Mother against girl's plan to sail the globe

The mother of Dutch teenager Laura Dekker yesterday said she is against her daughter's plan to try to sail solo around the world.

Babs Muller told the Volkskrant daily newspaper that her 13-year-old daughter has the technical ability to complete the voyage but that the teenager is not yet grown-up enough.

Mrs Muller also says she is worried about her daughter's safety in ports in some developing countries.

The interview was her first public comment on the plan.

A Dutch court on August 28 ordered that Laura be placed in the custody of child care authorities for two months and appointed a child psychologist to report on her capacity to cope with the risks of the voyage and possible harm of two years of isolation.

"If it were up to me, Laura wouldn't go," Mrs Muller told the paper.

"She can sail like the devil, that's not the problem," she said. But Laura "is not yet grown up".

Mrs Muller is divorced from Laura's father.