Log

March 27th - to Shinbo

Windless AM. Around midday I give up waiting and make some miles with the paddle. It soon gets rather choppy, so I am thankful for the faint trickle of breeze that also arrives. The chop continues to build, and rebound with interest from reflective shores. The most perfect mirrors are port walls. Around me, white horses tumble in defiance of Lord Beaufort's mandate. Despite the absence of wind, clearly it is blowing hard nearby.

The last 4 days. Progress coming not from gigantic leaps but from sustained effort. If I applied this to learning Japanese, I would be near fluent by now!

Moving again after two days waiting for very strong south-westerly headwinds to ease.

I sailed out of Itiogawa port and the wind promptly died to nothing. Rather than wait for wind in the confused chop, I switched to paddle mode to claw my way beyond the Himekawa River estuary: the boundary between turquoise river water and the deep blue seawater a sweeping curve. Later, a tailwind arrived and stayed with me until a sunset landing at Ecchu-Miyazaki port. That is Niigata-ken (prefecture) cleared, and the first landing in Toyama-ken. 

Apologies for the delay.

It's been a mixed bag of weather this week: rain, some snow flurries, and then yesterday glorious sunshine! The wind also switched to the south, which helped to flatten the sea because of the shelter afforded by the Noto Peninsula, about 40nm away.

The original Windsurf Round Japan sail (Loft Switchblade 8.5, sadly no longer with us) lives on in the form of a camber inducer turned into a camera mount, and I used it to grab some video. I sailed about 15 nm and retired for the day at Itoigawa with the wind strength already beyond sensible.

We are are useful chunk (70 nm, 130 km) further south than a a week ago! The Sea of Japan was calm for a few days, which allowed for stress free passage past some industrial zones and the city port of Niigata.

Just a heads up that I am back moving after the winter pause. Yumiko has the car with the tent and she will be with me for the next 3 or 4 weeks. Then, in April, she starts a job, and I will be on my own again sleeping under the sail in hopefully warmer conditions.

It was an excellent day for the restart: very flat sea and a breeze that was helpful. The wind died away at a convenient place to check out a stream over the beach that was sending plumes of steam into the air.

Then the wind came back to allow a few more (nautical) miles bringing the day's total to 13.

The latitude of my last landing is similar to Lisbon, in Portugal. That’s about a third of the way down the coast of Honshu. I’m trying to go south, but currently going nowhere.

Since the beginning of the winter, winds have been blowing from the NW on to the Japan Sea coast. 9 out of 10 days are windy, with rough seas and a dangerous lee shore. The cloud base rarely lifts, and most days bring rain or snow.

The exploratory mission in January allowed for 3 days of sailing. Days 1 had very light and unreliable wind. Day 2 a meagre headwind. Day 3 there was more breeze and a few good miles early, but then a thunderstorm with heavy headwinds and a building sea. My hands were too wet and cold to operate the phone (in it's wet case), which meant I had to pull-in when I reached a decent size port in order to make some navigational checks... and there I stayed because to continue was most uninviting.

I just got a message asking if all was OK, as I hadn't updated in a while. Thankyou for your concern and apologies for my absence! Here is a situation update:

All is well! My permission to be in Japan expired on 20th November and (on the very last day of that permission) Yumiko drove us to Aomori airport and we caught a flight to South Korea. There was a sprinkling of snow on the ground when we left.

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.