83-year-old Japanese adventurer Kenichi Horie has just become the world's oldest person to complete a solo, non-stop voyage across the Pacific — he said he is still "in the middle of his youth" and has not yet finished.
Horie returned home early Saturday as he left the Kii Strait on Japan's west coast, completing his solo trans-Pacific voyage in 69 days after leaving a yacht harbor in San Francisco in late March.
On Sunday, after spending the night aboard the 19-foot(6-meter) Suntory Mermaid III near the coast, Hori was dragged to his hometown of Shinsaigu Port, where local residents and supporters cheered him on a banner reading: "Welcome back, Mr. Kenichi Horie!" ”
As he approached the harbor, Horie stood on his boat, took off his white hat, and waved. He got off the yacht, took off his hat again, bowed deeply on the dock, and got a bouquet of roses
"Thank you for waiting!" Horie said he looked tanned and had white hair longer than usual.
He said he had shipped a shipment of medicines from San Francisco, but for more than two months at sea, he had used only eye drops and Band-Aids.
"It shows how healthy I am," Horrie said. "I'm still in mid-adolescence.