Blind Japanese sailor completes non-stop Pacific voyage
2019-04-22
52-year-old Japanese sailor Mitsuhiro Iwamoto has completed his non-stop Pacific voyage, becoming the first blind person to navigate a vessel across the vast ocean.
Iwamoto arrived at port in Fukushima in his 12-metre (40-foot) sailboat on Saturday morning, around two months after he left California.
"I didn't give up and I made a dream come true," Iwamoto was quoted by Japan's Kyodo News as saying.
He sailed from California on February 24 with Doug Smith, an American navigator who verbally helped him by offering information such as wind directions.