The Sailor Who Licked Water from a Bag

Kai Sato spent more than a month alone at sea after his sailboat lost its mast during his voyage towards Hawaii. (Digital Illustration: GoBeyondLocal)

The Sailor Who Licked Water from a Bag

Kai Sato had been sailing alone towards Hawaii for about two weeks when the mast of his boat broke.

He had left the Catalina Islands on 7 June 2026, hoping to complete his first solo crossing of the Pacific. Strong winds and rough seas damaged the boat, leaving him without the mast he depended on for sailing.

He tried to use the motor to turn back towards California, but the fuel ran out. His phone, which he had been using for navigation, also stopped working after exposure to water.

The boat began drifting south with the current.

Sato, 39, was alone on the 32-foot sailboat with no working phone for navigation and no fuel left for the motor.

He cried for a week while the boat continued drifting south. At one point, he felt so hopeless that he considered turning on the motor and suffocating himself.

After about five days, he began working on the boat.

Sato used PVC pipes and kayak paddles to build an improvised arrangement for the sails. The makeshift rig allowed him to move the boat again.

He spent weeks working towards the shipping lane between California and Hawaii.

Food had to last as long as possible. Sato said he ate mostly oatmeal, along with fish and squid that landed in the boat.

Fresh water became the harder problem.

On 7 July, Sato ran out of drinking water.

He still had seawater around him, but seawater was unsafe for ordinary drinking. He filled buckets with seawater and covered them with plastic bags.

Condensation formed on the plastic. Sato collected the small droplets and drank them.

He later described the method in simple terms: he licked the condensation from the plastic to survive.

The amount of water produced this way was small. Sato kept collecting droplets while the boat was still far from land.

The broken mast and failed motor had taken away much of Sato's control over his course. The current had already carried him south and away from his intended route.

He kept working on the improvised sailing rig and slowly moved towards the shipping route used by vessels travelling between California and Hawaii.

Sato also said he spent time meditating, calling out for guidance and talking to the wind and water.

He thought about his uncle, who had sailed from California to Hawaii with him when Sato was a boy.

Those memories accompanied him during the weeks he spent alone on the Pacific.

By the time Sato reached the shipping route, he had been at sea for more than a month.

He was still far from Hawaii, and his damaged sailboat was small compared with the ships using the route.

Then, on 21 July, watch standers aboard the M/V George III saw the boat.

The vessel was a Pasha Hawaii ship operating in the Pacific. The crew spotted the demasted 32-foot sailboat roughly 900 miles from Hawaii.

The crew moved the two vessels into position for the rescue and prepared equipment for Sato to board the ship.

After two attempts, the crew lowered a rope ladder, and Sato climbed aboard the M/V George III. The rescue ended his long period alone at sea.