What a weekend we had at Inawashiro Lake! Sun, sails, speed, and some seriously good food made this year’s BBQ one to remember.

The Yamaha jet ski was the star of the show – a top-of-the-line machine hitting 98 kph. For several members it was their very first ride, and one even called it a “bucket list moment.” Not a bad way to spend a Saturday!
Sailing conditions Saturday morning were just right for learning, with one new Sunfish sailor logging hours of practice alongside an experienced instructor. Windsurfing and sailing kept going right up until the BBQ kicked off at 5 pm.
…And what a BBQ it was. Frank deserves legendary status for running two charcoal grills at once, chicken and potatoes sizzling on one, steaks on the other. Huge thanks also to Nao and Yumikofor making it all happen. On Sunday morning, French toast and bacon brought everyone together again – probably the one thing that actually went according to plan that day! 

Sunday’s adventures continued with the Yamaha jet boat. Five members had a blast wakeboarding and cruising, even if the ride back across the lake was a head-banging battle with the chop. Spirits stayed high, though – no waves could sink the fun.
The wind cranked up on Sunday, keeping most of the boats grounded. Safety first! By late afternoon the gusts eased and a few lucky sailors squeezed in one last session before heading home.

Even for those who couldn’t get on the water as much as they hoped, feedback was overwhelmingly positive – from the beautiful scenery, to the great food, and the lively atmosphere shared with fellow TSPS members.

Special thanks to Alex, who not only repaired the blue Sunfish after some damage but also added two extra outlets to the storage container. Future sailors will thank you!

All in all – an amazing weekend with the best crew around. Can’t wait to do it again next year! 

Its happening again, the TSPS Member’s BBQ at Lake Inawashiro in Fukushima Prefecture SEPTEMBER 13-14.  It worked well last year so we are going to do it pretty much the same with only a few tweaks.  Like last year – members can arrive and hang out on the beach, swim if they want, try wakeboarding, try sailing a Sunfish dinghy, try windsurfing, try a Canadian canoe, have a hot dog or a burger when they are ready to eat, play some frisbee.  

Depending on demand and resources, some of the activities could be repeated the following morning.  The cost for the BBQ is ¥10,000. Please pay here:

Some things need repeating.

1. It requires cooperation, and we know this because the cooperation last year was fantastic, the vibe was great and it is the reason we are going for it again this year.   As I said last year, ¥10,000 does not get you a Hyatt resort package, it gives you the opportunity to be part of a great event.  

What TSPS brings – 

A bunch of boats and equipment to use.

A wonderful set of plastic chairs and a table that Gary Thomas confirmed is available again for us to borrow.  A couple of working tables and a grill will be brought over but they will not be enough.  Please bring a table and chairs if you can.  Bring your own beer, a cooler to put it in, and a chair to sit and enjoy it.

Food – We intend to provide the same level of quality that we served last year.  Soft drinks.  TSPS recommends you not consume alcohol during the boating activities and wait to drink your booze until you are no longer required to focus on driving or boating or volunteering. 

What TSPS is not bringing –

Cooks – we need someone to step up

Lifeguards – we need volunteers to watch the water and watch the Sunfish and canoes as they are likely to tip over if the wind is strong enough.

Boat drivers – Yamaha boat club members that operate a Yamaha boat or jetski for half the day will get a ¥5,000 discount.

Janitors – we need volunteers to ensure our mess is cleaned up and we demonstrate our appreciation by not walking away from a pile of garbage.

2. Unlike last year, we know there is demand for this event and its going to happen.  To participate youneed to sign up and pay on Stripe.  In the event we reach max capacity which we believe is about 30, the order of payment (not sign up), will determine who can participate.  Click on this link to sign up and pay. Members cost ¥10,000, guests cost ¥13,000 but kids under 12 are free.

3. The location, Tate Hama in Konan machi, Koriyama City will be the place again this year.  Its a great beach and campground with a lot of room and basic facilities.  There are other places to stay about 30 minutes drive in Inawashiro City or in Bandai Atami.  The below link has a drive from Tokyo Station mapped out.

Here are images from last year’s event.  

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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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

As many of you know, the Yokohama Boat Show is just around the corner!
For more details, check out the official page here: Yokohama Boat Show 2025

This year, TSPS won’t have a booth, but don’t worry, we’re bringing back one of our most popular events: SuperKeelhaul!
It’s always a great time, and we’d love for you to join us!

We’ll be meeting at Wolfgang Puck Yokohama (only a 10-minute walk from the Boat Show venue). It’s the perfect spot to go out, enjoy some good food, and catch up with friends and fellow boat enthusiasts! Feel free to bring your family and friends along too!

 Bonus for members: Show us your Boat Show ticket, and we’ll give you 1,000 yen back! 

Here are the details:

• When: March 22 (Sat), 5:30 pm ~
• Where: Wolfgang Puck Yokohama (Link to review)
• How much: 5,000 yen (members and non-members alike; kids under 12 are free)

Space is limited, so be sure to book your spot ASAP!

https://tspsjapan.org/asp-payment-box/?product_id=174763

Can’t wait to see you all there!

I sold my boat today: Merry Christmas!

As you know, I fell into this crazy pursuit of sailing about 5 years ago, totally tricked into it originally by evil Evan Burkosky.

I joined TSPS (click on this hyperlink) in order to get licensed to sail Japanese waters and met many of you there (click on this hyperlink). And I learned enormously from this affiliation … and still do.

All my other pastimes… the wonderful saunas (click) , the smokey-cigars, working on old cars (click) , those insane detoxes, my weekly briefings (click) on Japanese politics… all thrown to the wayside as I tumbled headlong down this unending, swirling, tubelike tunnel.

Santana, a 26′ Yamaha sailing yacht, was berthed next to Evan’s boat, Watari (since gone, replaced by a 33′ Perkins of 45 years vintage, “Garuda”). 

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Apparently, the long-time owner of Santana had become ill and so Santana just sat there forlornly for almost two years. The family wanted to find a good home for her, but knew nothing of boating or sailing or selling a boat. So she just sat there.

Santana before:

Santana was a bit bedraggled and ignored and also suffered some damage due to the typhoon & tornados that hit the port two years earlier (and virtually destroyed the hamlet of Katsuyama).

Upon my first visit to Watari to ‘go sailing’ (translated into Evan-speak of “help me work on my boat”), Evan convinced me to take over Santana, ever-so soothingly cooing, “I’ll help you out…”.

Since then, we have, both together & solo, sailed Santana all over Tokyo and Sagami Bays and out to the farthest island in the Izu Island chain (click) , to Atami, Shimoda… all over! Almost weekly, it seems like now. Evan taught me the ins-and-outs, and Santana taught me the rest. We constantly worked on Santana and upgraded her to make her safer and more reliable. Wow, we sailed the heck out of her, too!

Santana after:

About three years later, Evan stumbled upon abandoned Garuda (definitely click for the amazing story of her restoration). For 9 months, he and others (“let’s go sailing!”) helped liar-Evan restore Garuda to sublime sailing grace. We sailed her 8 solid days over Golden Week (click), in fact. Now Garuda is gorgeous, responsive: a head-turner whether in-port or out.

But my desire for a larger-than-Santana more capable boat continued un-satiated. I was actually looking for a boat where I could spend cigar-chomping Ernest Hemmingway-like time writing stories, maybe even a book! Evan and Tony were looking on my behalf, too!

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Back to the story…

Three months ago, Anthony Hardie (whose yacht is berthed near Garuda & Santana) telephoned me with some urgency: an older fellow needed to unload his 44′ Swan, and this rumor Tony had just heard through his extensive sailing grapevine.

As the most recent owner (2 years earlier paid ¥15 million?), he had poured money into the boat to sell it and get a pretty penny. The mainsail, jib and storm sails were all brand-new. But this poor Owner was now spiritually defeated, economically empty, dejected from the fate he was handed, incapable of the manual labor immediately required. “I just need someone to take her off my hands!” he confided to his First Mate.

“No matter what you have to do,” Tony yelled into the iPhone, “call this First Mate right away and tell him you will take it, sight-unseen!”.  Tony ended the call with that famous refrain: “Don’t worry, I’ll help you…”. Then, immediately the phone went dead and there I was… standing-there… deer-in-headlights.

—–

And down the rabbit hole I again tumbled, dragging Tony and Evan with me. In retrospect, though, I have to admit that these two nut-jobs were not reluctant but in fact gleefully egging-on co-conspirators! My sails filled with air and off the ground I was carried!

In 5 weeks we got the vessel’s engine running, another 4 weeks of clean-up and refurbishment, then changing the Registration. We took her for sea-trials twice and, whoa!… how she performed! Honestly, all three of us were smitten!

While this downtown Tokyo marina is 8 hours from the true place where a boat like this belongs (the unfathomably deep and treacherous blue waters of the open Pacific), Gryms’s new berth is but a brief push-off the quay for a 15 minute sail into the deep blue.

She is now where she belongs: not destined to sail inside the confines of Tokyo Bay and dodging tankers, but further outside where tuna leap and the powerful Kuroshio Current swirls.

Gryms’ new berth is where Santana, Garuda and Tony’s magnificently restored pirate-looking yacht are all berthed. A small fishing hamlet near Hota.

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But in my case, Santana didn’t really cost anything except for repairing her and bringing here up-to-snuff. It didn’t cost money, except for the beers I plied Evan and Tony with as we three poured ourselves into the task of resurrecting this unbelievable gift from the gods. And this is exactly the same scenario with the new Swan, though the two-transactions are separated by 4+ years. But I had to sell Santana in order to have the berth for Gryms.

But these two ‘happiest-of-days’ happened in such unbelievable close-proximity.

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I am bittersweet happy/sad to announce the sale of Santana as of today, Christmas Day! It is unwise and dangerous to have two lovers, I have been long told. And, I guess I need to avoid that though I really don’t want to.

In any event, leaping from a 26′ sailboat into a 44′ sailing yacht is not just a step-up, it is skipping a couple of steps in-between and a huge challenge: massive, in fact.

I must, for example, grow into a different kind of sea-captain, comfortable with crew rather than, as is my usual course, going solo. Santana is very comfortable, quick and responsive, easily solo-sailed… but this Finnish boat, built to cross oceans, is a different matter. Much of the rigging and winches are located on the mast, or forward of the cockpit, a good 4 meters away from the helm!

And not just that, but preparing to gybe or tack, or reef, requires coordination between the helmsman and those pulling-or-releasing the sheets than a mere pair of hands can safely and smoothly execute. So, farewell to that precious solitude that Santana gave to me as a solo-sailor. On the other hand, what Gryms takes away, she repays in spades: speed, power, agility in plowing through waves at 11 tons of weight! THAT is pretty spectacular!

I am definitely up for that and so grateful to be surrounded by friends like you guys. In particular, it goes without saying how indebted I am to Tony and Evan for placing me in this predicament.

I never envisioned such a thing happening so quickly but, in fact, it went smoothly and somewhat flawlessly. So I owe a lot to everyone for helping me on this tremendous journey. 

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Anyway, I just wanted to give you a personal update and a ‘thank you’ for whatever role you had in this pretty significant achievement over a brief 5-year-span.

Forgive me if this seems like a brag but…. well, I just can’t help myself: I am like a kid at Christmas!

THANKS for all your encouragement (less for the torments, but yeah, for those, too). Thanks for reading this far, and for celebrating with me this uncanny stroke of luck and friendship contained within this story. Not something that happens to everyone…. I am beyond words grateful to you guys for your support. Merry Christmas!

PS: if you post a comment, be careful: write your Post first, then copy/paste into the Comment Box. It is not very forgiving and if you don’t, you will lose your text. Write elsewhere, then hit Add Comment, then paste. Please let me hear from you!

By Chris Eve

In Japan you need a license in order to use a VHF radio, a radar, or a transmitting AIS device. When I bought my boat second-hand it came fitted with a VHF radio and an AIS, and although I had been using my AIS (and liked seeing Eothen show up on vessel tracking websites such as Marine Traffic) I had resisted transmitting on the VHF because I had no real need to do so but also because I suspected that you needed to have a license. After doing some research I found out that you need to have at least a “second class special marine radio operators license” (第２級海上特殊無線技士) and I started to think about getting one. What really compelled me to get one was when Darren told me at a TSPS keelhaul that I risked being fined just for having a radio on my boat, even if I did not use it. Just another example of how joining TSPS and attending keelhauls can expand your knowledge about boating and potentially save you from costly mistakes! He urged me to completely disconnect the radio and hide it somewhere in the boat, otherwise I would be in trouble if the coastguard saw it during an inspection. Darren recommended getting my license with Royal Corporation (www.marine-license.com), which has a branch school in Kachidoki.

In order to prepare I bought a ‘teach yourself’ book for the exam but I was daunted at what I saw when I opened it. The exam consists of two parts, one on regulations and one on technical. The chapters in the book on regulations were heavy text, with a lot of Japanese that I had trouble reading. The technical chapters were equally heavy to read, but also filled with formulas for calculating resistance, capacitance, etc., and various circuit diagrams, etc. It seemed to me that the test was more about building a radio rather than using one!

Figure 1 The teach yourself book that I bought

However, having set my mind on it there was no escape from getting a license, so in the summer I booked a course and exam with Royal for the end of November. This was to give myself time to do some preparation and familiarize myself with all the necessary Japanese and technical formulae. Over the following weeks I spent hours and hours working my way through the book and ended up translating almost the entire text. The book included sample questions, and while I was able to answer the regulation questions, I really struggled with some of the technical questions and began to doubt that I would be able to pass the exam.

I downloaded some past exam papers from a website (https://jyukenkai.com/kakomon_tokushu/kai_g2/) and used them to test myself. As with the boat license exam, I quickly realized that most of the questions get repeated on a regular basis, so for the technical questions that I still had trouble passing I set about rote memorizing the questions and their answers. As the date of the exam grew closer, I was confident about passing the regulation part of the exam but sometimes I was not passing enough of the technical questions to pass.

Figure 2 Sample technical question that I rote-learned the answer to. We did not cover this at Royal and it was not in the exam

I discovered a YouTube channel that ran through past questions and answers, and I spent quite a few hours going through the technical questions but still not being able to answer some of them (https://youtu.be/0hPPZ7LVeRs?si=SIzhjfVTOlfvY73Z). I also found a smartphone app (過去問) with sample of past exams and used that to study during my commute to work. Finally, the day of the course arrived and I was still not confident of the passing the test, so success was going to be about how much I could learn during the course.

Figure 3 Text books

The course by Royal runs over two full days, with the exam taking place at the end of the second day. On arrival they issued us with two textbooks, one for regulations and one for technical. They also gave us summary sheets that highlighted various topics from each book. There are 7 hours of tuition on the first day and 6 on the second. The instructor told us that we could not arrive late or leave early, nor go out of the classroom during the tuition sessions except for the scheduled breaks, otherwise we could not take the exam. I listened intensely to the instructor every minute of the first day as I was determined to pass. It was exhausting. But I began to feel uneasy that although the instructor covered much of what I had previously studied, he seemed to omit some things that regularly came up as questions in the sample exams I had been studying, and focus on other topics that I had not seen before. Darren had told me that the instructor would highlight topics that would come up in the exam. Sure enough, at the end of each session our instructor referred to the summary sheets and told us to underline various things, saying that he did not know what questions would come up in the exam, but these topics often came up.

Day two was much the same as day one. After concluding the final tuition session the instructor once again ran through the summary sheets, again telling us to underline the same items he had stressed previously. Finally it was time for the exam, and I was dreading that some of the questions that I had failed to master in the sample exams I had been studying would come up. Turning over the exam paper I began reading through the questions. With much relief, I realized that the questions were all on topics that had been repeatedly highlighted and stressed by the instructor in the summary sheets. There are 24 questions in the exam, 12 each on regulation and on technical. The answers are multiple choice, with four possible answers for each question. The pass score is 60% for both sections. The time allowed for the exam is 1.5 hours, but after about 10 minutes some people had already finished and started leaving the classroom. It took me a bit longer as I took time to go through all the questions a second time to check that I had not made any silly mistakes, but I was finished in less than 30 minutes, and confident that I had passed.

After everyone had finished we were called back into the classroom and waited for our results. Within a few minutes, the examiner returned and distributed our result cards. We had all passed!

In summary, you pay the school ¥38,500 in order for them to ensure you pass the exam. So long as you listen carefully to what the instructor tells you to remember, you will pass the exam. In the event that you do not pass the exam, on the same day Royal hold a revision session and a re-sit of the exam.

Having done the course and passed the exam, I realized that I had wasted a whole lot of time and effort in doing all that pre-studying for the exam, but hey, a bit of intellectual exercise is never a bad thing.

Figure 5 Sample regulation question – question similar to this was in my exam

Figure 6 This regulation question was in my exam

Figure 7 A page of the summary sheets

TSPS End of Year Celebration / Bonenkai on Wednesday evening at the fabulous, on-the-water, Intercontinental Tokyo Bayside Hotel… our second time at this location.

Approximately 40 Members and Guests arrived to a fairly dressed-up affair. The focus was the Awards Ceremony for 7 who have distinguished themselves over this last year. Five deep-rooted TSPS former Commanders joined, too, with former Commander Per Knudsen providing the opening “Kanpai!”.

Event schedule is below. You will also find the Nominees for each of the illustrious achievements: Most Time on the Water; Captain-of-the-Year, Toss-Overboard, Writer’s Block, Blue Bucket and, this year a first: a Commander’s Award.

The photos tell the real story (click for Google Drive of ALL photos). Please supplement with your own observations in Comments below if you were with us. Overall, the event went splendidly: Svetlana organized the whole thing, Andy was superb as Master-of-Ceremony, Timothy utilized his well-honed dumpster-diving-skills to provide an eclectic collection of highly sought trophies.

THE AWARDS

THE ORGANIZERS

MEMBERS & GUESTS IN ATTENDANCE

THE FOOD!

TROPHIES & NOMINEES

THE NOMINEES FOR 2024

DESCRIPTION OF INDIVIDUAL AWARDS

Captain of the Year: this framed coveted-trophy is otherwise known as “The Captain Crunch Award”. It consists of a luxuriantly-framed cereal box with a copy of a wrecked yacht pasted on the bottom: displaying the tremendous thought and no-expense-spared attitude in creating this gem. The Award is self-explanatory. Nominees: Remi, Chris, Jeremy, Ryan

Toss Overboard: Like some rancid cheese left on the boat from the last sailing journey, some individuals have overstayed their good-by-date, to remain as constant irritants to the Bridge Commanders who follow. This award goes to the longest-serving, most irascible and consistent participant in TSPS over the years.
Nominees: Per, Claus, Demir, Jeff

The Blue Bucket: this handsome trophy is a framed fragment of a destroyed blue-plastic bucket. This represents the accomplishments of our TSPS Member who, in spite of a mere tiny challenge, devoted incredible energy & resources, at considerable risk, to achieve a very minor goal, causing great destruction in the process.
Nominees: Bill, Ash, Cris, Remi, Toshi, Evan, Timothy

Writers-Block, & Tackle: This award goes to the individual who has somehow captured the attention of visitors to the TSPS webpage. Thousands of hits have been recorded and some of these stories are actually lucid. The winner this year generated an amazing 10,000 hits and only 4 lawsuits.
Nominees: Svet, Remi, Toshi, Timothy, Bill

Most Days on the Water: this trophy consists of a Gift Certificate from renowned local divorce-specialist law firm for free-consultation in the inevitable event of divorce by a distraught and neglected wife. The Award goes to that special individual who has most-successfully avoided home-duties by spending all of his available free-time on his boat (or that of a friend’s). The elaborately framed-certificate includes “Break Glass In Case Of Emergency” instructions.
Nominees: Darren, Demir, Mike Snyder, Freddie

Bent-Stanchion: this gorgeous silvery Trophy epitomizes the plight of all who devote money, resources and energy to repairing and preserving some object of great affection, only to have it reduced to junk in a single instance of inattention or cruel fate.
Nominees: Jeremy, Robin, Cris, Evan, Brendan, Max

Commander’s Award: this filthy-piece of material is reportedly a fragment of the Nelson 120 gun battleship. It is a token of gratitude felt by the Commander for the Awardee’s uncanny sense of emergency and quick action to stave-off further damage during an otherwise disastrous Inawashiro lakeside event in this early Autumn.
Awardee: Brendan

TSPS GROUP PHOTO

AGENDA OF EVENT