Iwamoto and Smith finish!

May 23, 20192min read

April 21, 2019

Iwamoto and Smith finish!
On Saturday, April 20th, the journey across the Pacific Ocean to the blind yachtsman Mitsuhiro Iwamoto and his friend Doug Smith was successfully completed. The Dream Weaver 13-meter yacht landed in Fukushima Prefecture, Japan.

Iwamoto and Smith left San Diego on February 27th. They planned to overcome the distance of 6000 nautical miles in two months. But it turned out even faster.

“I am the happiest person in the world,” Iwamoto told reporters who met him. – My old dream has become a reality, and this is fantastic. Now I know for sure: people can do absolutely everything. The main thing is to set a goal and go to it! ”

We have already written about Odyssey Matsuhiro and Doug. But now, when their journey is successfully completed, it is not a sin to repeat something.

The fact that Mitsuhiro Iwamoto intends to cross the Pacific Ocean (then he had to start from Japan, and finish in the US), many sailing editions of the world first reported in June 2013. And it was a sensation. Because Iwamoto is blind. He lost his sight in his youth.

At the same time he is an experienced yachtsman. Together with him on board the 9-meter yacht was a Japanese television videographer, who was to capture all the main points of the trip.

However, on the sixth day it was all over: a whale crashed into the yacht (which was fixed by the underwater camera), and after a few minutes the boat went to the bottom. Fortunately, Iwamoto and the operator managed to move into the liferaft …

The psychological trauma that Iwamoto then received (he, we note, lives in the USA) was the hardest. Crossing the Pacific was his cherished dream. In addition, he spent most of his money on preparing for the trip, and there was simply no money for the second attempt.

So everything would have remained a dream if one day Iwamoto did not meet with businessman Doug Smith (an American who, on the contrary, settled in Japan). He was not at all experienced, novice yachtsman. But he, too, had a dream – to perform some noble act.

Smith (he, like Iwamoto, 52 years old) bought a new 13-meter yacht, which he called The Dream Weaver, and with his money fully prepared her for a long trip. The last months before the start, he had been training hard to improve his yacht qualification, and …

You know the rest. February 27, The Dream Weaver with Iwamoto and Smith (both 52 years old) on board departed San Diego. They stood at the helm in turn, but the Japanese were mostly at night. His darkness was not a hindrance.

Travel site across the Pacific –
https://voyageofinspiration.com

146 April 21, 2019 # 8950

Chief Editor