Aleksander Doba, sapped of strength but nonetheless jubilant, paddled ashore in northeast Brazil on Wednesday afternoon, completing a transatlantic kayaking expedition that lasted almost 99 days and spanned 3,320 miles. 

It's believed to have been the longest-ever solo-kayaking voyage, in terms of time spent at sea. He spent Wednesday afternoon and evening being checked by doctors and sleeping. On Thursday the 64-year-old Polish adventurer, thickly bearded and disheveled but appearing remarkably fit, told a small gathering in the remote fishing community of Acaraú, that after a little more rest he'd like to climb back in and paddle to the United States.

Doba left last Oct. 26 from Dakar in west Africa, aboard a customized 23-foot sea kayak, which is only only 39 inches wide. This was his home for 98 days and 20 hours.

Three others have kayaked across the Atlantic: Franz Romer in 1928; Hannes Lindemann in 1956, and Peter Bray in 2001. But none of those expeditions was directly from continent to continent (they utilized offshore islands), and none of those paddlers was a senior citizen.

"He's 64 years old! The physical challenge would have broken men half his age," Jeff Moag, editor of Canoe & Kayak magazine, said of Doba. "The amount of will power it took him to keep going is amazing. To any of us who have done a long paddling expedition, it's humbling."

Canoe & Kayak followed the odyssey from the outset. It was plagued almost from start to finish by storminess and unfavorable currents. The paddler, whose excursion was plotted via a global satellite positioning unit, covered 680 miles in a straight line before conditions began to work relentlessly against him. 

In early January his son, Chez Doba, emailed Canoe & Kayak's Conor Mihell and stated to the reporter: "After going in circles for over a month, being stormed on almost every day, being accompanied by barracuda and sharks, who wouldn't be tired?"

Doba's vessel has a small forward compartment in which he napped when conditions allowed. His desalination unit stopped functioning automatically on Jan. 11, making it difficult to obtain drinking water; since then he relied largely on gathering rainwater. His meager freeze-dried food supply was supplemented occasionally with fresh fish. At times he had to maneuver over waves measuring 20-plus feet.

Doba, an expert whitewater kayaker, carried a satellite phone and Tweeted sporadically. One of his early Tweets: "Since the beginning I see a lot of sharks. Often they surface, but sometimes they stay a few meters underwater. I can only splash, no swimming!"

His journey was close to the equator where, he informed his followers, "It's extremely hot. I sleep about 2-3 hours per night. During the day it's impossible."

Doba, who speaks almost no English, also relayed messages to his son, which were posted on his blog. On Monday, as a powerful south wind shoved him off-track to the northwest and threatened to delay landing, this was posted on his blog: "I'm very tired. I dream to finally finish, wherever it will be. I'm afraid that the south winds push me so I have to paddle for many days. No! I want dry land as soon as possible."

It turned out to be a two-day delay, 50 miles beyond where he had hoped to land. Those two days, Doba assured, were like an eternity.

Bob ~ I recently had a conversation with a friend about heros and legends. In todays society we are all to ready to brand somebody a legend or a hero wheather they deserve it or not. I'm not saying this guy is either but he inspires people to "live the dream", seek a higher ground, "be all you can be". As a child I read the adventures of the Kon-Tiki expidition by Thor Heyerdahl...to this day I love a good adventure and have had many throughout my life and times...it's what I live for. Not familiar with Thor Hyerdahl and Kon-Tiki? Look it up! It's what inspired me to be more...to leave it all out on the field. My greatest fear in life is to be laying on my deathbed and think..."MAN...I wish I'd have done THAT!". Life begins where the pavement ends! Now...go get you some!