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.
"I felt it was important to follow through, even though it may not be perfect and things may go wrong," Kimura 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.
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 Australia before returning to Japan.
