A California man drifting helpless in the Pacific for a month was pulled to safety by a cargo ship crew 900 miles from Hawaii, ending an ordeal that pushed him to the edge of despair.
Kai Sato, 39, launched his sailboat from Catalina Islands on June 7 intent on crossing the Pacific solo for the first time. Within days, his mast snapped and his navigation phone died, leaving him stranded with a dead motor and no way to steer back to land.
"I cried for a whole week, just drifting south, like miserable," Sato said in an interview with Hawaii News Now. "I felt like I was going to just try to turn my motor on and just suffocate, to kill myself, I felt hopeless."
After exhausting his fuel trying to motor back to shore, Sato fashioned repairs using PVC pipes and kayak paddles salvaged from his 32-foot sailboat. He rationed what little food he had, eating mostly oatmeal and whatever squid and fish washed onto his deck. Around day 20, his water ran dry.
Desperate for hydration, Sato rigged a plastic bag to collect condensation, licking the collected moisture to stay alive. For three weeks he drifted further south, carried by currents deeper into the open ocean.
His salvation came on July 21 when the M/V George III, a containership, spotted his crippled vessel near a major shipping lane between California and Hawaii. The Seafarers International Union said watch standers immediately called all hands to assist.
The cargo ship crew worked methodically to bring Sato aboard safely. They maneuvered close enough to fire a line-throwing device across the gap, then hauled his sailboat's stern toward the ship's pilot ladder. Sato climbed aboard after approximately 90 minutes of careful recovery work.
"Sato expressed his thanks and gratitude to the entire crew of the George III for saving his life," the union noted in a statement.
Sato is now staying with family in Hawaii and has already begun planning his next voyage, this time in a larger boat headed for the Philippines.
Author James Rodriguez: "Thirty days alone at sea with nothing but a plastic bag between you and dehydration separates the desperate from the determined, and Sato proved he's the latter."
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