Blind sailor reaches land in Fukushima after 55 days in Pacific
by Hiroyuki Yaginuma 23 Apr 2019 14:12 UTC
Mitsuhiro Iwamoto, right, is greeted by his family after arriving at a harbor in Iwaki, Fukushima Prefecture, on April 20 after sailing across the Pacific Ocean © Hiroyuki Yaginuma
Blind sailor Mitsuhiro Iwamoto called himself "the happiest person on earth" after conquering the Pacific Ocean in a sailboat after nearly two months of sailing nonstop to a harbor here from San Diego.
"Six years later, I finally could achieve my dream," he said, referring to his first attempt in 2013 that failed after his boat capsized and sank.
His 12-meter yacht, Dream Weaver, arrived in Iwaki harbor after 9 a.m. on April 20, 55 days after setting off from the U.S. West Coast on Feb. 24.
His navigator was Douglas Smith, a 55-year-old American and a long-time resident of Japan.
The successful voyage made Iwamoto, 52, the first to conquer the Pacific through blind sailing, in which a visually impaired sailor steers a boat while a sighted partner describes the surroundings.
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