Solo sailor Minoru Saito conquers Cape Horn for 5th time

Solo Japanese yachtsman Minoru Saito took another step into the annals of sailing Monday, rounding Cape Horn for the fifth time in his 36-year yachting career, this time going the "wrong way around." He celebrated with a half-bottle of champagne, pouring a portion into the sea in the traditional gesture of thankful crews who pass this dangerous spot.

"I'm really happy" he told shore support back in Tokyo over a satellite phone connection.

Cape Horn, just 500 miles from the top edge of the southern ice pack, is considered the world's most treacherous sailing grounds with frequent stormy weather and gale-force winds that can blow for days on end. For Saito in his 56-foot yacht Nicole BMW Shuten-dohji III, the weather could not have been more ideal with mild seas and steady, favorable winds. Strong headwinds are expected in two days but by then he will have started moving up the west coast of Chile into gradually warmer and less threatening waters.

On Day 186, he is now 60% finished on the 26,000-mile solo voyage he began last October that is his record eighth single-handed circumnavigation of the globe. The voyage is expected to take another two to three months.

Saito will be 75 when he returns, completing a yachting feat that promises to make virtually invincible his standing as the world's oldest and most-accomplished single-handed circumnavigator. He'll be able to claim records for most, oldest, and oldest westward "contrary" circumnavigations. He already holds the Guinness Book world record as the oldest person to complete a non-stop solo circumnavigation at age 71 in 2005.

Only a handful of sailors have succeeded in a "wrong-way" westward circumnavigation against the prevailing winds and seas, and none approaching Saito's venerable age. He was forced to put in at several ports for repairs, thus could not accomplish a hoped-for non-stop circumnavigation.

Sponsors of this voyage include main donor Nicole BMW, with supporting contributions from Albion, Clearpoint Weather, Barilla Japan, Japan Radio Corporation, Henri Lloyd, Fujiki Group, U.S. Dairy Export Council, and Saito's high school alumni association Yasuda Gakuen. He is assisted by a volunteer organization that includes members in Japan, Australia, New Zealand, Tasmania, China, and the U.S.

Saito has been recognized by sailing magazines and yachting organizations throughout the world. In January 2007, he received the Blue Water Medal of the Cruising Club of America to a standing ovation by its salty members, a recognition considered the top international prize for adventure sailing. He thus became the first Asian to win the highly vaunted prize in its 86-year history.

He was also inducted in 2006 into the Single-handed Sailing Hall of Fame in Newport, Rhode Island, joining such historic figures as Joshua Slocum and Sir Robin Knox-Johnston, the first to complete a non-stop voyage around the world.

© Japan Today