Stranded sailor says bucket list led him to nearly die on 5,000-mile Pacific journey

An 86-year-old sailor who spent nearly two months lost at sea with his one-eyed dog says he has no regrets about the ill-fated 5,000-mile Pacific adventure — because it was the final item on his bucket list.Harry Blodgett and his four-legged first mate, Sasha, were miraculously rescued nearly 500 miles off the San Diego coast last month after disappearing during a voyage from Oregon to the South Pacific.The biggest news, opinion and culture shaping California right now.

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Never miss a story The elderly mariner had set sail aboard his boat, the Willow Wind, from Astoria, Ore., in August, hoping to reach Pago Pago in American Samoa, roughly 5,000 miles southwest of California.Friends tried to talk him out of the ambitious voyage, particularly after Blodgett gave up his home, sold off his belongings and moved aboard the sailboat, the New York Times reported.But the determined sailor wasn’t about to abandon his dream.Things went sideways almost immediately.Blodgett said he lost his sails just two weeks into the journey and was nearly out of fuel, leaving him at the mercy of the Pacific.Still, he insisted he wasn’t frightened.“I wasn’t afraid at all,” Blodgett told the Times from his hospital bed in San Diego.

“The boat was doing a great job.”Despite rough seas and brutal winds, the elderly sailor held off activating his emergency position-indicating radio beacon for weeks.California Post News: Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, X, YouTube, WhatsApp, LinkedInCalifornia Post Sports Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, XCalifornia Post Opinion California Post Newsletters: Sign up here!California Post App: Download here!Home delivery: Sign up here!Page Six Hollywood: Sign up here!“I was just like a rag doll inside the hull of the boat getting banged against all the furniture and the roof of the inside of the ...