Aloha hey. Seven-time solo sailing circumnavigator Minoru Saito, 76, is poised to reach Honolulu to pick up some heart meds, provisions, get a quick fix and a trim before departing on the homestretch to Yokohama to complete his eighth, and arguably most arduous, ordeal yet.
Saito, who already holds the Guinness record for being the oldest person to sail nonstop and unassisted around the world, when he was 71, and is on course to set another when he completes his eighth, swan song, rounding, embarked in October 2008 on what was supposed to be a roughly seven-month nonstopper aboard his 17-meter steel sloop, the Nicole BMW Shuten-dohji III.
When he returns, possibly sometime in late-July, he will have been gone more than 22 grueling months.