is a Japanese solo yachtsman. In 1962 he became the first person to sail solo and non-stop across the Pacific Ocean. He has made other significant solo voyages, usually involving boats exhibiting some sort of environmentally friendly theme, including his 2008 voyage across the Western

Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five Borders of the oceans, oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean, or, depending on the definition, to Antarctica in the south, and is ...

in a wave-powered boat, the Suntory Mermaid II.afp.google, Japanese sailor first to cross Pacific in wave-powered boat
In 2022, he became the oldest man to sail solo non-stop across the Pacific. He began his journey in San Francisco, USA on March 27, arriving in Japan on June 4.

Book and article

Horie wrote a book about his voyage, titled '' Alone on the Pacific'' (Kodoku), which was made into a movie ''Alone Across the Pacific'' (also titled ''My Enemy, The Sea'') in 1963 by

Kon Ichikawa was a Japanese film director and screenwriter. His work displays a vast range in genre and style, from the anti-war films '' The Burmese Harp'' (1956) and '' Fires on the Plain'' (1959), to the documentary '' Tokyo Olympiad'' (1965), which won t ...

. The movie was nominated for a

Golden Globe The Golden Globe Awards are awards presented for excellence in both international film and television. It is an annual award ceremony held since 1944 to honor artists and professionals and their work. The ceremony is normally held every Januar ...

award. The ''Mermaid'' is currently on display in the

San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park The San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park is located in San Francisco, California, United States. The park includes a fleet of historic vessels, a visitor center, a maritime museum, and a library/research facility. Formerly referred to ...

Maritime Museum. He also translated the book ''Ice Bird: The first single-handed voyage to Antarctica'' by Australian adventurer David Lewis into Japanese.

Voyages

Horie has made numerous solo voyages.

First solo voyage across the Pacific

In 1962, at the age of 23, Kenichi Horie sailed alone across the

from Japan to San Francisco aboard a plywood

sailboat A sailboat or sailing boat is a boat propelled partly or entirely by sails and is smaller than a sailing ship. Distinctions in what constitutes a sailing boat and ship vary by region and maritime culture. Types Although sailboat terminology ...

called the ''Mermaid''. He departed

Nishinomiya 270px, Nishinomiya City Hall 270px, Aerial view of Nishinomiya city center 1985 270px, Hirota Shrine is a city located in Hyōgo Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 484,368 in 218,948 households and a population density ...

, Japan, on May 12, 1962, and arrived in

San Francisco San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

, U.S., on August 11. Despite Horie's best effort to legally depart from Japan, and because of the lack of precedent for international travel on a small sailboat, he was not able to obtain a passport or an adequate amount of foreign currency. He arrived with no passport or money and was initially arrested. After learning of his voyage, San Francisco Mayor George Christopher arranged for him to be freed. He was given a 30-day visa and the key to the city.

Other voyages

In 1974, he circumnavigated from east to west, and in 1978 he circumnavigated from north to south. In 1985, he sailed a solar boat from

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; ) is an island U.S. state, state of the United States, in the Pacific Ocean about southwest of the U.S. mainland. One of the two Non-contiguous United States, non-contiguous U.S. states (along with Alaska), it is the only sta ...

Chichijima is the largest and most populous islands of Japan, island in the Japanese archipelago of Bonin Islands, Bonin or Ogasawara Islands. Chichijima is about north of Iwo Jima. in size, the island is home to about 2,120 people (2021). Connected to ...

. From 1992 to 1993, he sailed from Hawaii to

Okinawa most commonly refers to: * Okinawa Prefecture, Japan's southernmost prefecture * Okinawa Island, the largest island of Okinawa Prefecture * Okinawa Islands, an island group including Okinawa itself * Okinawa (city), the second largest city in th ...

in a pedal powered boat. In 1996, Horie sailed from Salinas, Ecuador to

Tokyo Tokyo, officially the Tokyo Metropolis, is the capital of Japan, capital and List of cities in Japan, most populous city in Japan. With a population of over 14 million in the city proper in 2023, it is List of largest cities, one of the most ...

in a solar boat made of recycled

aluminum Aluminium (or aluminum in North American English) is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol, symbol Al and atomic number 13. It has a density lower than that of other common metals, about one-third that of steel. Aluminium has ...

. This crossing covered in 148 days which earned the

Guinness World Record ''Guinness World Records'', known from its inception in 1955 until 1999 as ''The Guinness Book of Records'' and in previous United States editions as ''The Guinness Book of World Records'', is a British reference book published annually, listi ...

for the fastest crossing of the Pacific in a solar-powered boat. The ''Malt's Mermaid'' is on display at Kotohira-gū Shrine in Shikoku, close to the main hall. In 1999, he sailed from San Francisco to Japan aboard a boat made primarily from recycled materials. The boat, ''Malt's Mermaid II'', designed by Kennosuke Hayashi, was a long, wide,

catamaran A catamaran () (informally, a "cat") is a watercraft with two parallel hull (watercraft), hulls of equal size. The wide distance between a catamaran's hulls imparts stability through resistance to rolling and overturning; no ballast is requi ...

constructed from 528 beer kegs welded end-to-end in five rows. Horie joked that 500 of them were empty. The rigging consisted of two side-by-side masts with junk rig sails made from recycled plastic bottles. This boat is on display in Okura Beach, Akashi. In 2002, Horie sailed from Nishinomiya to San Francisco aboard the ''Mermaid III'', which was a replica of the original ''Mermaid'' constructed from a variety of recycled materials, including whiskey barrels for the hull, aluminum cans for the mast and plastic soda bottles for the sails.

First ocean wave-powered voyage

In 2008, Horie travelled solo from

to the

Kii Peninsula The is the largest peninsula on the island of Honshū in Japan and is located within the Kansai region. It is named after the ancient Kii Province. The peninsula has long been a sacred place in Buddhism, Shinto, and Shugendo, and many people wou ...

in western Japan aboard the 9.5-meter, 3-tonne catamaran '' Suntory Mermaid II'', built at . The voyage was the first in a vessel propelled on ocean

wave power Wave power is the capture of energy of wind waves to do useful mechanical work, work – for example, electricity generation, desalination, or pumping water. A machine that exploits wave power (physics), power is a wave energy converter (WEC). W ...

alone. Horie took more than three months to sail from Hawaii to Japan in his wave-powered boat, arriving in Japan on July 4, 2008, but said he was blessed with good weather and tasty fish. Horie ate mostly rice and curry, squid and

flying fish The Exocoetidae are a family (biology), family of Saltwater fish, marine Actinopterygii, ray-finned fish in the order (biology), order Beloniformes, known colloquially as flying fish or flying cod. About 64 species are grouped in seven genus, ge ...

he caught. Kenichi left

Honolulu Honolulu ( ; ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Hawaii, located in the Pacific Ocean. It is the county seat of the Consolidated city-county, consolidated City and County of Honol ...

on March 16, 2008, and completed the 110-day solo voyage at the port of Wakayama in the channel between

Honshu , historically known as , is the largest of the four main islands of Japan. It lies between the Pacific Ocean (east) and the Sea of Japan (west). It is the list of islands by area, seventh-largest island in the world, and the list of islands by ...

and

Shikoku is the smallest of the List of islands of Japan#Main islands, four main islands of Japan. It is long and between at its widest. It has a population of 3.8 million, the least populated of Japan's four main islands. It is south of Honshu ...

islands before midnight (1500 GMT) Friday, July 4, 2008. He covered the 7,000 kilometres (3,780

nautical miles A nautical mile is a unit of length used in air, marine, and space navigation, and for the definition of territorial waters. Historically, it was defined as the meridian arc length corresponding to one minute ( of a degree) of latitude at the eq ...

) from Hawaii without a

port A port is a maritime facility comprising one or more wharves or loading areas, where ships load and discharge cargo and passengers. Although usually situated on a sea coast or estuary, ports can also be found far inland, such as Hamburg, Manch ...

call. His

yacht A yacht () is a sail- or marine propulsion, motor-propelled watercraft made for pleasure, cruising, or racing. There is no standard definition, though the term generally applies to vessels with a cabin intended for overnight use. To be termed a ...

used

wave energy Wave power is the capture of energy of wind waves to do useful work – for example, electricity generation, desalination, or pumping water. A machine that exploits wave power is a wave energy converter (WEC). Waves are generated primarily by w ...

to move two fins at its bow and propel it forward, and sailed at an average speed of 1.5

knots A knot is a fastening in rope or interwoven lines. Knot or knots may also refer to: Other common meanings * Knot (unit), of speed * Knot (wood), a timber imperfection Arts, entertainment, and media Films * ''Knots'' (film), a 2004 film * ''Kn ...

. His final home harbour is in the port of

. As an

environmentalist Environmentalism is a broad Philosophy of life, philosophy, ideology, and social movement about supporting life, habitats, and surroundings. While environmentalism focuses more on the environmental and nature-related aspects of Green politics, g ...

, he promotes the use of environmentally friendly boats including those powered by

solar Solar may refer to: Astronomy * Of or relating to the Sun ** Solar telescope, a special purpose telescope used to observe the Sun ** A device that utilizes solar energy (e.g. "solar panels") ** Solar calendar, a calendar whose dates indicate t ...

battery, are made from recycled materials. He is quoted as saying: "Throughout history, mankind has used wind for power, but no one has appeared to be serious about wave power. I think I'm a lucky boy as this wave power system has remained virtually untouched."yahoo.com, Japanese sailor first to cross Pacific in wave-powered boat
1964 - The first Polena della Bravura (The Figurehed of Bravery), an award estabilished in 1964 be the Municipality of Sanremo and the Italian Navy to celebrate memorable feats al sea. Here is the roll of honour: 1964 - Kenichi Horie, sailor 1967 - Sir Francis Chichester, aviator and sailor 1970 - Thor Heyerdahl, scientist and navigator 1974 - Jacques-Yves Cousteau, explorer, navigator, oceanographer and filmmaker.

Footnotes

References

* http://www.solarnavigator.net/kenichi_horie_voyages.htm * https://web.archive.org/web/20041216173203/http://www.op97.k12.il.us/cyberteen/2000/summer/voyages.html * http://news.sawf.org/Lifestyle/37910.aspx
IMDB entry for "Alone on the Pacific"
{{DEFAULTSORT:Horie, Kenichi 1938 births Japanese sailors Single-handed sailors People from Osaka Living people Kansai University alumni