By Timothy Langley
May 2025, Katsuyama Harbor
Ahoy, fellow sailors!
After months of sweat, setbacks, and salty language, I am thrilled to report that Gryms is ready: sea trials are complete. She sails like a dream—and believe it or not, she’s the largest vessel in the TSPS fleet, a true ocean-class Swan reborn in Tokyo Bay.
Some of you have followed her rebirth from the very start. You’ll remember how she first came to me: tired, neglected, and full of potential. She’d been through a leaky-valve hell and was languishing at Yumenoshima Marina with a dead engine, flooded tanks, and a bilge reeking of diesel and despair. The folks there estimated it would take upwards of ¥6 million yen just to make her marginally seaworthy.
So yes, she came into my life more or less for free.
But as anyone in this group knows, nothing afloat is truly “free.” What Gryms demanded in cost, she more than made up for in character—and in hours, weeks, and months of restoration work. Together with co-conspirators Evan Burkosky, Tony Hardie, and Freddie Snoxall, we spent Golden Week shaking down every system. Gryms is no longer just afloat—she’s fully deployed.
Golden Week at Sea: A Trial by Wind
Without your own yacht—or without a generous friend who has one—it’s not easy to get serious sea time in Tokyo. But Gryms is no ordinary boat. At 44 feet, she’s big, robust, and built to cross oceans. She sleeps eight. The galley has a top-loading fridge that freezes things. The head has hot water. There’s even a proper shower (which, after Niijima, we really appreciated).
Let’s be clear: this is no marina princess. Gryms is a 1973 Swan, rugged and elegant in equal measure. Her chrome winches gleam, her wood is rich with patina, and when she heels over under full sail—especially flying that magnificent gennaker—she sings.
But this trip wasn’t just to test the boat. It was to test the captain.
Breaking In the Boat… and the Man
I’ve been a solo sailor before. My old 26’ Yamaha carried me all around the Izu islands. But Gryms? Gryms is a different beast. The halyards, reefs, vang—all the important lines—are five meters forward of the helm. This is a team sport, folks, difficult except for the most accomplished to sail solo.
So we flipped the script: Tony helmed, Evan commanded, Freddie napped, and I—Captain Langley—sprang to action, or at least tried to. We set off from Katsuyama for Oshima, then Niijima, with no fixed plan—just wind, waves, and weather to guide us. Six glorious days.
And guide us they did. Gryms faced 30-knot winds with 40 knot gusts, waves crashing over the bow, and a forward hatch that… well… proved not quite weather-tight. Everything in the v-berth got soaked. We discovered some legacy rigging issues that need correction. On the Niijima leg, a storm chased us hard enough to turn us back to Habu, surfing down following seas in what felt like a scene from “Master and Commander”, Captain Evan at the helm (of course! … like Captain Dave in the movie “Forest Gump”).
From Habu the following day, we sprinted to Shimoda, just threading the needle before a second storm rolled in. From there, it was a long haul across Sagami Bay back to the tip of the Yokohama Peninsula, Misaki.
Galley, Guts, and Glory
Here’s the part that surprised even me: we ate like kings.
Almost every meal was aboard—warm, hearty, fast, and easy. The fridge held. The stove worked. The water heater chugged valiantly. The galley needs some ladylike refinement, yes, but nothing failed us when it counted.
And after everyone sprinted home to avoid the traffic, I spent some quality time drying the gennaker, mopping the bilge, and reorganizing the gear. Gryms got knocked around, sure—but she bounced back, and now she’s tighter than ever.
Back at Katsuyama, we’re in full post-voyage cleanup. She’s gleaming again. Shipshape. And oh, what a ship.
Photos
An Invitation to Sail
I look forward to introducing TSPS members to this magnificent vessel. Gryms isn’t just a boat—she’s an adventure. A survivor. A living example of what patience, know-how, and maybe a bit of madness can revive.
So if you’re ready to fly a gennaker, chase the wind, or just share a mug of joe in the cockpit under starlight—let’s get you aboard.
Fair winds,
– Captain Timothy
Katsuyama, May 2025
I don’t know if anyone in TSPS will take me up on this, but this weekend: I will host a bespoke weekend sailing experience aboard Gryms. Hota Port will be our departure point: it is halfway between Aqualine and Tateyama, the tip of the peninsula. We will of course sail to Misaki and dodge the ships navigating in & out of the bay. There will be on-board dining, on-board overnight at Miura on the tip of the Yokohama peninsula. You will experience not just the comfort and thrill of a true ocean-class vessel, but you will sail her, too, and pick-up some pointers and on-the-water experience; freshen up at the onsen.
• Duration: 2 Days / 1 Night
• Route: Hota → Misaki Port → Hota
• Sailing Time: Saturday morning depart … ~3 hours each way sail… Sunday late afternoon return.
• Highlight: swashbuckling Bay cruising, ship-dodging, Misaki waterfront, Mescal Love imbibing, onboard dinner, return with weather-dependent detours, hands-on sailing experience/ cutter-rig sail training.
• Donation appreciated ¥100,000 per guest (min. 4, max. 6).
Please DM me at timothy.langleytokyo@gmail.com if interested.
TSPS getting the first stab at this, then I’ll open to the public on Tuesday.
What an adventurous Captain Langley you have become (even more than the already curious and passionate Tim that I met close to a decade ago). So proud of you! Loved reading the restoration and sea-trial story. So inspiring! Thanks for sharing it.
Update of 5/21: as rain is forecast for this weekend, the Misaki-there-and-back-again journey will be postponed for next weekend, weather permitting.
UPDATE June 6 (Friday): tomorrow for overnight trip to Misaki and back. No riders. Next week, two have expressed interest, the following week another two. Before we depart, we need a minimum of 4 to make it worthwhile. Please contact if there is interest.
Update June 12: Gryms can accommodate 2 more to go overnight to Misaki and back this weekend… could even handle 3. Depart Hota Saturday before noon, return Hota ~3:00 Sunday.
Update June 17: the weather this upcoming weekend is forecast to be magnificent (where’d tsuyu go?). An overnight to Misaki departing Saturday before noon is scheduled; return to Hota Sunday ~4:00 o’clock for a hot bath, then return to Tokyo. For those interested in an excursion unlike any other (and to learn to sail a cutter sailboat!), quickly contact Captain Timothy.
Update June 19: wonderful sailing weather forecast for Saturday but not Sunday. Donate to the kitty, we can go out Saturday, return and even dine on deck. I will drive-out on Friday before dark, return Sunday before dark.
Four of us went out at noon on Saturday, sailed across the bay, circling the point and gliding into the massive Sagami Bay, always under the watchful eye of Mt. Fuji. We entered Misaki Port from that side, tied-up and filled-up the water tanks (took an hour). Some kid on the dock pointing and asking his dad in astonishment, “did they come from America?”. Sailed back to the Chiba side and tied-up in Hota: hot baths there and sashimi dinner with several draft beers. Slept on das boot, woke-up with the sun, coffee, sailed out again into 27 knt winds and white-caps. Nooo~ problemo! 3 hours, then into home port at ~2:00 o’clock. A very nice run.
This weekend looks good, as the bad weather looks to pass on Thursday/Friday, insuring clear skys and a nice steady southerly breeze. Another two days out-and-back again.
Update Friday June 27: heading out to Gryms shortly. Will raise sails at dawn and head for Habu Port on Oshima Island… a ~6 hour sail? Spend the night there, do my briefing on Sunday morning dockside, sail back to Hota before 10 o’clock a..m. (thus arrive ~4:00 o’clock?). Let’s see how it goes….