As the mother of an 11-year-old much like Sarah's 13-year-old, I have to agree with her. As I was reading, I was thinking, "Oh, h*ll no."

I just came off a two-month road trip with my daughter where she and I drove across the country and back together. We did it last summer, too. I highly recommend this kind of bonding trip, and if we were sailors, I might consider a long voyage with just the two of us, but to let her go off alone? Capable sailor or no, she'd need to stop in ports along the way, and those ports are rife with exactly the kind of people I try to shield her from. I don't even want to think about what pirates would do to a young girl alone on the open sea.

No. No. No.

Roxy