News Release
September 13, 2011
Saito Challenge 8
Contact: Hunter Brumfield
e-mail: Ftf@gol.com
e-mail: Ftf@gol.com
Phone: (+81 3) 3626-3539
Mobile: (+81) 90 52 13 49 67 (in Japanese: 090 49 36
01 14)
Minoru Saito, 77, nears finish of his
3-year, 28,500-mile 'wrong way' voyage
HACHIJOJIMA ISLAND, JAPAN – Neither a midnight
mishap at Cape Horn, two massive earthquakes, two destructive tsunami, two
surgeries, five typhoons, nor even three more birthdays, have deterred a
resolute yachtsman who flatly declares: "I never give up!"
Supporters and well-wishers will greet the
legendary Japanese sailor Minoru Saito as he returns Saturday to Yokohama. He's
finishing his record 8th solo circumnavigation, this time the
"wrong way" – against the spin of the Earth, and contrary to nature
in ways that even the 77-year-old Saito could ever anticipate. His 56-foot
sailboat, Nicole BMW Shuten-dohji III, has put more than 28,500 miles (53,000
kilometers) under her keel in a drama-filled voyage that started 1,080 days
earlier.
He meant to finish in far less time, telling supporters
before he left Yokohama in October 2008 that he hoped to make his fastest
circumnavigation ever, in "about 187 days." His sailboat acquired for
the trip is steel-hulled, longer at the waterline thus potentially faster, and well
outfitted for the journey against the spin of the planet and thus against
prevailing winds, weather, currents, and even Southern Ocean icebergs. Plus he
had done it the other way seven times before in
his 35-year sailing career and knew what was ahead of him.
Everything went well enough until he reached Cape
Horn. He made his fifth solo rounding of "The Horn" on a morning so
gentle it seemed more like a day-sail in Tokyo Bay – until the weather broke
and he was pushed backward by a fierce 3-day gale. He found that he had no
steering and no use of the propeller, caused by a trailing halyard that had
washed overboard at midnight in 50-kt winds and 9-meter seas. Faced with
certain destruction, Saito was able to cajole a tow from a ship captain who had
been dispatched by the Chilean Coast Guard to take him off and leave Nicole BMW
Shuten-dohji III to founder.
The epic story continues from there, as he
over-wintered in frigid southern Chile, undergoing an emergency operation for a
hernia, later narrowly missing an earthquake in Chile, then a year later an
even more destructive earthquake in far-off Japan that sent waves washing into
the Honolulu marina where his boat was undergoing repairs. While in Hawaii a
motorist absent-mindedly turned as Saito used a pedestrian crosswalk, sending
him back into an operating room for repairs to an injured knee. Police judged
the motorist at fault.
Finally able to depart Hawaii in May, he crossed
the Pacific to the Japanese island of Chichijima, where more repairs were done.
He waited out four passing typhoons, and then a fifth typhoon directly hit the
island. That one, named Talas, forced him to spend a solid week on board making
sure his lines stayed safely secured to a big-ship mooring far out into the
harbor. Even Coast Guardsmen staffing a station on the island were impressed by
his fearless dedication witnessed through binoculars from shore. "He's the
talk of the island, and many of the fishermen here are concerned about
him," a senior officer told Saito's shore crew in Tokyo.
Saito
will be 77 years, 8 months, and 10 days old when he returns on Saturday,
completing a voyage that promises to secure his standing as the world’s oldest
and most-accomplished single-handed circumnavigator. He’ll be able to claim
circumnavigation records for most (8), oldest (77), and oldest to complete a
westward “contrary” route. He already holds the Guinness Book world record as
the oldest sailor at age 71 to complete a non-stop, unassisted solo rounding of
the globe.
Fittingly,
he returns on a three-day holiday weekend set aside for honoring the elderly of
Japan.
Arrival
time & place:
10:00
am – 11:15 am [revised time]
Saturday,
September 17
Minato Mirai Pukari Pier, Yokohama
