Giving courage to others

In 2019, blind Japanese sailor Mitsuhiro “Hiro” Iwamoto completed a non-stop Pacific Ocean crossing from San Diego to Fukushima, Japan with the aid of a sighted navigator. In 2027, he intends to complete the route alone. “I wanted to make future success 100 times bigger,” he explained.

Closer to shore, Blind Sailing International Commodore Kylie Forth provides this update:

For the first time blind sailing was incorporated into a larger World Sailing event at the inaugural World Sailing Inclusion Championships in Oman in December. Seven teams from five countries participated in a week of intensive league racing in Far East 28R keelboats.

It was exciting to be involved in such a prestigious event, and many new friendships were formed with sailors from other disciplines. We look forward to continuing the partnership with World Sailing and becoming more involved in the wider Parasailing community.

The next Blind Match-Racing Worlds will be held during the 2026 World Sailing Inclusion Championships in Portugal on October 1-11.

Hannah Stodel, World Sailing Parasailing Manager, announced at the 2025 Inclusion Worlds that Blind sailing is being included in the bid to reintroduce sailing to the 2032 Paralympics. This is a significant step forward for blind sailing, and we will be working closely with World Sailing over the coming years to develop a format which is suitable for paralympic inclusion.

Vicki Sheen, former chair of BSI, has put together a discussion paper and call for response about the future of the format for blind sailing in the Paralympics.