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Too close to call, Saito points to Perth
Mar 8, 2005 18: 55 EST
As we approach the middle of March, sentimental favorite Minoru Saito and his under-funded Shuten-dohji II still remains neck-and-neck with Kenichi Horie’s newly purchased vessel. It’s yet another classic David vs. Goliath battle. (Saito’s is the red line in the featured map.)
The Challenger’s route
Currently, the two competitively friendly boats are positioned equally southeast of Madagascar and southwest of Australia on a course pointed straight towards Perth, on Australia’s western shore. However, if they maintain loyalty to the route taken by the H.M.S. Challenger (1872-1876), as indicated on Saito’s website (with a link to the Challenger Oceanic site), the two captains are currently preparing an approach towards the southern shore of Australia and will then pracitally "rub" the continental island along Melbourne.
Following Captain GS Nares
Captain Nares, of the H.M.S Challenger, then guided his ship directly southeastward, splitting the northern and southern islands of New Zealand, and continued on a northwest course towards Japan.
Depending on how strictly they plan to follow Captain Nares’ legendary voyage, Saito and Horie may even head back eastward in to the pirate-dense waters of the Indonesian Islands.
The unacknowledged race
The two vessels right now are in a race almost too close to call. But they have plenty of time left on their shared voyage. Follow the updates posted weekly on ExplorersWeb to see where exactly they go and who is ahead.
Minoru Saito from Japan is attempting to become the oldest person at age 71 to do a solo, non-stop circumnavigation without stops. He left Japan October 16, 2004 on his boat Shuten-dohji II (translates "Drunken child" but commonly referred to as "Shoot your dog") and is in a close race with another Japanese sailor; Kenichi Horie, who embarked 15 days prior to Saito (on a new boat).
A killer typhoon struck Japan 4 days after Saito's departure, the foul weather cost him jib damage, and his new weather fax system was busted. 3 teams were formed to supply Saito with regular weather updates in lieu of his non-operational weather fax.
Early January, Shuten-dohji II suffered two knockdowns, and the boat experiences communications glitches of both Iridium satellite phone and Fax. Minoru's foot is frostbitten, and there's a water leak in the Centerboard case.
Saito 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.
With more than 240,000 cruising and racing miles of his own, Saito is one of Japanese top yachtsmen. He completed the Around Alone (formerly the BOC Challenge) three times, the last in 1998/99 and this will be his 7th trip overall.
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.
Position courtesy of www.010.upp.so-net.ne
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