Laura Dekker, 15-year-old solo sailor, takes on the Pacific

3:47 AM Sat 23 Apr 2011 GMT

'Laura at the helm' .

Laura Dekker, 15-year-old Dutch solo sailor on her way round the world, has just set out to conquer a new ocean. Having sailed the Atlantic without incident, then transited the Panama Canal more than a week ago, Laura has prepared and provisioned for her long passage to Galapagos, and departed Las Perlas Islands. As the trade winds take time in April to establish, she has been plagued with calms until today, but now has a brisk wind pushing her across the 1000 nautical miles or so to the famous archipelago. After Galapagos Laura will then embark on the longest leg ...

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by Nancy Knudsen