Kenichi Horie

Who is Kenichi Horie?

Kenichi Horie is a Japanese sailor born in Osaka in 1938. He is known for completing numerous solo voyages, including at least two Around-the-World voyages, throughout his life. Although not always aboard sail-powered crafts, Kenichi's boats typically exhibit some form of environmentally friendly theme (recycled materials, photo-voltaic powered, wave-energy powered...). Many such voyages were firsts of kind, sometimes globally, and otherwise qualified with "by a Japanese sailor".

He started in 1962, then 23 years of age, with a crossing of the Northern Pacific. Upon reaching San-Fransisco, without a visa and with little American currency about him, he was promptly arrested but upon learning about his extraordinary passage aboard a 19 foot sailboat, the mayor granted him a visa for a month and also "awarded him the keys to the city". This voyage was merely a warm-up round, for a lifelong of ocean adventures most often singlehanded. His most recent feast, in 2008, was a 3 month solo voyage between Hawai and Western Japan, aboard a catamaran exclusively powered by ocean wave power.

Kenichi also wrote a book about his first crossing of the Pacific and this was made into a Film by Kon Ichikawa, in 1963. Ocean racing enthusiasts may find some humor in the fact that the Film was nominated for a 'Golden Globe' award (the Hollywood kind, that is)...