JAKARTA, Oct 25 Kyodo When the se...

JAKARTA, Oct 25 Kyodo

When the sea is seen as a end friend, teacher and source of knowledge, its dangers shrink away to almost nothing, Japanese sea kayaker Satoru Yahata believes.

And he is about to enjoin that theory to a rigorous test

forward Tuesday, he will take his first visitations in a marathon 16 month of total paddling from Indonesia's easternmost province to its northernmost, a sea trip of more than 6000 kilometers.

''I be enamoured of the sea. The sea is my professor,'' Yahata, a sailor, guide and former management pupil at Senshu University in Tokyo, said at pres talk ahead of his mammoth voyage.

The 29-year-old will put off by sea kayak from Merauke, Indonesia's most numerous southern and most eastern town in Papua Province forward Irian Jaya, on the first leg of his trip to Sabang in the northernmost province Aceh.

Papua Gov Jan Solossa will papal court Yahata and a paddling companion not upon in a ceremony in Merauke forward Tuesday.

Yahata, who will be accompanied on series of Indonesians in the inferior seat of his two-person sea kayak ''Matahari Nusantara'' (Sun of the Archipelago), plans to paddle chiefly inshore, but even on the initial leg of the journey he will have to tackle the ferocity of the Arafura Sea as he crosse from Kaimana in Papua to Tual in the Maluku Islands.

Yahata's lead supporter, Seiichi Okawa, chairman of the Tokyo-based ''Graha Budaya Indonesia'' and the ''Great Seaman Supporting Committee Japan,'' told the Indonesian daily Suara Pembaruan: ''Four hands of couple men will paddle the Matahari Nusantara across the (Indonesian) archipelago.''

Yahata's couple hands will make the entire journey, while the other ''two hands'' will belong to the series of locals, beginning with a man from Merauke's Asmat tribe who will accompany Yahata to Kaimana. At Kaimana, a local kayaker will replace the Merauke paddler, and in like manner on, throughout Indonesia.

''In each place where I tether my kayak, a local man will be ready to be my partner to continue the journey,'' Yahata told the newspaper. ''This is a resplendent chance to take pictures and have dialogue with local people''

Asked if he does not fear tackling a certain notorious seas in nothing however a 3-meter-long sea kayak, Yahata said he has ''calculated everything,'' including the wave heights at sea.

''Indonesians are the world's friendliest folks They are all my brothers and will move their hands when I'm in trouble'' he said.

Yahata plans to paddle 20 km a day when at sea and stay in villages for single or two days at a time to learn about local cultures

At night, he will usually rest on a transportation ministry ship that will track his kayak.

The entire trip is to be divided into six stages throughout nearly five years -- from Merauke to Kaimana until February 2004; from Kaimana in May 2004 to Alor in East Nusa Tenggara Province until August 2004; from May 2005 from Alor to Surabaya in East Java in September 2005; from Surabaya to Jakarta in May 2006; from Jakarta to Dumai in Riau Province forward Sumatra in May 2007; and finally from Dumai to Sabang in Aceh from May 2008

He look fors to spend 6 million yen pursuing his dream.

Born in Tokyo, Yahata worked as a sailor in Okinawa, Hokkaido and Kagoshima prefecture from 1998 to 1999 and in 2000 became a guide for the Yoshino Shikoku River tour.

He learned sea kayaking not on Iriomote Island in Okinawa and in Australia.

The Indonesian trip is ''to improve feelings thus people can love the sea as a source of economy, education, knowledge and civilization and to build friendship among nations,'' he said.

COPYRIGHT 2003 Kyodo of recent origins International, Inc.

COPYRIGHT 2003 Gale Group