Wave Powered Boat - Kenichi Horie's Historic Pacific Voyage

Singlehanded Sailor Plans a Wave Powered Crossing

Ken-ichi Horie is preparing to be the first skipper to cruise from Hawaii to Japan solely on wave power. This 69 year old Japanese adventurer will attempt the pacific crossing on March 16th using his three-ton yacht Suntory Mermaid II. The 4,300 mile crossing should take him about 2 and a half months.

Instead of engines, the 9. 5 meter catamaran boat uses two built-in fins which convert wave energy into forward motion. The boat does also have an engine for emergencies. The top speed on the boat is about five-miles an hour.

How the wave powered boat works:
Two fins mounted side by side beneath the bow move up and down with the incoming waves and generate dolphin-like kicks that propel the boat forward. “Waves are a negative factor for a ship—they slow it down,” says Yutaka Terao, an engineering professor at Tokai University in Japan who designed the boat’s propulsion system. “But the Suntory can transform wave energy into propulsive power regardless of where the wave comes from.”

"This is my first experience using this boat. But I believe this boat is such a sturdy boat so I can make it," said Ken-ichi Horie.

We'll keep you updated on Ken-ichi Horie, and his boat the Suntory Mermaid II, as they start out on the world’s first wave powered cruise!

-- About Singlehanded Sailor Kenichi Horie --

Kenichi Horie - Born Osaka, Japan 1938

In 1962 Kenichi Horie crossed the Pacific Ocean from Nishinomiya, Japan to San Francisco in 94 days aboard his 19 foot sailboat the Mermaid. He arrived in San Francisco with no passport or money and was promptly arrested. However, after learning of his voyage the mayor promtly freed him and gave him a 30 day visa. Kenichi was even awarded the key to the city!

He wrote a book about this voyage, titled "Kodoku" ("Alone on the Pacific"), which in 1963 was made into a movie ("My Enemy, The Sea"), and was nominated for a Golden Globe. The Mermaid is on display at the San Francisco Maritime Museum.

Kenichi has made numerous solo voyages since that historic passage. In 1974 he circumnavigated from east to west, and in 1978 he circumnavigated from north to south. In 1985 he sailed a solar boat from Hawaii to Chichijima. Then from 1992 to 1993 he sailed from Hawaii to Okinawa in a pedal powered boat. In 1996 he sailed from Salinas, Ecuador to Tokyo in a solar boat made of recycled aluminum. This crossing covered 10,000 miles in 148 days which earned the Guinness World Record for the fastest ever crossing of the Pacific in a solar-powered boat.

In 1999 he sailed from San Francisco to Japan aboard a boat made primarily from recycled materials. The boat, Malt's Mermaid II, designed by Kennosuke Hayashi, was a 32.8 foot long, 17.4 foot wide, catamaran constructed from 528 beer kegs welded end-to-end in 5 rows (Horie joked that 500 of them were empty) The rigging consisted of two side-by-side masts with junk rig sails made from recycled plastic bottles. This boat is on display Okura Beach, Akashi.

Kenichi Horie sailed in 2002 from Nishinomiya to San Francisco aboard the Mermaid III, which was a replica of the original Mermaid constructed from a variety of recycled materials, including whiskey barrels for the hull, aluminum cans for the mast and plastic soda bottles for the sails.

In 2008 he is planning to voyage from Hawaii to the Kii Peninsula in western Japan aboad the 9.5 meter, 3 tonne catamaran Suntory Mermaid II, built at Tsuneishi Shipyard. The voyage will be the first in a vessel propelled on wave power alone.

Ken-ichi Horie Sailing History:

• 1962 - Solo-sailed across the Pacific without a port call on the MERMAID (94days)
• 1974 - Solo-sailed around the world without a port call
• 1982 - Sailed around the world longitudinally (1978~1982)
• 1985 - Sailed from Hawaii to Chichijima on a solar power boat
• 1989 - Sailed from San Francisco to Nishinomiya on the smallest open sea yacht of 2.8m in length over all
• 1992 - Sailed on a paddling boat (human power boat) from Hawaii to Okinawa (1992~1993)
• 1996 - Solo-sailed with solar power made with recycled aluminum cans from Ecuador to Tokyo
• 1997 - The names "Cape Captain Kenichi Horie" and "Malt's Mermaid Island" for Galapagos Isles were distributed by the Government of Ecuador.
• 1999 - Sailed across San Francisco to Akashi Channel Bridge on Malt's Mermaid II, a yacht built with recycled beer-brewing barrels.
• 2002 - Sailed Nishinomiya to San Francisco aboard the Mermaid III a replica of the original Mermaid constructed from a variety of recycled materials
• 2008 - Planned voyage in spring of 2008 aboard Suntory Mermaid II, to cruise from Hawaii to Japan solely on wave power.

Photos: Kenichi Horie (Ken-ichi Horie) and the wave powered boat Suntory Mermaid II

Video: Japanese adventurer Kenichi Horie announcing his new voyage. This time in a boat that relies on the power of waves. The development of the wave powered boat.