The ketch AHODORI 2 is a 21-foot plywood boat built by her skipper Yoh Aoki in his back yard taking 2 years to build.
When Yoh was 22 years old, he left Osaka, Japan for the circumnavigation of the globe by himself.
And he luckily sailed home on 1974 after 3 years and 2 months of a lonesome journey on the sea, calling at San Francisco, Acapulco, Galapagos islands, Easter island, Buenos Aires, Cape town and Sydney.
No such small boat like a 21-foot had attempted to sail around the world via Cape Horn when Yoh completed his journey.

His 1972 Cape Horn passage was miraculous Yoh says. A wave he recalls as being about 100 feet high turned his vessel upside down before another wave somehow righted the craft. “The upside-down boat had started sinking because a lot of water came into the cabin.”

His boat is registered on the Guiness book of record as the smallest boat ever circumnavigated the world via Cape Horn. The record is also introduced to Captain Joshua Slocum Society’s book. His boat AHODORI 2 is now on display at the Banpaku Museum Park in Osaka.

Yoh’s book Ahoudori and Myself is well known, as well as his recent books Inner Sailing 1, Inner Sailing 2 and Inner Sailing 3 are best selling  in Japan and Korea as sailing text books.

Yoh Aoki is also conducting a monthly Zen meeting at Zigenin temple in Osaka. Feel free to join the meetings if you are in Osaka.

Ahoudori’s story told in Japanese is here.