● Summary ●

I grew up in an inland city in Japan. When I was in middle school, a friend said to me after class:

"Are there really fish in the ocean? Maybe the ones in stores just come out of machines in a factory, one after another."

That moment made me realize that even though Earth was my home—the planet where I was born—I knew almost nothing about the ocean that covered 70% of it.

I entered university and began sailing. After graduating and finding a job, I saved money, bought a small used sailboat, and set off on a life-threatening solo voyage.

Battling storms and seasickness, I spent two months sailing a quarter of the way around the Earth and eventually arrived in San Francisco, USA. There, a mysterious old man said, "Go to the Patagonian Archipelago in Chile. Journey to the last unexplored region on Earth."

After leaving North America, I sailed through steady trade winds and into a calm zone near the equator—the skies, the sea, and the atmosphere were beyond anything I could have imagined. Then I crossed the equator and discovered an actual red line stretching across the sea, like a line drawn on a world map. At one point, I was also surrounded by a massive swarm of jellyfish, before South America finally appeared on the horizon, three months after I had left San Francisco.

In Chile's ports, I was amazed by Latin American customs, generously helped by kind people, and eventually set sail for the Patagonian Archipelago.

It was a sea that seemed like both heaven and hell. I was struck by typhoon-like winds, tasted penguin steak, exchanged goods with Indigenous people, and spent surreal days in fjords that felt like the homes of monsters.

After safely navigating the Patagonian Archipelago and gaining confidence in my sailing skills, I foolishly set sail toward Antarctica. But a storm capsized the boat, snapping her mast, and I drifted back to land.

In an Argentinian port, I spent nearly a month in disappointment and doubt, wondering whether I should give up the journey—knowing that another failure could cost me my life. But once I had made up my mind, I couldn't abandon my dream.

The following year, I tried again and finally reached Antarctica. But winter was approaching, and the sea had begun to freeze. With relentless blizzards, escaping Antarctica was impossible. The boat and I were both about to freeze solid. I went to a nearby research station and asked to stay for the winter, but no one would listen.

Determined to keep going, I made a desperate attempt to escape between storms. The first attempt failed, but I tried again and finally escaped the Antarctic, setting sail for South America.

But there, the raging Southern Ocean awaited me…