A 14 year old Dutch girl seeking to become the youngest person to sail around the world solo will fight a court ban and still plans to set sail in the summer, her lawyer said Thursday.

The schoolgirl, Laura Dekker, needs to complete her trip before she turns 17 to break the current record.
 

But in October last year, a court in Utrecht barred the teenager from setting off on her 8.3 metre yacht for at least eight months, citing safety concerns. The court placed her in the care of the Dutch child care services.
 

"We filed the documents with the appeals court in Amsterdam this week and expect that the matter will be heard somewhere in March or April," Dekker’s lawyer Peter de Lange told AFP.
 

"Laura wants to be able to set off on this trip without any conditions imposed on her," he said. "She still plans to set sail in the summer."
 

He said the appeal would challenge the jurisdiction of the Utrecht court to have heard the case in the first place, as well as the finding that Dekker’s safety was in grave danger.
 

The October court ruling placed Dekker under the care of Dutch childcare workers until 1 July, when the current school year expires.
 

"Concerns for her safety are so grave that they constitute a serious threat to her interests should she set sail now," a judge ruled at the time, based on reports from a psychologist and a sailing expert.

The teenager initially planned to set out on Guppy, her Hurley 800 yacht in September last year, after receiving financing from sponsors. However, she was blocked when childcare authorities approached the courts.
 

But Dekker is nothing if not spirited; in December she breached the court order by running away to the Caribbean island of Sint Maarten. Dutch police had to escort her back to the Netherlands.
 

Her father, Dick Dekker, supports her attempt at the record, and child protection officials tried to remove her from his care in December. However, a children’s court ruled that Dekker could stay with her father. Her mother has expressed some concerns about the trip.
 

A family spokeswoman, Mariska Woertman, said the eight months would be enough for her "to fully prepare and convince the court. The record is within her sights, she must just complete the trip before she turns 17," in 2012.
 

In August, British teenager Mike Perham, 17, became the youngest person to sail solo around the world, though with assistance and stopovers. He was attempting to beat the non-stop record set by 17 year old American Zac Sunderland in July, but rudder trouble forced him into port three times.
 

Sixteen year old Australian schoolgirl Jessica Watson rounded Cape Horn on 14 January, on course for her own record attempt.
 

In an incident that lent some weight to efforts to restrain Dekker, Watson collided with a ship off the Australian coast during a test run in September.
 

Source: AFP