While the Dutch child protection agency is evaluating 13-year-old Laura Dekker's physical and mental fitness to see whether she should be allowed to sail solo around the world, she is still desperately trying to come up with ways to make it happen.

Dutch daily AD reports that Laura is now looking at the possibility of being accompanied on her trip by a small flotilla of other boats. There are also people prepared to provide support in the ports she would visit during the journey. This, she believes, would reduce the solitude and the element of danger.
 

Since she would still be alone on her 8.3 metre yacht Guppy, it would formally count as a solo trip and she could still break the record for the youngest round-the-world sailing voyage. Last month, British 17-year old Mike Perham became the youngest person to sail around the world single-handed.
 

Laura said she was shocked at the comments made by her mother, Babs Müller, who spoke out against the trip for the first time on Saturday.
 

In an interview with the Volkskrant newspaper, Ms Müller said she had not spoken until now because Laura had threatened to break off contact with her. However, she said she would "rather have a daughter I will never see again than a dead daughter".
 

Laura's parents are divorced and the girl has lived with her father since she was six. She was born on board her parents' boat and spent the first four years of her life at sea.

The hearing to examine the findings of the psychologist and child protection workers is due on 26 October.