Seattle sailor reunites with husband after months at sea

SEATTLE, Wash. — Seattle amateur sailor and business owner Yuko Kikuchi, 40, had an emotional reunion with her husband Friday after nearly a month at sea battling storms in the North Pacific ocean.

Yuko, original from Ishinomaki, Japan, a city devastated by the 2011 earthquake and tsunami, was reunited with Takao after competing with her team Mission Performance in the famous Clipper Round the world Yacht Race.

Upon her arrival into Seattle from Qingdao, China, Yuko said she was extremely relieved to have seen the familiar sight of downtown on the approach to Bell Harbor.

"Seattle had never looked so good as we approached and I saw the Space Needle,” Yuko said. “The trip from China was very cold and wet and with numerous storms creating massive waves.”

Yuko had previously sailed across the Southern Ocean from South Africa to Australia in November with the Clipper Race -- a  global event for amateur sailors led by professional skippers.

The fleet has reported the worst conditions they have ever experienced on this race from the Olympic sailing city of Qingdao, with the yachts pounded by huge seas and winds gusting more than 80 miles per hour, causing injury and damaging the yachts.

The 12 amateur teams led by professional skippers will have completed around 30,000 miles of their adventure, which is made up of a global series of 14 races between six continents over 11 months. The fleet left London on August 30 last year and will return there July 30.

Cox Media Group