Opinions are fine, Neil, but I suggest you do a little research before making generalizations based on pre determined notions.
So read the books, then reevaluate your opinion.
Jessica's book, "True Spirit", is very revealing about how determination and commitment can lead to success. Her parents were against it from the start.... it was Jessica that did all the organizational work, fundraising, etc.... At age 14 she was bussing tables in a restaurant to earn money for airfare to rendevous with delivery crews..... the goal being to get offshore experience. By the way, at that same age, Laura Dekker had already amassed many offshore miles as a little girl on her parents circumnavigation and later in her own delivery contracts between England and the Nederlands.
Jessica's parents eventually accepted her relentless pursuit of the adventure once shown that she would take extraordinary safety precautions, and gave their consent... then became fully supportive. She is truly an exceptional person, being highly loved and recognized by her countrymen as he continues to tackle big projects and support important causes. She is currently in training as skipper of an all teenage crew to compete in the upcoming Sidney-Hobart race.
Laura Decker never did any yacht deliveries between the Netherlands, and the UK no one in their right mind would give a fourteen (or thirteen at that time) year old a boat to deliver across the north sea. She sailed her own boat across the north sea, to england, where on her arrival, she was immediately handed over to social services, as she was only thirteen, and turning up in the uk on her own. They in trun called her parents to come and get her, they being the pushy parents they are both refused, and told the authorities to release her back to her boat, and let her sail back to the netherlands. The authorities wouldnt do it, so her parents sat it out in the netherlands for six weeks, refusing to go to the uk to pick her up, and demanding, she be released on her own to her boat. After six weeks, with no one getting anywhere, her father agreed, he would acompany her on the trip back to the netherlands, on her boat, she was then released into his care, they went to the boat, prepaired her to sail out into the north sea, then her father got off, and let the boat go, with her alone on it.
It was her father who bought her the boat, it was they who funded her early sailing, and they are not doing that for nothing, they want something back out of it. Kind of remind me of a realative, who made his three sons play football, even though two of them were not interested, all in the hope they would get a football scholarship, he even bought a video camera, to film his third son and send it to colleges, he did get a scholarship, and dropped out a year later, had he got them to do more homework, and forget about football, they might have actually graduated.