20 years ago, Mike Horn finished his 18-month voyage around the equator.
On this very day, 27th October, 20 years ago, Mike Horn finally reached Libreville, Gabon on the West Coast of Africa, where he started his solo voyage around the equator on a Corsair 28.
Mike Horn (born 16 July 1966) is a South African-born Swiss professional explorer and adventurer. Mike Horn is globally known as the world’s greatest modern day explorer. From swimming the Amazon River solo and traveling the globe at the equator on a 28’ trimaran (Corsair 28), Mike’s list of accomplishments as a solo explorer is incomparable. Mike Horn became famous in 2001 after completing a 1 year, 4 months and 25 day solo journey around the equator without the assistance of any motorized transport, which departed on 2 June 1999.
At the beginning, he barely caught any sleep while he was sailing across the Atlantic Ocean. He slowly and gradually became more familiar with handling the 8 meter Corsair 28 trimaran, and he could finally learnt to sleep adequately during his travel. 19 days after leaving Libreville, he set a new time world record of traveling total of 7,800 km (4,845 miles) across the Alantic.
To reach his starting point, Gabon, and finalize the loop of his Latitude 0 expedition, Mike had to complete the last stage of his adventure: the crossing of the African continent. Traveling on foot, bicycle and canoe, Mike crossed five countries including Congo, in the midst of a civil war; yet again, narrowly escaping death on several occasions by getting arrested by rebel soldiers whom had decided to sentence him to death, or when he got caught in a storm, causing him to almost drown in Lake Victoria. This last stage, lasted 4 months during which he covered the remaining 4’200km to Libreville.
While most modern life is now filled with electronic devices, Mike Horn has lived his life as a world explorer and seen things that might never be seen by other people. His expeditions have made a great inspiration to the world, especially his book audience. One of the readers once said: “Mike Horn is a very exceptional man, endowed with a physique and a mind of steel. And, moreover, it has an equally exceptional baraka!”
Mike has written four books about his expeditions, each of which has reached the best seller list in France. These books are currently available in several different languages world-wide. Films of his exploits have also been made and have won many prizes throughout Europe.
Mike Horn has done many of those biggest dreams of human being. There are still many world explorers have done their expeditions with many means of travels. Would this inspire you to travel the world with a Corsair trimaran? Let us know your thoughts.
