Round-the-world sailors take a break in American Samoa

Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — Multinational sailors catching up at the Ocean Museum at Utulei this week, taking in the sights while in American Samoa.

One from Canada says, it’s mostly the wind that brings him here, with the wind patterns — they favor American Samoa at this time of the year.

A couple, Shelly and James Blinn have been sailing for five years now, and will be three-quarters of the way around the world when they get to Australia. Coming to American Samoa is part of their plan and of course wind directions dictate as well.

A group of three from Germany are on a round the world trip, which they started in May last year, and have just came from the Cook Islands. They have been here for five days, and are on a three-year journey, with hope to be back home in August 2025. In the meantime, they want to sail to Tonga, Fiji and then on to New Zealand for Christmas.

Another crew of three also from Germany, includes Boran Kirchner and skipper Marcel Wille, who are heading to Samoa from here and are also following the wind with plans of going around the world.

Captain Jenny Decker from Hawaii, a solo circumnavigator is pointing at parts of American Samoa that may be worth a visit. Samoa News has featured her special journey elsewhere in today’s issue.