#LauraDekker - A new documentary is bringing the inspirational story of young Dutch circumnavigator Laura Dekker to the big screen.

As Scuttlebutt News reports, Maidentrip was produced by a team of female filmmakers who followed the teenager over two years of her life as she made history by sailing solo around the world, with no follow boat or support team.

Dekker was just 14 years old when she set out on her own in January 2010, after fighting a court battle for the right to achieve her dream.

Two years later, aged 16, water baby Dekker sailed into Sint Maarten in the Caribbean to complete her voyage and smash the world record for the youngest solo female circumnavigation.

Catching up with Dekker at various ports of call along her route, the filmmakers combined their footage with candid self-shot scenes from the young sailor herself alone on board her 26ft vessel.

The end result is a remarkable coming-of-age story as Dekker, already mature beyond her years, literally and figuratively grows up at sea.

Scuttlebutt News has more on the story HERE.

#WORLD RECORD - A Dutch teenager has become the youngest sailor to circumnavigate the world solo - following a court battle for the right to embark on the challenge.

Sixteen-year-old Laura Dekker sailed into harbour at Sint Maarten in the Caribbean on Saturday afternoon to complete her round-the-world voyage.

She arrived a year and two days after setting out, and beat the previous unofficial record held by Australian Jessica Watson by eight months, according to RTÉ News.

The feat is more remarkable in that Dekker sailed from port-to-port, staying at sea for at most three weeks at a time, whereas Watson voyaged non-stop.

But the adventure almost didn't happen, as Dekker and her father had to fight in a court in Utrecht for the right to attempt the record, as previously reported on Afloat.ie.

Dekker has originally planned to set out a year earlier, at the age of 14, but the court ordered her placed in the care of welfare officers on the grounds that she was too young to guarantee her safety at sea.

She finally won the court battle in July 2010 and set sail from Gibraltar the following month, though a change to her planned course saw the challenge officially begin in Sint Maarten in January 2011 instead.

However, the record will not be officially recognised by the Guinness Book of World Records nor the World Sailing Speed Record Council, which does not classify records by age.

RTÉ News has more on the story HERE.