Solar Pacific crossing

[charmc]

There was a post here earlier this year about a solar powered Atlantic crossing. I only learned of this crossing today. Really cool.

Adventurer Ken'ichi Horie completed the first-ever solar-powered solo voyage across the Pacific Ocean on August 5 1996 after 138 days at sea.

The 57-year-old yachtsman arrived in Tokyo after sailing 16,000 kilometers (10,000 miles) from Ecuador in South America in a boat named Malt's Mermaid. The vessel, measuring 9.5 meters (31.1 feet) long and 1.6 meters (5.2 feet) wide, was made of 22,000 recycled aluminum cans and covered with solar panels to drive its motor.

Horie left Ecuador in March, traveled past the Galapagos Islands, Hawaii, and Japan's Ogasawara Islands before reaching Tokyo five months later. His solar-powered challenge had some tense moments: The boat's propeller got tangled in fishing nets, his electric water distiller broke down, and there were real dangers of the boat being struck by lightning.