On August 16th, the sailboat “Rizhao” steered by the famous Chinese navigator Zhai Mo returned to Rizhao, the coastal city in Shandong Province for which it was named. The return marked the successful conclusion of the first Chinese solo global voyage in an unpowered sailboat.

Zhai Mo began his journey on January 6th of 2007, when his 1.2 meter high and 3.85 meter wide unpowered sailboat left the Rizhao World Yacht Race Base.

Within nearly 2 years, the “Rizhao” sailed 33,467 nautical miles, crossing the Indian Ocean, the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. Zhai Mo passed more than 40 countries and regions, before arriving at Sanya, a coastal city in Hainan Province on Feb 12th, 2009. Then, after a brief pause for maintenance and visits to several cities on China’s east coast, the “Rizhao” returned home yesterday..

"The meaning of such a voyage goes beyond the navigation itself, and I regard it as a cultural journey, through which, I get well known about the local customs and practices,” Zhai said.

Zhai told China Daily that he plans to write a book about his trip, which will include accounts of what happened, his thoughts while sailing across the oceans, as well as positions and weather notes which will be useable for other future sailors.

"I intended to break a record when I planed to make a global voyage on sea at the very beginning, and I really want to see more Chinese people practicing navigation with references of my logbook on navigation” Zhai said.

Zhai Mo's sailboat (Photographer Lu Congyong)

Zhai Mo waves hand to people greeting his back.

Flowers presented to the hero

in Djakarta

in Hawaii

in Panama

Editor Li Jing

By Li Anna (China Daily Shandong Bureau)