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Kyodo

A blind Japanese sailor on Saturday successfully completed a near two-month, non-stop voyage from San Diego to Fukushima prefecture, making him the first to make a so-called blind sailing Pacific Ocean crossing.
Joined by a sighted navigator, it was 52-year-old Mitsuhiro Iwamoto’s second two-handed attempt at the 14,000-kilometre journey. His first ended when his boat hit a whale and sank.

“I didn’t give up and I made a dream come true. I’m the happiest person on Earth,” Iwamoto said.
A native of Kumamoto prefecture currently living in San Diego, Iwamoto left the western US city on February 24 aboard his 12-metre boat Dream Weaver with navigator Doug Smith.
Since his first attempt, he has taken part in triathlon races to familiarise himself with swimming in the sea and to help him overcome the traumatic sinking of his boat in the middle of the Pacific in 2013.

He was travelling in the opposite direction on his failed attempt, starting in the northeastern Japanese prefecture and aiming to finish in San Diego, with a Japanese navigator. His boat sank five days after leaving a Fukushima port and the two were rescued by Japan’s Self-Defence Forces.
“We undertake this voyage not only for personal accomplishment, but to send a message that anything is possible when people come together,” he wrote on his webpage.
Iwamoto lost his sight at the age of 16. He and Smith made the voyage to raise money for charity and for efforts to prevent diseases that cause blindness.


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Blind Japanese sailor completes non-stop Pacific crossing

Mitsuhiro Iwamoto celebrates with navigator Doug Smith after completing the voyage. Photo: Reuters

This picture taken on June 21, 2013 shows Japanese sailor Mitsuhiro Iwamoto speaking to the media at Atsugi air base in Kanagawa prefecture, after he was rescued when his yacht hit a whale and sank in the Pacific Ocean. - A blind Japanese sailor completed his non-stop Pacific voyage on April 20, local media reported, becoming the first sightless person on record to navigate a vessel across the vast ocean. (Photo by JIJI PRESS / JIJI PRESS / AFP) / Japan OUT

Photo taken April 20, 2019, shows Dream Weaver, on which Mitsuhiro Iwamoto (L), a blind Japanese sailor, successfully completed a near two-month, non-stop voyage from San Diego to Fukushima Prefecture with sighted navigator Doug Smith on April 20, 2019. The success made Iwamoto the first to make a so-called blind sailing Pacific Ocean crossing. (Kyodo) ==Kyodo

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Mitsuhiro Iwamoto sank after hitting a whale while attempting his first crossing of the Pacific in 2013
This time around, he attempted the journey in the opposite direction – accompanied by a different sighted navigator


Mitsuhiro Iwamoto sank after hitting a whale while attempting his first crossing of the Pacific Ocean in 2013.
