Finally he has internet...Jeff's Log ~ Playing catch up ~ Monday, July 21, 2008

Monday, July 21, 2008 34 01N 138 15 E Sea of Japan

We are now into our second day from Tannowa. For a change, there has been sufficient wind to sail, most of the time. The bad news is that the wind is from the wrong direction. The crew now consists of four men. David Woolsey, Neil Cates, Scott and myself. Of the four, I am the one with the least sailing experience, so you can see that as far as sailing goes, we should be all right. We are tacking our way across the bottom of Japan, so the actual distance made good is relatively short. It sure does feel good to be sailing instead of motoring, and Pipe Dream seems to be enjoying it as well.

The last couple of days in Tannowa were very busy, and filled with hard work. The first thing we did upon arrival was head straight to the fuel dock and top off every tank and fill all of the spare fuel cans. While in Osaka, I purchased five more new fuel cans. We now have about fifty five gallons of fuel in cans secured both in the cockpit, and stowed in the forepeak locker. After a short discussion, we collectively agreed that changing to the smaller “Yankee” jib would be a lot easier at the dock, than in a bouncy sea. All of the fuel up front had to come out to get the sail out. We removed the big jib and folded it very tightly (in sailing jargon: flaked and bricked) so that it would fit easily into the sail locker. I must say that Scott and Dave did a fine job, as the sail was in the smallest package that I have ever seen it in. We then hoisted the Yankee onto the head foil, and furled it. The no.2 was then stowed in its place in the forepeak locker.

As long as I had the locker empty, I figured that the time was right to drop the anchor and chain, pull out the anchor rode, and thoroughly clean the bilges, as a lot of mud makes its way in there in the process of all of the anchoring that we do. I am very glad that I did, because it was worse than I thought. There was also a lot of long, tough sea weed strands that surely would have blocked the bilge pump intakes had I not removed them. While in there, I also did the routine hose clamp inspection, and electrical connection service. Now all is well up forward. I removed the line going through the deck for setting the bowsprit, and taped up the hole in the deck. A large rag was forced into the anchor chain chute to slow down the entry of water as the submarine characteristics of this boat forces a lot of water through there.

Mr. Yoshida was kind enough to take us to the super market in his car. It sure did help having someone translate labels for us. After all of the groceries were loaded into his car, there was almost no room for people, but we got everyone crammed in and headed for the boat. By then it was lunch time, and very warm outside. After carrying the groceries to the boat, Scott and Dave rode with Yoshida up to the snack bar, and I repacked the freezer and put away the refrigerator stuff. Then I joined them for lunch. Takeda, the dock manager had given me a straw pointed Japanese hat. I took a sharpie with me and had friends and the office staff sign it in Japanese. It is a memento that I will keep on a special peg at home. I returned to the boat, jumped in the water, and gave the bottom one more going over to be sure it was as clean as possible for our long trip.

After a shower, it was still early enough to get to the office and send a couple of last minute e-mails before meeting Neil at the gate of the marina. I said goodbye to the wonderful staff at the Tannowa Yacht Harbor, gave all of the girls a hug, and with tears in my eyes, left the office. Takahara and Fujiko had some parting gifts of t-shirts and a jar of jam in a nice little basket. They sure are sweet gals! I met Neil when his taxi arrived. He had flown from New Zealand. We took the hike to the boat, and after he stowed his gear, we all went to dinner up on the hill. The restaurant had changed their dinner menu slightly, and we all got meat and fish, instead of meat or fish. The food was very good as usual, and the presentation was that of a first class restaurant. On the way back to the marina, I counted the steps we had to climb to get to the restaurant. There are ninety six, if I counted correctly. Going up helps build your appetite and gets you a little sweaty.

Walking past the marina to the gate, I got a little melancholy knowing that I will probably never see it again. I am left with plenty of fond memories of very hard working, happy people throughout Japan, and I am thankful for the friends that I have made and truly hope to be able to see each and every one of them some time in the future The final preparations for leaving did not take very long, and by 9:30PM, we were off the dock and beginning our journey to Alaska. We quickly settled into our watch schedule, and began making our way around the south side of Japan, looking forward to Alaska.