An 83-year-old man becomes the oldest to sail solo across the Pacific

Tokyo: An 83-year-old Japanese adventurer returned home after completing his solo, nonstop voyage across the Pacific, thereby becoming the oldest person to reach such a milestone.

Kenichi Horie arrived in the Kii Strait off Japan’s western coast, completing his trans-Pacific voyage in 69 days after leaving a yacht harbour in San Francisco in March.

It was the latest achievement for the octogenarian adventurer, who in 1962 became the first person in the world to successfully complete a solo nonstop voyage across the Pacific from Japan to San Francisco.

Sixty years later, he travelled the opposite route.

“I just crossed the finish line. I’m tired,” he wrote in his blog after reaching Japan.

He said that his sailing boat, Suntory Mermaid III, was to be toed after the sunrise for an expected arrival at his home port of Shin Nishinomiya yacht harbour.

His achievement came after three days of struggle with the pushback from a strong tide. He wrote in his blog Friday that he succeeded but was exhausted and took a nap after feeling assured that his yacht was now on the right track to the finish line. Japanese man oldest sail

Horie’s return to Japan makes him the world’s oldest person to complete a solo, nonstop crossing of the Pacific, according to his sponsors.

Horie has also achieved a number of other long-distance solo voyages, including sailing around the world in 1974. His latest expedition was the first since his 2008 solo non-stop voyages on a wave-powered boat from Hawaii to the Kii Strait.

About Shin Nishinomiya Yacht Harbor

Shin Nishinomiya Yacht Harbor is a sophisticated marina located in Nishinomiya, Hyogo Prefecture. Our marina is known as the port from which Mr. Kenichi Horie departed for his voyage across the Pacific Ocean in 1962. He is Japan’s most famous yachtsman, and the first man in history to make a non-stop solo crossing of the Pacific Ocean.


Source: Agencies Japanese man oldest sail