Kayo is ready to KO the world
A RANDOM birthday gift has grown into a round-the-world yacht cruise for a brave female solo sailor.
Japanese-born Kayo Ozaki sailed into the Zululand Yacht Club last week at the end of a 52-day voyage from Darwin, Australia, with a fascinating story to tell.
“I had never sailed in my life, and as a gift for my 40th birthday, a friend asked me to join her on a two-day sailing course in Sydney,” said Kayo, a single mom architect who moved to Australia when she was 25 years old.
“I loved it, but wanted more, and after a few years I bought a 25ft boat – but by then I had forgotten all I had learnt!
“With help from a friend I started playing around every weekend and was invited to a social race, where I didn’t even know how to round the buoy!
“People I met at a party allowed me to join their boat crew every Sunday and I was gaining experience and confidence,” says Kayo.
“I was still working at the time and when my daughter was 16 my ex-husband went back to Japan. A year later he died suddenly of a heart attack.
“That made me stop to examine what life is all about, and I decided I needed to leave my boring daily job and start enjoying myself.
“Two things coincided to make the decision: house prices were soaring and there was a great boat that had been on sale for some time and they kept lowering the price, so I sold the house and bought the boat!”
That was six years ago and Kayo first sailed up and down the Australian east coast a couple of times before sailing solo to Japan in 2019, island-hopping for a year before returning to Oz…only for her plans to be interrupted by Covid.
At last, in June this year, Kayo was ready to KO the world and via Brisbane and Cairns she departed from Darwin on the 5 700-nautical mile non-stop trip to Richards Bay.
“The voyage was quite uneventful, although uncomfortable with the trade wind-driven waves hitting the boat side-on.
“Out at sea I managed three-hour sleep breaks but only short cat naps nearer the coast,” said Kayo, who made use of a satellite phone with email capability to stay in touch with her daughter and friends.
Kayo was bowled over by the wonderful reception she received at the Zululand Yacht Club, which included a bottle of champagne when she arrived.
She is hoping her daughter can join her for some game safaris but in the meantime is doing maintenance on her boat Nausikaa, a Vancouver34C named after a heroine from Homer’s epic ‘Odyssey’.
“That was her name when I bought her, and ironically that’s also the name of a Japanese visual art book character, so I kept the name.”
After an undetermined length of stay, Kayo will circumnavigate the globe via Cape Town, St Helena, Brazil, the Caribbean, Panama, the South Pacific Islands and back to Australia.