TOKYO, June 4 (BUS): An 83-year-old Japanese adventurer returned home Saturday after successfully completing his solo non-stop voyage across the Pacific Ocean, becoming the oldest person to reach the milestone.
Kenichi Horie reached the Kii Strait off Japan’s west coast, completing its voyage across the Pacific Ocean in 69 days after leaving a yachting port in San Francisco in March, according to the Associated Press.
This was the latest achievement of the octogenarian adventurer, who in 1962 became the first person in the world to successfully complete a solo non-stop flight across the Pacific Ocean from Japan to San Francisco. Sixty years later, he traveled the opposite way.
He said his sailboat, the Century Mermaid 3, was due to be fingered after sunrise for an expected arrival at his home port at Shin Nishinomiya Yachting Port in the evening. Local media said a welcoming ceremony would be held on Sunday.
His achievement came after three days of struggle with undoing the strong tide. He wrote on his blog on Friday that he had succeeded but was tired and took a nap after feeling reassured that his yacht was now on track to the finish line.
Hori’s return to Japan makes him the oldest person in the world to complete a solo, non-stop voyage of the Pacific Ocean, according to his sponsors.
Horie has also made a number of other long-distance solo excursions, including circumnavigating the globe in 1974. His last expedition was the first since his 2008 non-stop solo trip on a powered boat from Hawaii to Key Strait.
insult