Category Archives: News

Yarramundi In Faraulep Update

David Devlin aboard Yarramundi on Faraulep Island sent an update via satphone today. We, like everyone else concerned, are relieved that things are well in hand, and his spirits are up. Being stranded, even temporarily, thousands of miles out must be stressful, but as mentioned in our original post, it could be worse. The images on the homepage show the extent of the damage and the temporary repairs made.

Here is David’s email to his friends/supporter crew here in Japan:

Thanks for your many many many text messages and getting everything out there. Appreciate it heaps.

We are not in an emergency situation and are not stranded. Just delayed for a while. We have had two marine surveyors look at the photos on the blog and give us clear instructions on what to do.

We have one package containing basics to stop the leak, stop the insects and top up the beer supply. It arrives on supply ship H1 Wednesday and Captain Dominic is looking after it for us.

The parts to make us seaworthy were sent from a Guam boat shop to Yap and arrived this morning. Missing the supply ship.
They are at the Pacific Missionary Aviation office in Yap and pilot Amos Colins is looking after them for us (I believe). They will air drop them to us for $4600 within 3 or 4 hours of requesting. Not going to do that. But if there is a medivac situation or similar we can piggy back off that. For example Woleai is just 80miles from here and has an airstrip. There are 2 funerals there this weekend including that of the Chief’s wife so there is a chance that a big wig from Yap might fly out. Then we would only have to pay $200 for them to fly by here and do the drop. I am also talking to Arthor and Sam of the Yap fishing association. They are prepared to come here but they themselves are waiting on parts from Japan for their own boat. Just a side note – the supply ship is carrying the bodies so they could not delay. If they were not we could have asked them to wait and paid the captain a fee. But the Cheif is his father in-law. Everyone is related here. And as we are helping with things on the island – Nicky starts teaching English tomorrow – we will no doubt get a lot of help in return.

The supply ship H1 next leaves Yap again on June 14 and should get here June 18. So worst comes to worse we sit here for a month and I am forced into some R and R and Yarramundi would get a real work over with all those little jobs completed which I never got to. Still have not looked at a book since we left Shimoda as have been so busy.

But, if there is a yacht passing by sooner and can carry out package from the PMA (Amos Colin’s) office that would help us get underway sooner.

Finally – I am very worried that our satphone and laptop will get damaged from saltwater or just the hot salty air. So now that we have  the technical issues solved, the parts order and ready for shipment I will only take it out of its w/p case twice a day.

Once again – appreciate the help that you and everyone else is providing. Will post a blog tomorrow thanking Warren, Jason, Jiro, Mark and Simon too.

Rgds
David

You can keep up on what’s happening aboard Yarramundi at David’s blog.

TSPS Cruiser’s On-Going Adventure On Faraulep

Yarramundi powering out of Shimoda port

We wrote briefly back on March 26th of David Devlin’s departure for Australia aboard his sailing vessel Yarramundi. His journey is to take almost a year and cover some 6,000 nautical miles. Over the past two months, David has sailed to Hachijojima, Ogasawara, Saipan, Guam and others, and is now about a 1,600 nautical miles south of Tokyo at Faraulep. It is there, however, at Faraulep that Yarramundi hit a coral outcrop (a bommie) and cracked her hull at the hull-skeg joint. (A skeg is usually an extension of the hull placed in front of the rudder to both protect and provide a mount for the rudder.)

David and crew have worked tirelessly getting the inflow of water under control. They dove on the hull and eventually reduced the leak by using underwater epoxy putty and sealant. They managed to reduce the gushing-in to a trickle and are now dealing with a liter of water every four hours, so the crack is well under control and posses no immediate risk to Yarramundi. Another problem, however, is this fix is purely temporary and will not withstand the rigors of open ocean sailing, especially at this time of year when seas are typically 4-6 feet high. David must effect repairs on the island strong enough to resist the forces of the sea and then sail the boat at reduced speeds for a week or so to a hual-out facility over 1,000 kilometers away. To do this, he has ordered a repair kit from Guam, but here Yarramundi and crew have hit yet another barrier. It seems the inter-island boat will not arrive until June 14th and they just missed getting the kit on a missionary flight to a nearby island. An airdrop is out of the question because of the high costs.

So David has enlisted the help of his friends in identifying alternative means of getting the repair kit to him on Faraulep. TSPS has posted a request for help to the most popular cruising website on the planet and received wonderful responses from sailors around the globe. They’ve offered temporary fixes learned from suffering similar problems such as melting polystyrene in gasoline to get polyester resin, and through-bolting the skeg to both sides of the hull using flat metal bars. We’re passing on this information to George Leaning who is in contact with David.

Those who know David are completely confident he will successfully pull himself out of the difficulties he is in. He is very resourceful and patient, and the crew has the skills necessary to make the repairs at Faraulep. And to be honest, if you’re going to have these sorts of problems, a paradise island in the Pacific is as good a place as any to have them.

We wish David the best of luck and look forward to news of Yarramundi raising Guam or some other such port in the near future.

You can keep up on what’s happening aboard Yarramundi at David’s blog.

Weekend Music: Guitarist Wes Montgomery

I have no idea if this is true, but perhaps the closest the great jazz guitarist Wes Montgomery ever got to sailing was through the title of one of his classics, “West Coast Blues” or via an album with Jimmy Smith entitled “Rockin’ The Boat.” His music, however, is a different matter. It’s aboard every jazz-loving skipper’s boat I know, and if it isn’t, well, it eventually will be.

This video is of unknown origin. Recorded in 1967, it’s visually stunning in it’s black and white clarity. The first quartet clearly hasn’t played together before, so there are brief stretches in the video where the band confers on what to play and how to play it. Things really start cookin’ with a different ensemble at 29:18, however.

The Art Of Wes Montgomery 

Enjoy!

Report: 2012 Golden Week Cruise

This past Golden Week saw a TSPS fleet embark on another week-long cruise, this time to the west coast of the Izu peninsula. Boats that made the trip were Distant Dreamer, Bifrost, Fuji VII, and Sophie, and stops included the beautiful ports of Shimoda, Mera, Arari, and Misaki. Unfortunately, heavy rain, very strong winds, and high seas kept the fleet in port much more than expected.

The cruise began with Bifrost leaving her home port early on Saturday, April 29 and encountering strong winds and a two knot counter-current on her way to Shimoda. Distant Dreamer left Yokohama the same day before noon for an overnight sail direct to Mera via a rounding of Oshima and Mikomoto Island near Shimoda. She arrived in Mera 21 hours later, having encountered light winds most of the way. Fujii VII departed Seabornia Marina on Sunday, and made directly for Arari, arriving a little past noon on Monday. Distant Dreamer was joined in Mera by Bifrost who sailed up from Shimoda. Together the two boats sailed to Arari Monday morning arriving a few hours after Fuji VII. Sophie joined Distant Dreamer, Bifrost and Fuji VII in Arari arriving in darkness at approximately 19:30h after a fast six-hour sail from Shimoda, her home port. The fleet was complete and rafted up alongside Minoru Saito’s Nicole BMW Shoten Dohji III, in port for a complete refit after his epic round-the-world sail. That night plans were laid for the remaining 5 days of the cruise.

Because of the equipment aboard the four boats, the experience of the eleven crew members, the nine smartphones, and the three iPads, the boats were all too aware of the weather. The forecast was for rain, and lots of it for long stretches of time. The cruising plan slowly evolved from an adventurous one that included visiting three ports to the north of Arari to a much more conservative stay-in-port-and-wait-out-the-weather plan. And so the fleet remained in Arari for three long and wet days and nights, before Distant Dreamer, Bifrost, and Sophie busted out when the rain let up on Thursday morning.

The next port of call was Matsuzaki, a small town with dock/wall along a river bank a few miles south of Arari. However, upon arriving first in port, Bifrost discovered the river was swollen with the heavy rains in the mountains of Izu, enough that with high tide, the entire docking area would flood. Additionally, a 2 to 3 knot current in the river made docking difficult and dangerous. Per Knudsen aboard Bifrost waved off Distant Dreamer and Sophie as they approached the port and the decision was made over the phone to return to Mera, another two hours down the coast.

All three boats arrived in Mera easily enough under pleasant winds and gray skies. The skies later cleared and the remainder of the day was spent lazing aboard the boats, searching for basic food stuffs, and watching a very strong blue-sky gale build gradually. The forecast was now calling for Force 10 winds, 4 to 5 meter waves, and beautiful blue skies over the next 24-36 hours. Experience has taught us to effectively double the forecast figures if you want to approximate reality, and so the decision was made to remain in Mera for a second night. In the afternoon of the second day, in the middle of the gale, a 34-foot sailboat came lurching into port flying only a storm jib. They had departed Shimoda early in the morning bound for Aichi, but the conditions forced the crew to quickly revise their plans and make way for Omaezaki. The wind and waves, however, were coming exactly from where they were bound. With no hope of making Omaezaki before sunset, they beat a hasty retreat to Mera for refuge from the storm. The TSPS crews were there to lend a hand when the boat docked and the wide-eyed, exhausted, and bewildered look on the faces of the crew said all that needed to be said about their day on the water.

The crews of Distant Dreamer, Bifrost, and Sophie felt a little peckish near sunset and so the region’s only taxi was enlisted to ferry the seven to a restaurant in the hills above Mera. Discussion on the sailing plans continued and Distant Dreamer skipper Mike Snyder decided a 05:00h departure Saturday morning from Mera would make it possible to reach Misaki before sunset. The seas remained very high as Distant Dreamer left port Saturday morning, but fortunately the winds had dropped to Force 5-6 and the passage south to Mikomoto Island was rough but uneventful. Upon rounding the island, the seas and wind moved astern, and the boat settled into a smooth groove all the way to Misaki. Meanwhile, Fujii VII left Arari at about the same time and was five or so miles off Distant Dreamer’s stern for much of the early morning. Upon reaching the Shimoda area, Fuji VII headed due east perhaps to pick up a favorable current, rounding Oshima on its return to Seabornia. Bifrost left Mera mid-morning Saturday and had an easy sail down to Shimoda, where she stayed for the night. Sophie spent the day sailing and returned to Shimoda on Sunday.

Bifrost departed Shimoda for her home port of Velasis early Sunday morning in fine weather, but a few hours after turning the south east corner of Izu and heading north east, she encountered very strong winds and high seas. Gusts peaked at over 45 knots and the boat hit speeds in excess of ten knots as she surfed down the waves. Not trusting the autopilot, Per and crew Claus hand steered the boat all the way to Velasis Sunday afternoon.

Distant Dreamer departed Misaki on Sunday at around 09:00h and was soon caught up in the same gale Bifrost was experiencing further out. As she entered Tokyo Bay winds built to speeds in excess of 35 knots and the first hour or two was spent dodging traffic. Once inside the bay the seas flattened but the winds remained. Low tides meant arrival in Koyasu, her homeport, needed to be after 14:00h, so Distant Dreamer stopped at Bayside Marina for a few hours before completing the cruise under power on Sunday at around 15:00h.

So, all boats got back to their home port safely. There were no injuries or major equipment failures suffered on the cruise. In this very important way, the cruise was a success.

So that’s it. A brief summary of the goings-on of the four-boat fleet on an eight-day Golden Week cruise to Nishi Izu. One key lesson learned on this cruise, one that confirms opinions of last year’s Golden Week cruise: do not go cruising during Golden Week. The weather sucks.

The crew of Distant Dreamer has posted their images and video here in a video slideshow of the cruise. We will be adding other photos as they become available.

TSPS Among Fastest-Growing USPS Squadrons


Two thousand and eleven was a good year for the Tokyo Sail and Power Squadron. We organized great events, held very successful cruises, made a donation to Toyo High School as part of our Tohoku Relief efforts, and we expanded our membership considerably.

Well, our parent organization, the United States Power Squadrons, has recognized our achievement in growing our squadron membership by presenting us with a Growth Award certificate (see below), citing TSPS as a top-10 squadron in terms of percentage increase in membership.

In 2011, we increased our membership by 17% which put TSPS in 6th place out of the 450 squadrons in the USPS. This is quite an achievement. Under Past-Commander Stuart Milne’s leadership in 2011, TSPS membership broke through 100 and finished the year at 104 members. We are continuing to grow and at the end of April, our membership stood at 111.

We would like to encourage members to introduce their friends to TSPS by inviting them to our events, and we extend an invitation to non-members to attend our monthly Keelhauls and social events to get a taste of the enjoyment membership in TSPS brings. Check out the calendar on the homepage for upcoming events.

Let’s make 2012 as successful a year as 2011. See you at a TSPS event soon!

Fair winds,

Warren Fraser
Commander, TSPS

TSPS Sail Class Goes Dinghy Sailing

TSPS member Jose Puppim de Oliveira invited current TSPS Sail Class members to the Marine Box 100 Open House Day in Zushi on May 13 from 10:00 to 15:00. Two members of the sail class, Janice Rimmell and Graham Bell, took up the offer along with instructor Randy Erskine. We arrived in Zushi and met up on the beach and were duly joined there by Jose. A short time later we were joined by David Rasmussen and friends.

It was an open-house day, so the club was looking for members. We took ‘The Grand Tour’ and a got a full explanation about membership, fees, etc. We then sailed in a Sea Lark at midday, but could only use the boat for one hour as there were quite a few people wanting to sail. This was Janice’s first time in a boat and I think she grinned from ear to ear all day. Prior to going sailing we had lunch, smoked chicken burgers, on the roof of the club. Also available were curry and other assorted snacks along with hot and cold drinks.

After sailing the Sea Lark, Jose offered us the use of his Laser, an offer we readily accepted. Randy took Janice out for her first experience in a boat nearly big enough for two and with a very low boom. We were joined by Jose’s nine-year-old son Fernando for his first sailing experience. This was a lesson in how to get wet without trying. We returned to the beach where Graham and Jose then went out for a sail. The day finished up with washing all the equipment down and stowing the boat, sails and mast away. After sailing had finished the cold beer machine was a welcoming sight. The weather was perfect for an introduction to sailing, sunny with blue skies and a nice breeze. Marine Box 100 is very good, with changing rooms, good showers and toilet facilities. The club was very happy to lend us two buoyancy aids. Normally there is no food available, but there are plenty of restaurants nearby.

A big thank you to Jose for the invitation.

Randy Erskine

The Scale Of The Universe

If you’re ever aboard a boat out on a large body of water, and you’re standing at the rail or sitting in the cockpit gazing contentedly at a distant horizon or the twinkling stars above and are overrun by an unexpected and surprisingly uncomfortable sense of smallness and insignificance, keep in mind what you see when you move the slider at the bottom of this visualization to the left. It’ll remind you that you are in fact big, enormously big and therefore significant. If, on the other hand, you would like to validate those emotions and appreciate just how tiny, so very very tiny you really truly are, remember what you see when you move the slider to the right.

Message In A Bottle

[dropcap]A[/dropcap] year has passed since I broke my nose
I should have known that right from the chart
Only rope can keep me together…

Given the short-term dearth of boating and/or social activity in the squadron, we submit for your weekend viewing pleasure “The Synchronicity Concert.” The Police, live in Atlanta, Georgia. Recorded November 2 & 3, 1983. Runtime: 01h 15m 07s. Good music to clean up to if you’re house-bound. Enjoy.

At Anchor: Looking for Cherry Blossoms

On April 7, four boats- Akdenizli, Andiamo, Bifrost, and Diva- met up off the Chiba coast for what had been promised to be a great two hours of cherry blossom viewing from the sea. Bifrost was the first to arrive and drop the anchor, followed by Andiamo, and Akdenizli. Diva, having powered south about ten miles to get some fishing in, arrived a little later and was the third boat in the raft. Akdenizli, being the smaller boat tied up last. After finishing tying the boats together in somewhat windy and wavy conditions, some of the twenty-one crew began to notice there was not a single cherry tree in sight. “Yes, I realize that,” said a skipper, “We’ve been misinformed.” A third person commented they’d seen cherry blossoms further down the coast. And so the question became where the correct spot to anchor was. We all came to the conclusion that it was elsewhere. The absence of blossoms was soon forgotten as crew brought out the food and beverages and the conversations turned to boats and boating, fish and fishing, sandwiches and vegetable sticks. It was a beautiful Saturday afternoon, with brief gusts and a small rolling swell coming through. At just past two the wind kicked up and the raft quickly broke into its four component parts that were each quickly flying off in all directions, two boats under power and two under sail all bound for their homeport.

Warren Fraser

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