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Hello everyone, my name[br]is Laura Dekker, I'm 18.

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2 years ago I became the youngest ever[br]to circumnavigate the globe single handed.

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Like any of these young[br]inspirations today,

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I just had a dream and I just went for it.

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I'll start with a short video to give you[br]a little impression of what I did.

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(Music)

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Nice, take off of Ashes Bay! Sailors...

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Fishes would get into your shoes...

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(Makes animal sound)

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And now I am going to offer[br]my pancake to Neptune!

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Oh, it landed on the deck!

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(Music)

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♪ Rushing feet ♪

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♪ An offbeat man ♪

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♪ I barely even leave a footprint ♪

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♪ Dancing as fast as I can ♪

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From the age 6 I've always been[br]on the water and dingy boats.

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By the time I was 7,[br]I was competitive racing.

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By the time I was 10,[br]I had bought my own seaworthy yacht,

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that I'd bought with my own money[br]that I'd worked for for the past years.

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My mom isn't really a sailor,[br]my dad is, he builds his own boats,

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and for 7 years,[br]they sailed around the world,

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even though my mom didn't like it.

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(Laughter)

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Quite impressive.

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After a couple of years, when they were[br]in Whangarei, in New Zealand, I was born,

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and the next 5 years I sailed[br]with them, back to Holland,

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where they originally came from.

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There, my mom really was fed up[br]with the sailing,

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and by that time, my sister Kim[br]was born as well,

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and living with two little kids[br]on a small boat,

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I guess she did not like it anymore,[br]so we moved into a house.

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But the marriage of my parents, sadly,

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did not seem to cope as well[br]with the land life as life on sea,

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and they divorced.

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So, as a 6 year old I had a choice,[br]who I wanted to live with.

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And I chose my dad.

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My sister automatically went[br]to my mom, and our lives separated us.

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My dad had started building[br]his ninth boat for himself,

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this time a little bit bigger[br]than the others,

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a 60 foot Norwegian fish cutter,[br]which by now is almost finished.

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And he started that one when[br]I was six, so...

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(Laughter)

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So, I grew up on that boat.

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I grew up on shipyards,[br]around boats, and the water,

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so, soon enough I started sailing, right?

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As a ten-year-old,[br]having my own seaworthy yacht,

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I sailed around the whole Holland,

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where I pretty much grew up[br]after the big trip.

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I sailed mostly alone,[br]together with my dog,

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but he was a bit of a useless crew.

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I mean, he protected me well,[br]but he didn't really help in sailing much,

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so I really had to do everything myself.

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And so, over the years,[br]I learned everything I had to know

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about navigation, weather systems,

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really, all the things[br]I could learn about sailing.

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I've learned a lot from my dad,

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but, actually, I've learned most from just[br]doing it, because I wanted to.

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By the time I was 11, I did that again,

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went a little bit further, to the islands[br]above Holland, and the ocean.

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At the age of 13,[br]I sailed to England alone.

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I didn't think my parents would think[br]that was a good idea,

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so I just did not tell them anything!

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(Laughter)

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The police had to pick me up in England,[br]and deport me back to Holland,

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but I knew that I wanted to go further!

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That trip... I knew I was ready for it!

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I had crossed the English Channel[br]and that was something I wanted to do.

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The English Channel is very busy,[br]there's a lot of boats,

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it's very difficult navigating,[br]the weather isn't exactly great either.

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So having achieved that, I thought:[br]"All right, I can sail around the world."

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And I started to get my boat ready,

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which was quite a small boat, 22 feet.

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There weren't really a lot of people[br]who liked my idea as much as I did.

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The whole Dutch government,[br]and all the people in Holland,

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who got to know[br]about my plans soon enough

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after someone had heard of it,[br]threw it in the media.

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Not exactly good for me!

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So, a whole year I had to fight[br]against the government.

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8 court cases, but I kept going,[br]I wanted to do this,

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this was my dream,[br]my goal, and I kept going.

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So, I fought, and fighting[br]against the government is quite hard,

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but I found a little gap and I left.

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By that time I'd upgraded[br]my boat to a 40 foot ketch,

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also named Guppy,

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and I still live on her.

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So at the age of 14, I left[br]from the south of Europe, alone,

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went to the Canary Islands,[br]Cape Verde, on to the Caribbean,

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learning that a home, for some reason,[br]doesn't really clean itself.

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Hmm?

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(Laughter)

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You've actually got to do the laundry.[br]How does that work?

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Cooking food... Spaghetti?

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So yes, no fridge on the boat,[br]no shower on the boat,

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just basic navigation,[br]because I don't like sponsors,

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I don't like people telling me[br]where to go and what to do.

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Well, that means you have to do[br]everything yourself.

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Well, I learned really quickly.

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I cooked for myself,[br]did the laundry for myself,

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there were no people[br]when I got to shore,

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so I had to repair everything[br]myself as well.

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Through the Caribbean,[br]on to the Pacific,

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to the top of Australia.

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By that time I'd sailed quite a bit[br]and I knew the boat quite well,

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so I wanted to have the next challenge.

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I sailed from Australia[br]to South Africa without stopping.

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6000 nautical miles, 48 days.

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Why? Just because I wanted it!

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(Laughter)

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My boat is not really set up[br]for long trips,

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I mean, it has under 50 liters[br]of water, 100-200 liters of fuel,

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that's it, and then a bit of food,[br]a lot of spaghetti...

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(Laughter)

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So I thought I would just go for it

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and if it does not work out,[br]I would just go and sail to an island.

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There would probably will be enough rain[br]so I can drink, I'll be fine!

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So I just went for it.

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And that was one[br]of the greatest trips ever,

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because to be out there,[br]just with nature, going with the wind...

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I had 2 weeks of no wind,[br]which was very frustrating,

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then I had a couple of storms,

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which I was really happy about[br]after having no wind,

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even though I was not coming closer[br]to my goal.

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But, mentally, that trip was awesome,[br]because I got to know myself so well,

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and I got to fulfill this dream I had,

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I had set my goals[br]and I just went for it.

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Arriving in South Africa after 48 days[br]was the best feeling ever!

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I did not want to come back on land,[br]I was happy on the ocean,

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just being out there, with the peace,[br]it's quiet, it's awesome!

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In South Africa I stayed for a week,[br]then I went on, back to the Caribbean,

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also another 6000 miles[br]straight, 41 days.

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A year and a day later[br]after I left the Caribbean,

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I came back, even though[br]I'd sailed longer alone, of course,

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and, yes, fulfilled my dream[br]that I had all my life.

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"What the heck I am going to do now?"

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I was sitting on a pier there, thinking:

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"Oh, man, I don't really want[br]to go back to Holland.

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What am I going to do there? Study? Nah!"

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I mean, I'd studied a bit on the boat,[br]I had done my high school,

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but it sounded a bit boring to me.

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So I just kept sailing,[br]and I kept going to New Zealand,

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just to see where I came from,[br]where I was born, and I loved it here!

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Last year, I arrived here,[br]and I simply stayed.

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I traveled a lot,[br]I wrote a book about my story,

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and, well, I still have a lot of dreams,

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you can never have enough of them,

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but the thing is to actually go for it.

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So my next big dream, is to become[br]a skipper, a captain on bigger ships,

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so I don't have to go[br]back to land to work,

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so I can just stay and do what I love.

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This is what I want to give[br]to you all today.

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If you have a dream, and I know[br]that every single person has a dream,

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even though you might not realize it,

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there is something[br]that you really, really, really want...

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Go for it, don't be afraid!

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It might be hard, yes, it will be hard.

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I had to fight a long way.

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But the harder it is, the more rewarding[br]it is to fulfill your dreams.

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Thank you!

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(Applause)