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Oldest around the world: "I am still chichai, chichai (small, small)!"
Nov 11, 2004 13: 28 EST
The Vendee Globe racers are shattering former records onboard their customized racing yachts, and all are still in the race.
Meanwhile, on the other side of the world, Minoru Saito from Japan is attempting to become the oldest person at age 70 to do a solo, non-stop circumnavigation without stops. Minoru is a veteran: He completed the Around Alone (formerly the BOC Challenge) three times, the last in 1998/99 and this will be his 7th trip overall.
When he finishes he will be 71 years old
Currently outside the Solomon Islands, Saito is doing a great progress. He chose the name "Challenge-7" for his race for several reasons. It's the first digit of his current age, for one thing, and this voyage will become his seventh globe-circling, single-handed quest.
When he finishes Challenge-7 he will be 71 years old, which was the race number carried by Shuten-Doji II, his sailboat for all three BOC and Around Alone races in which he competed. In fact, "71" remains inscribed on the hull.
Shot to death by South American pirates
Saito's yachting life, at 31 years and virtually all the world's oceans, seems extensive for a Japanese sailor. But as Saito points out, "There are so many magnificent yachting sailors including Sir Peter Blake, who won the 1996 America's Cup over Dennis Conner in San Diego, but at age 57 years old was shot to death by South American pirates, and was also winner of the First Trans-Atlantic Alone Race (AOSTAS), and winner of the First Trans-Pac Race."
Lost at Sea
Others, Saito said, were Eric Tamari, who was tragically lost at sea at age 67, and the famous single-handed skipper of Spray, Captain Joshua Slocum, as well as Sir Robin Knox-Johnston, the original organizer of the Around Alone Race (renamed 5-Oceans Race from 2006).
With more than 240,000 cruising and racing miles of his own, Saito is one of the few Japanese yachtsmen who even approaches their class of sailing, but he laughs: "They are all over 400,000-nautical-mile voyagers. Compared with these guys, I am still chichai, chichai (small, small)!"
Saito has typically provided most of his own financial support for his voyages from his life savings after retirement. The modest sailor is not well-known in Japan, but he won special recognition as embodying "The Spirit of Around Alone" at the closing ceremony of the 6th Around Alone Race in 1999 in Charleston SC.
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| Fedor - less than a week to go! Jun 3, 2005 | | Saito San - closing in on home and record! Jun 2, 2005 | | Atlantic Four: And they are off! Jun 1, 2005 | | Ollie - is anybody out there? May 31, 2005 | | ExplorersWeb Week in Review May 30, 2005 | | And they are off! May 27, 2005 | | Ellen gives transatlantic record a second battle May 27, 2005 | | Vagabond update - Polar bears, 200 candles and ice melting in Inglefieldbukta May 26, 2005 | | ExWeb interview - Atlantic Four: "It was all about persuading our wives" May 25, 2005 | | Iridium: "Invalid battery - matches found, 0" May 24, 2005 |
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