Paula Dycaico, Director of Marketing at Quake Global

On Sunday 2/14 at 1;30 PM, Hiro Iwamoto and Doug Smith left their slip at Harbor Island in San Diego, California to begin their 60-day journey to Fukushima Japan.

Between 70-80 people both friends, family, news media and supporters including team members from Quake were there to wish them bon voyage. There were cheers and encouragement from everyone on the dock when they left. Before their departure, there were several interviews from the news media and Hiro was asked what he was most excited about.  He mentioned participating in a half marathon last year and using the event to raise funds for two schools in Fukushima to buy dinghies to replace the ones lost in the tsunami.  He said “"I want to go back to The students and say I'm back and I’m still alive so never give up, the ocean is still waiting for you!"

The Quake Global team is excited about being able to watch the day to day progress of the Dreamweaver as they travel for the next 60 days.

You can follow them using this link using Furuno’s software that communicates with QPRO™.

The map below shows their current location:

Note: Please use Chrome or Safari to use the mapping link.

The previous blog mentioned their gofundme account. The goal is to replace the equipment lost when a whale sank the boat, but even as they sail away you can still donate to ensure they can cover the costs of the journey.

Any funds that are not needed will be shared with the organizations listed below, and Doug Smith will match, up to $2,500 for each charity (a total of $10,000), from any properly evidenced donations to these organizations to promote awareness and support them.

Here are the causes they will support:

The Himalayan Cataract Foundation

https://www.cureblindness.org/

 The Trachoma Control Program
https://www.cartercenter.org/health/trachoma/index.html

The Challenged Athletes Foundation
https://www.challengedathletes.org/

Safecast
https://blog.safecast.org