I think you meant to go a little farther back in time.
Leif Ericson
Around the year 982 Eric the Red sailed to Iceland. He landed on the coast of Greenland. He founded the first colony there. His son named Leif Ericson began exploring the area. He reached the North American mainland around the year 1000.
Prince Henry
spent his entire fortune funding many voyages of exploration as well as projects in navigation, ship design, astronomy, and mapmaking. His expeditions included the islands of the Azores, Madeira, and the Cape Verde Islands, and the African coast as far as present-day Sierra Leone.
And we all the know the rest of this story....
Christopher Columbus
dreamed of becoming a sailor. At age 14 he made his first voyage on an Italian ship. Columbus also read books about the world such as the one written by Marco Polo. Columbus wanted to reach the Indies by sailing west. He tried to raised the money for this expedition in Italy and Portugal, but no one would give him the ships he needed. Finally Columbus went to the king and queen of Spain. They gave him three ships; the Nina, the Pinta, and the Santa Maria...
...He landed on the shores of America. From that discovery adventurous people with a hearty spirt settled and about 500 years later a 16-year-old girl took to the seas repeating the quest of the great sailors before her.
Notice the flag on that vessel.
If that is not enough for you, she is an American. Have you lost the spirit. Are you so beaten down by your government that you have become sheeple, lost, a complaining coach potato?!
I hope she gets a new mast and finishes her adventure! That's the American way, or at least it used to be.
In other words, stop your bellyaching and start rooting for the home team!