Japan’s Horie, 88, to Sail Solo, Nonstop across Pacific Again

Nishinomiya, Hyogo Pref., Sept. 8 (Jiji Press)–Japanese ocean adventurer Kenichi Horie, 88, said Tuesday he will try to sail solo and nonstop across the Pacific Ocean by yacht next spring. If successful, he will break the world record for the oldest person to complete such a feat, a record he himself set at age 83. Horie, a resident of Ashiya, Hyogo Prefecture, western Japan, plans to depart from San Francisco in March and sail to Japan, with the voyage expected to take about two months. “The magma of my desire to sail has erupted,” Horie said at a news conference in Nishinomiya, Hyogo, on Tuesday, his 88th birthday. “I do not want this voyage to be my last,” he added, expressing his intention to take on further challenges. In March 2022, Horie, then 83, departed from San Francisco beneath the Golden Gate Bridge and reached his destination in the Kii Channel off Cape Hinomisaki in Wakayama Prefecture, western Japan, in June. Guinness World Records recognized the voyage as the oldest solo Pacific crossing. In 1962, when Horie was 23, he departed Nishinomiya aboard a small yacht, the Mermaid, and became the first person in the world to sail solo and nonstop across the Pacific Ocean. He later chronicled the experience in a book, titled “Kodoku: Sailing Alone Across the Pacific,” which became a best seller. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]