Log

Team Effort

Recently, this solo round Japan journey has become a team effort. That started in Setana (in Hokkaido) where Shino-san and friends looked after me up until the crossing of the Tsugaru Strait. Then, since making landfall in Honshu, Yumiko has been following with a car and a tent and a big bowl for cooking hot food.

Two more hops to report... 

ESASHI

The first of these an early start and then 20 nautical miles in 4 hours to Esashi. Averaging 5 knots doesn't sound that impressive, but most days I would sign for that. Also note that quoted distances are straight line measurements, whereas the sailed course is rarely that direct. This means that the actual speed is more respectable than it sounds.

I'm too late. Like a straggler from a flock of migrating geese, the odds now seem stacked against me from escaping the harsh winter of northern Japan.

My objective has become to "complete" Hokkaido by reaching its southwest corner, and then crossing the Tsugaru Strait back to Honshu. Looking at the map that doesn't seem a huge ask, but at this time of year the weather windows are at best short-lived and at other times a figment of wishful thinking.

In Japanese, "windsurfing" is called "windosurfing". That seems very apt right now.

A few postcards. A bit late, as tradition requires.

I arrived at twilight, paddling, in the rain, at Usuya port, and regretted the decision at the time. It was a long way in, there was no inviting place to sleep, and the town doesn't have a konbini. Oh well, when you leave it to fate you don't win 'em all.

Jono's diary - 2/3 Oct.

After a day off at Embetsu, a front rolled through on Wednesday morning with a deluge of rain, and the stiff southerly wind switched to an equally energetic north-westerly.

As usual, I am playing catchup with events. Unfortunately there are breakages to report, but I'll leave those for the end. Let's start with something more uplifting: an adventure within an adventure, the Shiretoko Peninsula.
 

I  moved on from Nemuro, on another misty day, with a repaired paddle. On this coastline that faces the Kuril islands (that are under Russian control)There was an easy day or maybe two. Then came a section with salmon nets, hundreds of salmon nets, that made it very difficult and ultimately impractical to make progress staying inshore. The nets are secured to land and hung from a taut cable-like line that runs about a mile out to sea.

Windsurfing round Cape Ochiishi on the Nemuro Peninsula, Hokkaido, Japan. On this leg I set sail from Kiritappu, about 20 nautical miles away. Although I stayed well offshore en route to Cape Ochiishi, twice the wind failed completely. I was tossed about like a cork, unable to make progress, and in a bit of bother to say the least. It was a big relief when this bit of wind arrived to get me past the Cape. The footage is a single take (a bit ugly and raw in places, but authentic!) The board is a Unifiber Proteus Raceboard and the sail is a Loftsails Switchblade HD 8.5m.

Having negotiated the port city of Kushiro, I stocked the barrel with a few extra supplies. At one o'clock the fog cleared and I sailed zigzags for 3 hours, making 2.7 nautical miles, before being becalmed again and having to paddle to reach the small port of Katsurakoi.

It is coming up to two full weeks since I arrived at Atsunai. I explained in a previous post that it was a struggle to reach the village. But that was nothing! Leaving is the real challenge...

Fortunately, although foggy, Atsunai is a pleasant hamlet. It has a railway station (unmanned) which connects it to bigger places such as Kushiro city, where I successfully extended my permission to be in Atsunai (also applies to the rest of Japan).

At the beginning of this journey I was concerned that the coastguard / port authorities / navy might hear about my plan and suggest or require that I put an end to it. As the weeks and miles accumulated this became less of a concern, and now I'm quite happy to be known about!

Perhaps it is time for a sticker on my sail to let people know what I am up to.

With stealth mode officially off, here are some (probably all!) recent "media appearances":

Since Hiroo, the target has been Kushiro, a port city at the end of this long south-west facing sweep of Hokkaido. So far I have made 3 base camps. The details of how the days unfolded, and my experience of them, will soon become hazy, tangled and imprecise. So as a "note to self" as much as anything, here are those details.

Before I sail today, a quick few paragraphs about Cape Erimo and the village (Erimomisaki) of the same name:

I am taking Hokkaido as a polygon to be tackled a face at a time. For a while, progress on the face leading to Cape Erimo seemed slow going, but then I conceptualised the task in mountaineering terms. Each day sailed (or sail-paddled) I nudged forward to a base camp nearer to the summit. A day with relatively favourable winds, but a most uncomfortable swell, contributed a 34 nm run. That got me in range (if not in sight, because visibility has been poor) of the pinnacle.

Yesterday, I made a 30 km crossing of an indent of Hokkaido I now know is called Uchiura Bay. Shortcuts are a mixed blessing: they are an economical way to bring the goal of a circumnavigation nearer, but they bypass the reason for the journey, which is the journey itself and all that might be experienced. Of course, this is just life. Our every action, every whim we cater for, has an opportunity cost.

Here is an effort to share some recent pictures. Finding the time and place to curate and comment isn't always simple. But I grabbed a charge at the convenience store (until chased off by a grumpy employee, which sometimes happens) and began writing this at the fishing cooperative building. The fishing community I find to be very accepting and increasingly nice! Perhaps that is because I have now settled in, and there is an expression of that in how I carry myself and communicate. Also, the journey is now sufficiently notable that I am a source of curiosity/interest/humour!