16-year-old Laura Dekker: Solo trip around the World complete, new record set by youngest sailor.

At only 16, Laura Dekker just made history. The teen daredevil who set off to solo sail around the world is now the youngest sojourner to ever complete such a feat. 

And what a feat this was! The Dutch citizen who originally hails from New Zealand started her journey when she was only 14 and has been working toward her goal for more than a year.

In fact, the course was completed - as deemed by the Associated Press at 1:57 p.m., local time - in St. Maarten only a year and a day after Laura Dekker first set sail, coming full circle months before she was expected to finish (which was originally set for May, 2012) and after plenty of adventures along the way.

Dekker and her vessel called Guppy started off on January 20, 2011 after crossing over to the Caribbean Island (the Dutch side) from Gibraltar by way of Portugal and across the Atlantic to officially start her trip. She then conquered the Panama Canal, traversed the Pacific, sailed through the Indian Ocean and took a turn around the Cape of Good Hope.

On her 16th birthday, which fell on September 20, 2011, Laura Dekker was in Australia where she met up with her Dad since Dick Dekker had traveled from The Netherlands to ring in this seminal birthday but without disrupting his daughter from her mission: To beat Aussie Jessica Watson, who was just about 17 when she took this path, to become the younger to go by boat around the world alone.

Several years before, certain pundits weighed in on whether Dekker's wish for being the youngest to circumnavigate the globe without any crew. Many thought the task too dangerous for a kid to undertake and so the trip was put on hold,

At that point Dekker was only 13. The Netherlands officials weighed in, taking stock of her skills and gaining a good understanding of Laura's relationship with her divorced parents before giving the go-ahead. And finally, nearly two years after the whole concept was devised, Laura Dekker was off and sailing aboard her trusty boat that she considered to be her Guppy.

And now she is back where she started. Laura Dekker returned to St. Maarten harbor, grabbing the title as youngest sailor to make a solo trip around the world. What a tremendous accomplishment from a stubborn yet skilled young lady who just made history.