he was 14y.o. and nobody made a stink. Maybe? a little sexism here?