‘Still in the midst of youth’: 83-year-old Japanese man crosses Pacific Ocean solo

Japanese adventurer Kenichi Horie at 83 simply turned the oldest individual on this planet to finish a solo, nonstop voyage throughout the Pacific Ocean — and he says he’s nonetheless “in the middle of my youth” and never executed but.

Horie returned house as he crossed the Kii Strait off Japan’s western coast early Saturday, finishing his trans-Pacific solo voyage in 69 days after leaving a yacht harbour in San Francisco in late March.

On Sunday, after spending the evening on his 19-foot-long, 990-kilogram Suntory Mermaid III simply off the coast, Horie was towed into his house port of Shin Nishinomiya yacht harbour, the place he was cheered by native residents and supporters, some holding banners that learn: “Welcome back, Mr. Kenichi Horie!”

As he approached the harbour, Horie, standing in his boat, took off his white cap and waved. Then he obtained off the boat, took off the cap once more and bowed deeply on the pier earlier than he was introduced with bouquets of roses.

“Thank you for waiting!” mentioned Horie, tanned and together with his white hair longer than normal.

He carried a inventory of medication from San Francisco, he mentioned, however solely used eye drops and band-aids throughout his greater than two months alone at sea.

“That shows how healthy I am,” Horie mentioned. “I’m still in the middle of my youth.”

He mentioned he “burned all my body and soul” on the journey however says he is prepared for extra.

“I will keep up my work to be a late bloomer,” he mentioned.

It was the most recent record-setting achievement for the octogenarian adventurer, who in 1962 turned the primary individual on this planet to efficiently full a solo nonstop voyage throughout the Pacific from Japan to San Francisco.

Sixty years later, he travelled the alternative route.

Soon after his departure from San Francisco, he was confronted with a storm, however the climate step by step improved and he reached Hawaii in mid-April forward of schedule.

He had some struggles towards the top with a number of days of pushback from a powerful tide. He wrote on his weblog on Friday that he had succeeded however was exhausted, and he took a nap after feeling assured that his yacht was heading in the right direction to the end line.

Horie has accomplished different long-distance solo voyages, together with crusing world wide in 1974. His newest expedition was the primary since his 2008 solo nonstop voyage on a wave-powered boat from Hawaii to the Kii Strait.