Totally blind................

Mitsuhiro 'Hiro' Iwamoto, a 46-year-old totally blind sailor, set out from Fukushima bound for San Diego on June 16 on a voyage to bring awareness to tsunami victims and to support local schools. Iwamoto was sailing with a sighted crewmember, 57-year-old newscaster Jiro Shinbou, aboard his Bristol Channel Cutter Aeolus about 800 miles off Honshu on June 21 when the boat made contact with what appears to be a gigantic piece of flotsam. The video below shows the moment of impact and a large pointy object can be seen directly in the boat's path. If you watch carefully at the end, you can also see a large shadow in the water next to the boat after the collision. There's been no official word what Aeolus hit, but it doesn't appear to be a whale.

When Aeolus began taking on water, Shinbou requested assistance. Within minutes, he called their shore team to let them know "Flooding water is greater than they can pump out. They have to abandon Aeolus and move to a liferaft in order to survive. Both are in good condition with no injury." Two attempts were made by the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force to reach the pair before they were finally plucked from the raft and taken back to Japan. They were uninjured but Aeolus sank. You can read more about Hiro and his mission at his website.