LONG BEACH, CA — A California sailor has reportedly made it back to the U.S. with a harrowing story of survival after he was lost at sea in the Pacific with a disabled boat in June.
Kai Sato, 39, couldn't predict that two weeks into his voyage from Catalina Island to Hawaii, the mast would break, according to Hawaii News Now, the first outlet to report the story.
Sato's dilemma was compounded after he ran out of fuel and couldn't use the motor to get back to shore. With no motor and a broken mast, Sato's boat drifted off course, leaving him drifting out at sea as he tried to find his way back to the busy shipping route between California and Hawaii.
"I cried for a whole week, just drifting south, like miserable," Sato told Hawaii News Now. "I felt like I was going to just try to turn my motor on and just suffocate, to kill myself."
After contemplating his situation for five days, Sato began jerry-rigging his sails, using PVC pipes and kayak paddles to band-aid his boat.
The temporary fix wouldn't be the last of his problems, as Sato ran out of water and had to desalinate sea water using buckets of seawater and tying plastic bags to collect condensation for drinking water.
He survived on oatmeal and the fish and squid he caught.
It took more than a month for Sato to navigate back to his route. Unexpectedly, on July 21, Sato was rescued thanks to a Pasha Ship that came within view.
Sato told Hawaii News Now in its July 25 report that he was currently staying with a relative and is planning his next sail to the Philippines in a bigger boat.
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