OF life’s great adventures, sailing solo ranks with climbing mountains or canoeing the Amazon River. It is on many of our Someday Lists, but most of us will never achieve it. For Kenichi Horie, sailing solo has become a way of life, so much so that he has checked nearly every box on the list and has become a legend in the sailing community.
Back in 1962, Horie completed his first solo voyage across the Pacific when he sailed from Japan to San Francisco. It was quite a feat in the days before GPS and the internet. In 1972 he sailed around the world, and in 2008 he traveled from Hawaii to Japan in a wave-powered boat. High-risk, long-distance voyages are nothing new to him.
His latest achievement is most notable because of his age. At 83, he is the oldest person to complete a solo, non-stop trip across the Pacific. When I first heard about Horie’s latest milestone, I thought about people I know in their eighties. It is hard for me to imagine any of them even attempting such a feat, let alone seeing it through. In general, 83-year-olds search for a good meal, companionship, and a comfortable place to nap. They do not seek solitude and personal discomfort in the face of danger on the high seas. But then, Horie has never been typical.
Sixty-nine days after he left San Francisco, Horie arrived off the Kii Peninsula in Japan, exhausted. “I just crossed the finish line. I am tired,” he blogged. In dramatic fashion, the final days of the trip were the most difficult. As he neared the coast of Japan, a strong current kept pushing him away, as if to deny him the goal. But the power of his determination exceeded that of the ocean, and he finished what he started.
Since celebrating Horie’s achievement, I have given a lot of thought to what he did. So many of life’s lessons are tied up in his experience.
First, you are never too old to realize your dreams. Horie could have easily concluded, as so many have, that he is too old for all that, that setting records and dreaming big are for the young. But 83 was just a number to him. He spent his entire life setting and achieving goals so this one was nothing other than what was expected.
Second, Horie spent a lifetime preparing for this moment. All of his previous exploits gave him the expertise and mental strength to accomplish this. It did not come out of nowhere. If we have a goal, we can do much to prepare for it before we actually shove off.
Third, Horie did not let failure define him. Although it does not get much press, we can assume that Horie made a lot of mistakes along the way, both in his earlier travels and during this latest epic. But he never let those failures stop him. I was reminded of something Michael Jordan said. After winning his sixth NBA championship, an interviewer asked him what his recipe for success was. He said, “I got up one more time than I fell down.” I think about that a lot. One hundred failures and one hundred-one successes equals greatness. Horie may have heard Jordan’s quote, but even if he had not, I am convinced he would agree with it.
Fourth, Horie provides a lesson in consistency. He sailed his whole life, to the point that crossing the world’s largest ocean by himself was within the realm of possibility. I recently watched an interview of a woman called the Lobster Lady. She lives on the same street in Maine where she was born, and she has been working as a lobster catcher since she was seven years old. She has no plans of stopping. In fact, she fears that if she stopped, she might die. The Lobster Lady is 101 years old. I think Horie would get along great with her.
BC Cook, PhD lived on Saipan and has taught history for 20 years. He currently resides on the mainland U.S.
BC Cook
