Paul Piendl's next destination: Australia

Created: 09/21/2022, 12:54 p.m

By: Thomas Ernstberger

For the picture book: The 'Wasa' is anchored in the Fiji Islands.

© Piendl

Schondorf – It has been a long time since we heard from Paul Piendl, a circumnavigator from Schondorf.

This is primarily because where he currently sails from atoll to atoll, reef to reef and island to island across the Pacific Ocean, he rarely has access to WiFi or a cellular network.

Now the 23-year-old has reported back to KREISBOTEN - from a small town called Savusavu in the north of the island state of Fiji in the South Pacific.

"We arrived here at the beginning of September," says Paul.

Two weeks, with stopovers on a 'mid-ocean reef' and Western Samoa, the 'Wasa' sailed 1,800 nautical miles (about 3,333 kilometers) from Bora Bora in French Polynesia, northwest of Tahiti, to Fiji.

With Paul and three "girls" on board.

In addition to Maelle from Belgium and Keren from Israel, who have been with Piendl for a long time, his sister Luisa also joined the crew in Tahiti for two weeks.

“It was really nice, even though the boat was quite full with four people.

We saw a lot – and in the evening we grilled the fish we had caught ourselves at the campfire on the beach,” enthuses the adventurer from Lake Ammer.

"We were a really good team, everything worked out wonderfully."

Would you like fresh fish?

Schondorf circumnavigator Paul Piendl fetches dinner directly from the Pacific – much to the delight of his crew members.

© Piendl

Except for one incident, which he didn't account for at all, since he was vaccinated and had already contracted Corona.

Namely on the island of Western Samoa, once a German colony that had been closed for three years due to the pandemic.

"We were only the tenth boat that was allowed back in," says Piendl.

He caught the Covid virus again: "The day after departure I got a fever, aching limbs and a headache." The test was then positive.

Paul: “The girls had to do the sailing, which worked out perfectly.

I was lucky that after six days, when I entered Fiji, I was negative again.

Otherwise we would have had to be in quarantine.”

Luisa is now back home, and the other two "girls" will soon leave the ship.

What's next?

The boat builder from Schondorf has very specific plans: "I want to be in western Fiji at the end of September, from there I'll sail to Australia." Paul has planned "16 to 18 days" for this passage and wants to be in Sydney at the end of October.

With which crew?

"It's not certain yet," he says.

"Maybe we'll do it in twos or threes.

But I would also really like to sail alone”.

Piendl wants to stay Down Under until April next year, but there won't be a Christmas visit at home on Lake Ammer like last year this time.

“I applied for a yacht captain's license in Australia and hope to be a crew member on another boat at Christmas and New Year's in the Sydney-Hobart regatta (held since 1945/ed.). can.

That would be my dream.”

In addition, “working and earning money” is on the program on the fifth continent.

Paul: "I haven't had a firm job offer yet.

But I hope to work as a skipper on a charter yacht or as a dock manager in a marina.”

More information and Paul Piendl's blog can be found here.