Blind sailor to cross Pacific

Jun 09, 2013 |

Hiro Shinbo and Mitsuhiro Iwamoto

A blind sailor and his partner set sail on a small yacht on Saturday from Osaka harbour to cross the Pacific Ocean in what the organiser calls the world’s first such attempt by such a pair.

Mitsuhiro Iwamoto, 46, who has actively participated in yacht races for the visually impaired in and out of Japan, and newscaster Hiro Shinbo, 57, will call at Iwaki, Fukushima Prefecture, before heading for San Diego where they plan to arrive in August.
“After about three months of training with Mr Shinbo, we got on quite well with each other. I feel full of emotion because I am at the start line of realising my dream,” Mr Iwamoto, a San Diego-based acupuncturist, said at a kickoff ceremony.
Before leaving Iwaki on June 16, they will present local high school and other clubs that lost their yachts in the 2011 quake-tsunami disaster with new gear, according to the organiser.

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