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

April 27, 2008 - Fun on a Hobie Wave

Change of plan today; Mr. Neilson kindly invited us for a sail in his Hobie Wave. Haven’t been on a catamaran in some time and it was nice to get back to the sense of space the boats give. We had very light offshore winds from the northeast for the first couple of hours but once the winds swung round coming from the south, the boat hummed along really nicely at 9km/h in conditions the Sea Martin would have moved at 5-6km./h

Simon was with me and fell asleep on the trampoline. However as the winds increased so did the chop and the water splashed through the trampoline ruining sleeping conditions.. Simon was well able to take the helm tacking and jibing with ease. The boat has back rests and at one point it was like sailing around on a sofa. My one criticism off catamarans in the past was sitting on the trampoline – the back rests really helped.

Hitting the beach without centerboards was great and the tillers popped up nicely in two stages, so steerage was never a problem. The way it handled the landing and the robust construction makes the Wave a great candidate for beach cruising. Worth noting that although there is heaps of space onboard, and the boat can accommodate 4 adults, lots of water splashes through the trampoline requiring gear to be put in waterproof bags.

By the time we arrived at the club the boat had already been rigged, but de-rigging took 40 mins and would have been quicker if Neilson-san hadn’t been distracted by me. Marinebox100 have nice storage arrangements and systems for raising both the mast and boat.

All in all, a great day out!

April 12 & 13, 2008 - Beach Cruise to Mitohama

April 12, 2008 - Saturday


Arrived at Zushi at 7:30, Stuart’s boat and tent were on the beach. Changed into my sailing gear and waited for the club to open. Winds were light from the east and conditions looked good for our first beach cruise of 2008.

Set off at about 09:30 in light but gusty winds, flat seas and overcast skies. As usual there were a number of nets to navigate around but seaweed presented a particularly difficult hazard requiring us to divert from our preferred course on at least three occasions .

Arrived at Miyahama at 12:30. Stuart landed first and before I set down, was asked to move to the other end of the beach by an angry fisherman . We pulled the boats up the steep beach and set about exploring.

We checked out the dinghy sailing club on the north side of the beach - nice club, really friendly people. When we mentioned we had sailed done down from Zushi they reacted like we'd arrived from another continent. Later we checked out some potential campsite locations at the west end of the beach but decided we had selected the right end of the beach (near the angry fisherman) to begin with, so we picked up our gear, leaving the boats behind and trekked back to towards the south end. We popped into the Mitohama Hobiecat Fleet; great day for sailing but no one was out or about. I wasn’t impressed.

We also checked out the local small but beautiful Shrine - its at the end of an avenue of tree, many of which appear to be tropical.

The beach at the other end turned out to be the perfect – sheltered, private, flat etc. We selected spots to set the tents and then realized we needed beer. Some bikers camping nearby took pity on us and gave us a couple of cans before we set off in search of a convience - the 50 round trip significantly impacted Mitohama's ratings.

It being a little early in the year for a beach trip, we had decided to cook on the beach rather then forage for food. I brought some pasta and some sauce but didn’t bring salt or oil because it I thought it was ‘un-camperlike’. Needless to say the pasta was stogy but served a purpose. Later the bikers asked us to join their camp fire. There six guys had more camping gear than I’d ever seen – tables, chairs, cooking stuff and a great looking inverted pyramid shaped barbeque. They cooked for us and we wiled away the evening around a campfire.

April 13, 2008 - Sunday
It rained overnight and the next morning we woke to howling winds and grey skies. After another feed of stogy pasta and sardines followed by hot coffee. I received a call from the sailing club warning us that the wind was going to pick up and strongly recommending that we get back ASAP. Following a lengthy debate over whether to run the jib or not, Stuart suggested that it would be a bad idea – great decision! My thoughts were that I should run it and get home quicker, Stuart could already see that catching wind wasn’t going to be a problem – the challenge was going to be handling the overpowering gusts, or as he called them, bullets.

We set off and immediately ran into problems with seaweed – well I ran into problems, Stuart kept a safe distance away. Once we’d exited the bay we were sailing dead against the wind and started a 5 hour tacking session. I messed up at least half my tacks but managed to recover every time. As time went on the winds held at about 10 – 12 m/s and I got used to the conditions but not overconfident. There were moments when the waves seemed to come at us from 3 different directions but as long as we had steerage and were moving forward we were able to stay upright.



Unfortunately I couldn't take any photos or even glance at the GPS (or change its batteries!) so, the visual record is a little light for the Sunday leg of the trip.

By the time we returned to Zushi the Marinebox sailors had given up for the day. I was shattered but it felt great to look up at my dry sail.

April 5, 2008

Temp: 17 deg C

Wind: 3 – 6m/s from the northeast and late from the south

Sea Conditions: a little choppy outside with some waves mid afternoon.

Visibility: Clear to Enoshima.

Comments: Had Simon along today, sailed over to Hayama beach with Simon at the tiller for most of the day. The wind picked up eary in the afternoon and we sailed about in the bay.

Today's Route