May 30, 2008

Stats:

Temp: 15 C

Wind: north east (offshore) 5 – 7m/s, overcast, threatening to rain all day but no delivery

Trip: 3h48m

Distance: 35.5km

Max speed: 22.5km/h

Average speed: 9.8km/h

Seaweed: none

Nets: none to speak of but there did seem to be lots of pots about.

Picked up the Hobie Wave at 9am. Numano-san went through the rigging with me – as with any new boat it seemed daunting to begin with but its pretty straight-forward compared to the Tornado. I thought it came with a tiller extension but it didn’t – this could be a problem in light winds where I’d expect to move my weight forward ie away from the fixed tiller.

Perfect conditions today for breaking in a new boat; good strong offshore wind with little or no waves, overcast and very few windsurfers to run over (maybe not quite perfect). Had a hull out of the water within 30 mins and spent most of the day playing with the gusts and practicing tack and jibes. Jibes were effortless – cats have so much momentum, when running downwind the sail comes across without any loss of speed. Tacks were fine for the most part but there was on point where I ended up on irons. It would appear that the boat needs speed going into the tack but as it turns I need to increase the push on the tiller.

Temps in the 20s again but cloudy, the forecast on the club board was was 4m/s onshore increasing to 6 a later with rain due late in the afternoon.

Lars joined me today and Stuart was with us for a quick sail before returning to Kobe. We headed off to Enoshima tacking out of the bay before one final long tac all the way to Enoshima. Had lunch at the Shonan before the long tack back to Zushi.

Conditions were pretty much perfect all day and when the winds picked up back at Zushi we had 40 mins of blasting up over and back across the bay.

Looks like today was the last day with the sea martin - the Hobie Wave arrives on Thursday!

May 18, 2008

Simon decided at the last moment to come today and brought his friend Thomas Winstanley along for a 'first sail'. Simon joined Stuart on his boat and Thomas crewed on mine. 5m/s winds were forecast for the day, but they never really got above 3m/s and for most of the morning we had very little wind. Our crew began to get bored when the wind dropped off and we decided to maroon them on Nejima, a series of large rocks just off Hayama, while Stuart and I sailed about waiting for the winds to pick up. An hour later the wind returned and I ‘rescued’ the boys and headed to Hayama for lunch. We ate near the shrine overlooking the sea.

Back in the boat after lunch we sailed around Nejima – Thomas was ‘fearlessly’ hiking out, when we hit a wave and he went for an unplanned swim. He had the good sense to keep hold of the jib sheet and was pulled along by the boat laughing all the way. Once he pulled himself on board he immediately settled back into his hiking position and 5 mins later …………….. went over again! Once back onboard we headed for Zushi and let the crew take control of the boats. They steered, trimmed the sails and practiced tacking for an hour before heading for shore at about 15:45.

May 17, 2008

Stuart took the overnight bus from Kobe to Zushi and arrived looking pretty tired. After a fairly sedate start to the day we finally headed off just before 11:00. 5m/s winds were forecast from the north, moving around to 3m/s from the south – good day to run a jib. We had a straight forward run all the way to Enoshima with minor course changes to avoid nets. Little or no seaweed about so, no real obstacles to navigate. We went to the far side of Enoshima where we lost the wind in the shadow of the island. Finally, we landed on the calm beach in front of the aquarium. Very warm day with temps in the 20s – we bought some lunch at a convenience store and ate on the steps above the beach watching lots of surfers in the small waves farther down the beach..

The winds dropped as expected mid-afternoon. Stuart was clearly sleepy and fell behind. In hindsight, knowing he was the worse for wear after the bus ride, I should have stayed close rather than sailing ahead. Arrived back in Zushi at about 15:30, de-rigged and washed down the boats and later washed down a couple of cans of shu-hai (great Japanese hangover free Japanese drink) on the beach.

May 4, 2008

Another first for 2008 - sailed over and back to Zushi today on my own. Moderate winds from the south made for a nice 3 hour return trip. Pulled the boat up on the beach and went for a brief walk amongst the tourists and food stalls.

Went through the usual game of dodge the fishing nets but the trip was a relaxing and uneventful sail. When I got back I joined a bunch of club members for an impromptu BBQ on the beach.

May 3, 2008

Lars Peterson joined me on the Sea Martin today. Lars used to sail 470s in Denmark and knows his way around dinghies.

Unfortunately I forgot to bring the GPS unit along and don’t have a record of the route. The light rain and 6-8m/s offshore winds were perfect for Lars’ first Zushi sailing experience. We headed towards Nejima and had just gone through the channel when it occurred to me that the boat was unusually sluggish: 10 seconds later I realized I hadn’t inserted the drain plug back at the club (first time in 3 years)! After rounding Nejima and two tacks later we hit Hayama beach with the stern submerged – not sure how much longer we’d have stayed afloat but we made it. It took about 20 mins to empty the hull and Lars found a piece of Styrofoam to insert into the drain hole. We hit the water intending to beat a retreat home only to capsize a hundred meters offshore. The temporary fix worked and the wind picked up providing us with plenty of action on the way back to Zushi.

Given that its Golden Week here I had expected more boats to be out but the rain must have put people off - don't really know why as conditions were really great.

After a lunch on the Marinebox balcony we headed back out for another 50 min or so in the 8m/s winds.

April 29 - 30, 2008 - Tornado

Having previously spent over two hours setting up the Tornado, today’s second try took about an hour but we were assisted by a number of ESS members. Once we got the boat on the water the offshore wind took us to the mouth of the bay without any tacking. The light wind conditions were perfect for familiarizing ourselves with the Tornado. Nihei-san was out in his Hobie 16, keeping an eye on us. After a few experimental tacks and jibes we headed to Enoshima where we left the boat on the beach and headed off for lunch. The island was crammed with tourists – some of whom were resting on the hulls of the Tornado when we got back. The Tornado (white sail) on Zushi Beach

After lunch the winds picked up and we rocketed across to Nejima. Enroute, a seam on the trampoline came apart where it had been repaired in the past – the stitching thread had rotted. Later Nihei-san lent us a needle and some tough thread. On the approach to Zushi beach we hit a windsurfer while making a terribly timed adjustment to the rudder assembly. No harm was done to either the windsurfer or his sailboard however, we did spend some time afterwards recovering the windsurfer’s bandanna. Dragging the boat above the waterline confirmed the boat is a lot more difficult to move about out of the water – the two of us could barely move afterwards.

Tornado Practice - Zushi to Enoshima to Nejima and back to Zushi

First impressions of the Tornado was that its very quick, has a complicated jib sheet arrangement, is a little slow to tack, is really stable while jibing and is a lot of boat.

That evening we had dinner at a Thai restaurant in town, set up the tents on the beach and went to bed at about 10. Next morning John woke at about 6 and repaired the Trampoline. We packed the tents away had breakfast and made ready to leave Zushi.

At 10am we headed off down the Miura peninsula into a fresh headwind and it looked like being a long day of tacking. The tacks took us about as far offshore as I’ve been, and well clear of most of the nets and rocks. By mid day the winds weakened but the boat kept moving along. During a particularly relaxing moment John decided to move weight forward and managed to fall in the water, sliding under the trampoline – I headed up into the wind and he managed to climb back onboard after his refreshing swim. We rounded the end of Miura peninsula keeping well clear of a series of nets at about 2pm and entered Tokyo bay with the winds strengthening. The wakes from shipping coming out of the bay made things a little interesting for a while but nothing really challenging.

Zushi to Mirua Multihull Yacht Club

There were a number of nets to avoid on the way into Mirua Multhull Yacht Club and the winds really kicked in while we approaching the beach – we almost got a hull out of the water! After a nice soft landing we again had to man-handle the boat off the beach but only after struggling with the main sail for 15 mins – there’s a knack to getting the headset of the sail out of the mast. We borrowed a dolly from the club and wheeled the boat up on the beach.


This weekends data from the GPS
Trip: 89.7km
Moving time: 8h 16m
Max speed: 27.8km/h
Average Speed: 10.8KM