Cape Muroto

Lots of paddling lately. The last bit of wind was before a rainy rest day at Kochi City. Kochi sits in the middle of a roughly 150 km wide semicircular bay. The east side of the bay runs out along a peninsular - Cape Muroto - that juts out into the Pacific Ocean and is triangular and pointed like a shark's tooth.

Working my way from Kochi towards the tip of the tooth took several days of paddling. At least the sea was reasonably flat. And Yumiko's support helped keep the momentum going. The slipways at the ports can be a hazard though, as tiny spikes of coral become exposed at low tide and break off into anything soft that might tread on them.

At a camp location about 10 nm from the peninsula the forecast was at last promising. Solid green on the forecast maps should deliver at least 10 knots, I thought. Wrong. Nothing, apart from a sloppy sea. Eventually - around midday - I set off paddling. A few miles in, and the current towards the tip got hold of me; and about 5 miles from the end I got into enough breeze to also be sailing. At this kink in the coast it was notably choppy and there was a hammerhead shark cruising about. Not too big, and at the time I thought it was the same fish multiple times, though I realised later that there were probably a few of them.

Shortly before reaching "Murotomizaki" I took a coffee and Soy Joy hit, stowed the paddle, put my boots on, and generally prepared for potential liveliness. The Cape itself has a lot of rocks. On a totally flat day you could maybe go between them, but not today. A strong current was pulling me towards the overfalls. No way I want to find myself in that tumbling whitewater, being pulled straight out to open ocean - so I keep as close to the rocks as I dare.

Before I know it I am into the current coming from the other side of the Cape. Now, rather than being carried toward the rocks I am fighting to get past them, as swells pass beneath me to reveal then hide the basalt growlers that I'd not previously registered. Oh, and there are sharks. Lots of sharks. I know that this time because some are small like before, but some are plenty big enough to take a chunk of dangling flesh. Maybe 4 or 5 foot between tail and dorsal fin for the bigger ones.

The strong current yaws the board from side to side. A swell rolls under me and the board surfs and gets out of shape. I over-sheet the sail and for a moment seem to have made a mess of the bit I should be good at by now: the sailing. I am lucky to recover that wobble rather than fall in backwards under the sail. I urge the board down a few more wave faces and a few moment later have powered through and beyond the rolling treadmill adjacent to the rocks. The water is smoother now and gradually the current subsides as I draw away from the Cape.

Now I am into turbulent air that is blowing over the headland. It arrives sporadically, and from all directions, for the mile and a half to a port that provides a place to get in. The port represents definitive safety from being pulled back to the Cape. From outside, it appears as a fortress. The on-off swirling wind, and the swell, complicate reaching the entrance, but 15 minutes later I am inside the castle walls.

Now that the Cape is behind me, and I am safe, emotions being held back find their release. The slow zigzags to the ramp are a time to discreetly liberate the accumulated tension, before a return to land and to normality.

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Since then, three more unremarkable days of paddling. The scenery would be stunning if I hadn't already seen so much of it. The turtles occasionally make a startled splash, there are flying fish, and the occasional large barracuda that takes semi-flight as it flees across the surface of the water (perhaps mistaking the board for a shark).

The heat has also been relentless. Yesterday my body complained and sent me a migraine. This morning's attempt at breakfast stayed with me all day on a knotted stomach, but I could still make a short and undemanding hop from Kochi into Tokushima prefecture. Having Yumiko here makes a huge difference when the chips are down. Now feeling much better, as if coming back online after a reset.