Beach Trading Blog

Here’s an interesting sailing story we just found in the Honolulu Star Bulletin:

It is counterintuitive that a boat that relies on wave propulsion could move in the direction of oncoming waves.

But that is just what the Suntory Mermaid II does.

Now, Japanese adventurer Ken-ichi Horie is planning to skipper the world’s foremost wave-powered vessel 4,350 miles from Hawaii to Japan.

In the process, Horie aims to add a new world record to his collection. In 1992 he set the Guinness record for the greatest distance by pedal-boat after pedaling 4,660 miles from Hawaii to Okinawa. In 1996 he set another record for the first solar-powered crossing of the Pacific. And he sailed 9,943 miles from Ecuador to Japan in a boat made from recycled beer cans.

You can read the rest of the Star Bulletin story here…

Photo courtesy: Shigeo Yamada
The propulsion system of the Suntory Mermaid II is visible with the boat partially lifted out of the water.