Outgoing TSPS Commander Bill van Alstine gives some parting remarks.
The Change of Watch for 2019 was held on March 19 at the Tableaux Lounge in Daikanyama. The new commander, David Edwards, and the new bridge officers were elected and sworn in. Afterwards, dinner was served followed by the raffle.
The new commander laid out the challenges for 2019 as achieving greater diversity and inclusiveness in the TSPS membership, meaning trying to bring in more women and young people, as well as providing more boating opportunities. Working more with Sailability Tokyo will be a big part of this effort.
Dominic Allen, Bill van Alstine, and PJ Domenjoz laser focused on the sailing task at hand.
An intrepid crew of five TSPS members rented one of the Hayama Yacht Club boats for the first sail of 2019 in gorgeous weather on St. Patrick’s Day (March 17, for the benighted). PJ Domenjoz (skipper), Bill van Alstine (TSPS Commander), Jeremy Sanderson, Bernard Languillier, and Dominic Allen. I see a wee bit of green on Dominic which is probably how they managed to survive…and thrive, according to Bernard (credit for the photos). Hope to see more TSPS members out there off Zushi in them thar blue seas.
If anyone is interested in joining the Hayama Sail Rental circle, contact Mike Snyder.
A Friend of TSPS is about to embark on a unique voyage from San Diego to Fukushima. He’s been preparing for this voyage for several years, and his sailing mate is on his second attempt to traverse the Pacific.
Sail World Cruising wrote, “OCC Associate Member and Skipper Doug Smith and his good friend Hiro Iwamoto are scheduled to sail across the Pacific non-stop from San Diego to Fukushima, Japan with a departure date scheduled for February 24th in Dream Weaver, a 41 foot Island Packet. The interesting component here is that Doug is the novice sailor and Hiro is the experienced skipper, but one who happens to be completely blind. This will be Doug’s qualifying ocean voyage for Full Membership in the Ocean Cruising Club. This is not Hiro’s first attempt.”
They are also supporting several organizations to assist people with blindness and other handicaps. https://voyageofinspiration.com/home/ organizations/ You can support these organizations and they will receive matching funds from Voyage of Inspiration up to the specified limit.
We hope to host the crew upon their successful completion of the trip at one of our gatherings.
Many TSPS members have to deal with the problem of seasickness, either for themselves or for friends and family that they want to take out sailing. This video gives some good tips for handling this problem. It is aimed at women, but, hey, guys get seasick, too, so it’s good info for all.
On Saturday, Nov. 10, at Yumenoshima Marina, TSPS held a BBQ from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. with dinghies from Sailability Tokyo for kids to get some time on the water. Thirty or more adults and seven kids were on hand for the fun. The weather was perfect and a great time was had by all. We hope to have more family friendly events in the future!
On October 13 the TSPS Intermediate Sailing Class got underway with two Yamaha 30S sailboats from Hayama Yacht Club Marina’s Nippon Sail Training. It was the first time out on a real sailboat for several of the students. The conditions were challenging with winds 16-18 gusting to over 20 at times. It was cloudy but luckily the rain held off.
Students got a chance to be on the helm and of course there was lots of tacking and some jibing. While sailing we all had a chance to watch the Nippon Cup race taking place that day. It was a challenging, yet productive, day of sailing. More is to come…
Akdenizli on its way to Velasis. (Photo courtesy of member Bernard Languillier)
We’ve had two cruises so far this autumn – the Silver Week Cruise of Sept. 15-17 and the just completed Sports Day Week-end Cruise of Oct. 6-8. The Silver Week Cruise was shortened because of a lack of wind. Two boats, motor cruiser Andiamo and sailboat Distant Dreamer, went to Velasis Marina, where we met up with the Velasis based Bifrost crew, Per and Anne. After a fun barbecue on Andiamo, the next morning Distant Dreamer decided to motor back to Yokohama due to a lack of wind. Andiamo cruised down to Misaki and then back to Yokohama.
The just completed October Cruise was a full three days of good wind for three sailboats: Distant Dreamer, Sentosa, and Akdenizli. The original plan was to sail to Velasis again, then on to Misaki. We changed the second destination to Hota in order to experience beam reach sailing, after the close hauled sailing of the first day with its numerous tacks. The first two days both had southwesterly winds. The third day, when the boats returned to Yokohama, the winds had shifted to northeasterly, which made for close reach sailing. Good experiences for some of our members who went along!
The sailing was interspersed with good eating at Matsuya Izakaya in Uraga near Velasis and at the famous Banya in Hota.
Everyone had a fine time. It was great to have three whole days of favorable weather for sailing after the disappointing weather we’ve had in somme of the previous cruises. TSPS can do many things, but it can’t control the weather, unfortunately.
We are all looking forward to another cruise in November.
Crew of racing yacht Fellows hard at work in one of two races they did, along with some TSPS members holding on for dear life and serving as rail meat. That’s PJ on the lower right. The bowman was heroic. Great crew. (Photo by Philippe Valdois)
TSPS was once again honored to be able to participate in the Sailors for the Sea・Sunset Regatta & Party, a joint event with Hayama Marina Yacht Club this year. We were invited by the fine sailors of the HMYC to come aboard their boats and witness great crew coordination and fine sailing techniques in two races in 25-28 knot winds. It was truly a great experience. A visitor from Hawaii Yacht Club said he had never gone more than 20 knots on a racing vessel before–testament to the high quality of the sailboats here.
After the boating, there was pizza and cold cuts in the Captains’ Quarters, followed by a fine feast in the boatyard. Barbecue fires were lit and lots of beef, scallops, corn, onions and assorted veggies were cooked up, along with liberal quantities of liquid sustenance. Then, to the surprise of all, there were amazing performances of Japanese dance and belly dancing. Truly a dazzling spectacle under the twilight skies.
TSPS heartily thanks Commander Hirai and Chief Fun Organizer Maruo, and all the people at HMYC who worked so hard to make this event happen. Truly a special bunch of people.
We look forward to more joint events with HMYC and hope that we can reciprocate in some way in the future.
Three boats participated in this year’s Ocean Day Cruise, July 14-16: Bifrost with Skipper Per Knudsen and son Miku , Sentosa with Skipper Arne Barden and his crew of Benjamin and Friedrich , and Distant Dreamer with Skipper Mike Snyder and his crew of Warren, Andy and Vincent.
The first day the boats met at Misaki, where they docked overnight and enjoyed the local Ocean Day festivities and the wonderful fresh sushi.
The next morning, after the fog lifted, we left together and sailed to Zushi Bay, where we anchored, swam about in the refreshing water and had a barbecue onboard.
Then, on a clear Monday morning we all returned safely to our respective home ports. It was a good three days on the water.
We are able to rent Yamaha 30S sailboats at Hayama Marina through the Nihon Sail Training (NST) organization there. They have 6 of these boats that they are willing to rent to TSPS members at the friendly rate they give to Hayama Marina Yacht Club members, ¥20,000 for the day. The capacity of the boats is around 6 people (depending on size) or 500 kilograms total weight. At least one of the renting members must have a Japan boating license and be checked out by the NST to be competent in handling the boat and in putting the boat away properly. We have three such skippers now, so if you want to go out, one or two of them can join you for the initial sail. Once you are a known entity at Hayama, you’ll be able to take the boats out yourself.
At present we have three dates already reserved: July 8 (Sun), 22 (Sun) and 28 (Sat). If you are interested in renting one of the boats, let us know: either one of these days or a day of your choosing (we’ll check the schedule and let you know if it’s possible.)
For more information and to reserve a day, get in touch with Mike Snyder.
Our joint event with Hayama Marina Yacht Club on July 21 would be a great time to check out the boats, too!
