A ward -of-court teenager, held by civic authorities to prevent her sailing off round the world, may be allowed to hoist anchor after all.

The 14-year-old Dutch girl, Laura Dekker, who hopes to sail solo around the
world, has been allowed by a Dutch court to stay in her father’s care and has laid out conditions to allow the teenage sailor to begin her trip, possibly within three months.

Welfare authorities had previously forced Dekker to postpone her attempt to become
the youngest person to sail solo around the world. Dekker was discovered on the
island of St Martin in the Dutch Antilles, where she was trying to buy a
boat.