Florentino Das

Florentino Resulta Das (April 19, 1918 – October 7, 1964) was a U.S.-based Filipino yachtsman who holds the earliest record of single-handed sailing from Hawaii to the Philippines on a 27-footer homebuilt sailboat.

Early years Das was born in the northernmost town of Allen, Northern Samar to Domingo Das and Juliana Resulta. Having been exposed at an early age in traditional fishing, and learning this in the most treacherous waters of the San Bernardino Strait, Das has picked the skills of boat handling. Allen is also the terminus of the ferry between Luzon and Samar, and this has impressed upon Das to pursue a life of seafaring. His father also owned a traditional 60-foot double-outrigger sailing boat called a paraw, which is powered by a crab-claw sail along with a small foresail. With the paraw, the Das patriarch and his sons conducted trading around Eastern and Central Visayas. Part of his learning was also in the traditional knowledge of boat building, wayfinding, celestial navigation, and weather forecasting. Das shared "Me, I have loved them (boats) since I was a kid. Whenever my father was building a new boat, I was sure to be there beside him, when I was still very little."

On February 22, 1956, Das was able to secure clearance from the local authorities and sailed off towards the Philippines. The Mayor of Manila Arsenio Lacson received a letter from his counterpart from Honolulu as hand carried by Das, and gave the latter Keys to the City.