In 1962, at the age of 23, Horie became the second person to make a solo crossing of the Pacific Ocean, the first being the Briton Brian Platt, who crossed in a Hong Kong built junk called High Tea from Japan to California between 20 September and 25 December 1959 Leaving Nishinomiya, Japan on May 12, SFWeekly - Tales of the North Pacific in 94 days (on August 11) he arrived in San Francisco, California, U.S. aboard a 19 feet sailboat called the Mermaid.