After a single, non-stop sail across the Pacific, an 83-year-old yachtsman arrived in Japan early Saturday morning, becoming the oldest person to do it.
Kenichi Horie’s landing at the Kii Strait off the coast of western Japan marked the end of a two-month journey that began in a yacht harbour in San Francisco in March.
It was the Japanese octogenarian’s latest seagoing milestone, as he sailed solo from Japan to San Francisco at the age of 23 in 1962, becoming the first person in the world to do so.
Horie became the world’s oldest person to complete a solo, non-stop crossing of the world’s largest and deepest ocean after returning to Japan on Saturday, according to his public relations staff.
“I’m about to cross the finish line,” Horie wrote on his blog on Friday, following a three-day battle with a current’s pushback.
“I’m worn out,” says the narrator.
His 1962 Pacific journey made headlines because he travelled without a passport, thus sneaking himself into the US.
It was sixty years ago today “I was continually worried that I would be discovered… My situation was the worst it had ever been “In April, he published a blog.
“This time, however, things are different; I was sent off by a large number of people and had their support via tracking systems and wireless radio. I’m quite appreciative.”
Aside from his Pacific crossing in 1962, Horie is well known for solo sailing around the world in 1974 and a longitudinal cruise around the world between 1978 and 1982.
He hadn’t gone on an adventure since 2008, when he sailed a wave-powered 31-foot yacht from Honolulu to the Kii Strait.
