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.

We are overdue a catch-up. Here goes...

As with my previous windsurf journeys, the Japan Journey website features a Contact Network where people can offer to support me when I reach them. Around Britain and Europe, there were many subscribers to the Contact Networks and I relied heavily on their support. The Japan Journey Contact Network - by way of contrast - has only attracted a few generous-hearted subscribers. The previous of these in a geographical sense was Rob, who is in Hokkaido!

The Kyushu mainland was shrouded in fog when I emerged from my tent this morning, but the islands and my peninsula - pushing out into the Bungo Strait - were enjoying a sunrise with broken cloud and good visibility. This enabled an early getaway and I was sailing by 6 AM. The mountains of Kyushu had now faded from the horizon but would soon reappear.

Yesterday, proper SUP paddling for 12 nm on a calm sea. The last miles were behind an island where I could relax. I took some video of the fish because it was drier underwater. The other pic is from a few days ago.

Today started foggy. It's an OK day now but remains windless. I could paddle, but prefer to wait because of the excellent facilities here: a konbini, with a covered outside area, wifi and charging points. It makes no sense to paddle a few miles and lose these conveniences, especially when there is supposed to be some wind tomorrow.

Sunday

Very light winds lately, and now rain too, which makes a day off a sensible option. That allows for recovery from air-rowing and paddling. Seeing the poor weather on the way I pushed hard yesterday, using a land breeze in the morning and then the faintest trickle of sea breezes through the afternoon. At best there was maybe 4 knots of wind. Thankfully, the sea was very calm. I passed 3 or 4 beaches and headlands that were well stocked with local surfers and paddleboarders.