86-year-old sailor lost at sea for two months with his one-eyed dog says he has no regrets: it was his last bucket-list item

An 86-year-old sailor who spent about two months lost in the Pacific with his one-eyed dog says he has no regrets about the voyage, the New York Post reported Sunday, citing his interview with The New York Times.

Harry Blodgett set out from Astoria, Oregon, in August aboard his sailboat, the Willow Wind, headed for Pago Pago in American Samoa, about 5,000 miles away. Friends tried to talk him out of it. He had given up his home and sold his belongings to live on the boat.

Blodgett said he lost his sails about two weeks into the trip and was nearly out of fuel. "I was just like a rag doll inside the hull of the boat," he said. He and his dog, Sasha, lived on freeze-dried food and what he called "stinky" water.

After friends had not heard from him in more than 60 days, the Coast Guard was contacted on Oct. 24. On Oct. 27, a Coast Guard station in Alameda picked up an emergency beacon signal from the Willow Wind. Aircraft spotted the boat nearly 500 miles off San Diego, and the motor vessel Grand Orion rescued Blodgett and Sasha early the next morning. The Coast Guard said both were alive on deck and holding up well.

"That trip across the Pacific was the last item on my bucket list," Blodgett said from his hospital bed in San Diego. "You shouldn't give up on your dreams or your goals."