Tokyo, 9 June, /AJMEDIA/
A 24-year-old completed a solo round-the-world yacht voyage on Saturday, breaking the record for the youngest Japanese to achieve the feat that was set 30 years ago.
Hirotsugu Kimura, a former Maritime Self-Defense Force member, reached his goal off Wakayama Prefecture, western Japan, after 231 days. The challenge to complete the trip without port calls and taking on supplies was his second attempt after one in 2022 was marred by mechanical failure.
Speaking at a press conference on Sunday, Kimura said the reality of his achievement was slowly setting in. “My sense of happiness and relief at achieving my goal is getting stronger,” he said.
Marine adventurer Kojiro Shiraishi set the previous record in 1994 at the age of 26 years and 10 months. Shiraishi at the time was also the youngest person in the world to circumnavigate the globe by yacht.
Regarding future plans, Kimura said he intends to keep on striving not just for himself. “I want to cooperate with people who take on challenges and continue to be their supporter.”
His record drew praise from Japanese adventurer Kenichi Horie, 85, who became the oldest person to complete a solo, nonstop voyage across the Pacific in 2022 at age 83.
“I hope he can one day aim to be the oldest person to sail nonstop around the world,” the veteran sailor said at a ceremony to mark Kimura’s return to port.
Kimura, a native of Oita Prefecture in southwestern Japan, belonged to a sailing club at senior high school and dreamed of following in the footsteps of Shiraishi, according to a website created by his supporters for the round-the-world voyage.
He served as an MSDF submariner prior to joining an industrial waste treatment company in 2020 that supported his circumnavigation bid.
Kimura departed from Nishinomiya in Hyogo Prefecture on Oct. 22 and headed south in the Pacific, rounding Cape Horn in Chile and skirting the Cape of Good Hope in South Africa and then Australia before returning to Japan.
© KYODO
