Hiroo to Atsunai - Three Days in Detail

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.

Hiroo to Asasihama - 9 nm

I was sailing by 9 am. The first obstacle was Hiroo port that pushed me 2 km offshore. It was a remarkably uncomfortable sea, with short period Ocean swells from east and south, and a chop from the north-easterly headwind. Visibility was moderately poor to start with. The wind was better, enough even for a few moments of comfort in the beating straps. The day cleared and the wind gradually died away.

Eventually I gave up trying to sail and took a rest. The current was sweeping me back toward Hiroo port far more quickly than I had been making progress against it. I sailed more zigzags, until even these were haemorrhaging distance downcurrent. I switched to paddle-mode. The sea was still too chaotic for stand-up paddle, so this was prone paddling to "hold station" until some change of conditions gave me a break. The sea, still lumpy, took on a glassy sheen and I stand-up paddled, which allowed progress to be made. There were maybe half-a-dozen fishing nets to negotiate: floating lines, taught like cables, seemingly never-ending in a seaward direction, but with a small gap between beach and inner marker. Lumpy, going that far inshore. The faintest of breezes arrived from behind and convinced me to sail past the outer wall of my destination port. There wasn't really the wind. The wind I could feel was the wind I was generating myself, amplified sometimes by the movement from the swells. I fought and swore my way in past the port wall. On flat water, it was evident that there had been about 3 knots of wind, sufficient to glide in to the ramp to finish the day.

Small place. No shop. Disappointing public toilet. No shop. Not even a vending maching. a few big fishing boats on the hard but otherwise abandoned as a port. A bit neglected. Rain at night.

Asasihama to Toyokoro - 19 nm

No fog. Forecast suggests a helpful following wind. Sailing at 11 when a breeze arrives. Sea much better today, but wind very light. Waves have a bit more power today, crunching onto the shoreline. No stopping options for last 15 nm. Always doing the maths to see if I have the daylight hours required. It's tight. No stopping allowed. Pump continually. Eat, drink, and pee while still sailing. Wind dies away entirely with about 3 nm remaining. Paddle. Light headwind fills in. The worst combination: too light to sail against, agony to paddle against. Eventually the headwind fills-in sufficiently to sail the final mile. Port entrance juts out 2km into the Ocean. Once inside, breath sigh of relief. Flat water is safe and easy, even at night. Tired after that.

Big place, but desolate. Industrial. Sprawling. Restaurant closed at 7 pm. No shop. Bad choice of where to prop-up my sail shelter. Rains at night. Wake up in puddle with clothes wet.

Toyokoro to Atsunai - 12 nm

Foggy, but forecast suggests it will be clear, and the wind will be helpful. Crunching swell noted on morning walk of town, which is no less desolate at this hour. Fortifying breakfast of oats, the last of my bananas, and nuts. Only two "Soy Joy" bars remaining (the competition to Snickers) as on-water snacks, but there is a vending machine where I can buy a sugary latte coffee. Good for a hit if needed.

Visibility poor: a few hundred metres when good, other times much less. I reach Ocean after zigzagging to the port opening, about 2 km offshore. Wind OK for aiming straight down the coast, although a concern is that the angle is slightly in my face, rather than on my back. While sailing with wind, navigation is relatively easy as the board makes good steady "way" and position/heading can be monitored. Find a few nets, but no way I am detouring today. Unseen, I am not going to offend anyone, so I force my way over the top. In deep water, the long period swell is quite comfortable.

Wind gradually fails and goes more "on the nose". Goes glassy at halfway. 6 nm between ports. Unusually for open ocean, conditions for paddling are good. The only inconvenience being that staying offshore (for safety) means fighting a stronger current. Gentle headwind fills in to complicate the day. That "worst of all worlds" type headwind: too light to sail, cripplingly painful to paddle.

The nets have changed type, and now don't require hurdling, and their floating side lines can be used to haul me along a few-hundred free metres. I welcome their arrival.

I am holding onto one of these lines and confirm that the distance remaining is 4 nm. I also hear crunching waves to my left (normal) but also to my right, which is alarming. I realise that I have come in dangerously far inshore. Thankful for mobile coverage, I zoom in on satellite imagery and see where the rocks are. I plot a reference safe-route outside the rocks and make frequent reference to my position with respect to what should be safe. Holding a course without visual reference is difficult. GPS compass swings continually through about 70 degrees as the swells move me in then out. Tired, but running on adrenaline. Headwind gradually increasing. Twice, I try to sail and both times soon realise that it is hopeless trying to sail upwind in the swells, against the current. You simply need more wind that you would need on flatter water. You may be pointing upwind, and think you are sailing upwind, but the GPS track does not lie. Try to identify rocks - white water - that correspond with where I think I am. Tired. Eat last Soy Joy and gulp if down with a flush of water. Any time not paddling is distance surrendered. The day has become a race against time.

Rain arrives, and with it a bit more wind, and the fog partially clears. Finally, the port wall and its outer "island wall" can be discerned. It is gloomy, not far off dark, but now there is enough wind to sail. The final mile is gifted. Inside the protective walls. Once again, huge relief. Big physical effort today, again. Pleased. Not in a hurry to repeat a day like that.

Even before landing, I like the look of the town. More friendly. On land, cleaner. More thought, more care, that places should serve people too rather than just the economy. The toilet is clean. Judge a place by its toilet and you can't go far wrong.

A man is fishing when I arrive and it turns out that he is a surfer too, and a firefighter by profession. He is friendly. We take a picture together before I go off to see if the shop is still open. It isn't, but the man offers to drive me to a bigger town that has a supermarket. We have dinner in town too. A hard, memorable day, turns into a great day. Thankyou Hiroshi Iwano.

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Posted quickly, no doubt full of typos that I will fix later.