{"id":22955,"date":"2022-06-04T11:41:03","date_gmt":"2022-06-04T11:41:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/?p=22955"},"modified":"2022-06-04T11:41:03","modified_gmt":"2022-06-04T11:41:03","slug":"japanese-man-83-becomes-oldest-person-to-sail-solo-non-stop-across-pacific","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/2022\/06\/04\/japanese-man-83-becomes-oldest-person-to-sail-solo-non-stop-across-pacific\/","title":{"rendered":"Japanese man, 83, becomes oldest person to sail solo non-stop across Pacific"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Before he set off, Kenichi Horie said his only fear about sailing solo non-stop across the Pacific Ocean was\u00a0his age. But on Saturday, the 83-year-old \u2013 known as \u201cJapan\u2019s most famous yachtsman\u201d \u2013 proved it was not an obstacle after all as he became the world\u2019s oldest person to complete the challenge.<\/p>\n

After more than two months at sea, the record-breaking octogenarian, who in 1962 also became the first person to successfully take on the feat, arrived in the waters off the Kii peninsula in western\u00a0Japan\u00a0at 2.39am local time.<\/p>\n

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Having crossed the world\u2019s largest body of water, he had an inspiring message for the world. \u201cDon\u2019t let your dreams just stay as dreams,\u201d he\u00a0told CNN\u00a0over satellite phone as he made his way from Shikoku Island to Wakayama. \u201cHave a goal and work towards achieving this and a beautiful life awaits.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\u2018Japan\u2019s most famous yachtsman\u2019: 83-year-old attempts solo Pacific crossing<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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He left Hawaii\u2019s O\u2018ahu Island, in the Suntory Mermaid III, his 990kg 19ft-long pale aluminium vessel, customised to fit his 5ft build, on 27 March. Some parts of the voyage were challenging, he said, and he called his family at least once a day to ensure they didn\u2019t worry.<\/p>\n

Horie, who made no port calls, was spotted off Hawaii\u2019s O\u2018ahu Island on 16 April. He was due to arrive in Cape Hinomisaki on Saturday, after which he will be towed to his home port, Shin Nishinomiya yacht harbour, and go to an arrival ceremony in Nishinomiya city in Hyogo prefecture.<\/p>\n

Horie has travelled across the Pacific in multiple vessels, including ones made from aluminium cans, beer kegs and whiskey barrels and powered by solar panels and foot pedals. He does not physically train for his adventures. \u201cI\u2019m always fine, always in shape \u2026 No overeating, no over-drinking,\u201d he told the San Francisco Chronicle before departing on his latest voyage.<\/p>\n

Asked whether he had any concerns for his trip, he said: \u201cNothing at all. Maybe just being old.\u201d<\/p>\n

In 1962, aged 23 and working as a spare car parts salesperson, he became the first person to travel non-stop across the Pacific Ocean when he successfully sailed from Japan to California.<\/p>\n

\u201cI had the confidence that I would make it \u2013 I just wanted to take on the challenge,\u201d he said of his first time. But he admitted that he sometimes felt anxious during storms with just a radio. He lived on rice and canned food throughout the journey.<\/p>\n

After sailing through San Francisco\u2019s Golden Gate Bridge unannounced in a 19ft plywood boat after 94 days at sea without a passport or money, he was arrested but soon released and awarded a visa for his bravery.<\/p>\n

\u201cI didn\u2019t think I\u2019d be sailing at 83 but I\u2019m still healthy and I didn\u2019t want to miss this chance,\u201d he told CNN. \u201cChallenges are exciting so I\u2019d like to keep trying.\u201d<\/p>\n

The first boat he used to cross the Pacific, the Mermaid, remains at the National Maritime Museum in California. A plaque donated by Horie reads: \u201cRecall for a short moment, if you will, the deed of a young Japanese, who loved the yacht and the United States of America.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

source:theguardian<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Before he set off, Kenichi Horie said his only fear about sailing solo non-stop across the Pacific Ocean was\u00a0his age. But on Saturday, the 83-year-old \u2013 known as \u201cJapan\u2019s most famous yachtsman\u201d \u2013 proved it was not an obstacle after all as he became the world\u2019s oldest person to complete the challenge. After more than […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":22956,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_post_source_name":"","_post_source_url":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[9951,948,13071,8173,2848,6953,13175,8924,9331,5455,8057,6496,10406,6954,2959,9326,6955,5612,12371,2604,7039,11082,8045,8778,9205,5795,9247,9616,6584,9262,10786,5647,8869,6977,3954,10415,36,594,5140],"class_list":["post-22955","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-world-news","tag-age","tag-aluminium","tag-bravery","tag-bridge","tag-california","tag-cape-hinomisaki","tag-car","tag-chance","tag-city","tag-family","tag-fear","tag-food","tag-hawaii","tag-hawaiis-oahu-island","tag-japan","tag-japanese","tag-kenichi-horie","tag-money","tag-museum","tag-passport","tag-phone","tag-port","tag-rice","tag-san-francisco","tag-satellite","tag-solar","tag-spare","tag-train","tag-travel","tag-united-states","tag-vessel","tag-visa","tag-water","tag-whiskey","tag-will","tag-work","tag-world","tag-who","tag-young"],"blocksy_meta":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22955","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22955"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22955\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/22956"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22955"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22955"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22955"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}