Update:

June 5, 2013

Kirk’s current position is 415 nm due east of Hakodate, hand steering while under engine due to an autopilot failure. Silk Purse has slowed considerably, making less than 300nm over for the past three days. Arrival could be as soon as June 9 or 10.

June 1, 2013:

Kirk Patterson, TSPS member and soon-to-be Trans-Pacific sailor, aboard his aluminium vessel Silk Purse, on March 31 reported,

“16hr hell! 30-40 kt winds. 4-5 waves. Boat out of control. OK now! Phew! 128 NM”.

Four to five meter waves on the stern, Force 8 winds on the nose! That doesn’t sound like much fun. Or does it? For Kirk to temporarily lose control of Silk Purse in those conditions is understandable. The fear of broaching (veering to become broadside to the waves and potentially rolling the boat)  must have been foremost in Kirk’s mind.

Over the three preceding days, Kirk logged daily distances of 163 nm, 163nm, and 159nm for a four-day run of 613. Silk Purse has covered about 2600nm since leaving Honolulu and has approximately 700nm to sail before reaching Hakodate, Hokkaido.

The image below is a GRIB file showing wind conditions, with Silk Purse’s position marked by an X. On the right is the storm Kirk is experiencing. The wind is indicated by arrow-like symbols with the ‘feathers’ of the arrow indicating wind strength and the arrow pointing in the direction the wind is going. A short feather means 5 knots and a long one means 10 knots of wind. The scale on the right is the Beaufort scale, with the strongest winds of the storm in yellow equalling Force 8, or up to 35 knots. A different view of the GRIB file (not posted here) showing wave heights and direction indicates the waves are coming from behind Silk Purse. Of course, GRIB files are estimates. The wind and waves Kirk is experiencing most likely exceed estimates.

You can keep track of Kirk’s progress at:

winlink.org

Enter Silk Purse’s callsign VE0KRP (0 = zero) for detailed information

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Hi Gents,

Just to let you know I rented 3 cars on my recent trip to Australia – not all at once though – and saved at least over $100 using the TSPS membership benefit program. Avis and Budget are members of the program which works worldwide. Thought you might like to know that the benefits outweigh the cost of membership!“

This simple message received last week from a TSPS member is prompting us to remind you that there are considerable financial benefits to being a TSPS member. In addition to discounted TSPS social events, such as the upcoming Rendezvous or the monthly Keelhaul which if attended often enough can recoup more than half your annual fees, members are entitled to a raft of discounts provided through our parent organization. The Avis and Budget car rental discounts are good examples of what’s available. Here are some of the services offering benefits and discounts.

USPS is of course an American organization, and so naturally most of the benefits of membership can be had in the US only. However, if you’re planning a trip stateside, you may find some of the benefits and discounts helpful, such as the USPS Vacation Center, which offers discounts on local and international vacation packages. Discounts are also available for US hotel chains, and health and travel insurance  For a list of benefits available take a look at the uspsbenefits.org webpage.

While we’re on the subject of discounts, West Marine offers international shipping of most of their marine products. Looking for new wet gear or a winch or a shackle? Check out the West Advantages page on the West Marine website. Their Silver and Gold rewards schemes add even more of a discount to your purchases, and come highly recommended by a few of our boat-owning members. There is no specific TSPS membership discount, but as boating people, we can use every discount we can find. Check it out.

One final discount well worth mentioning… The Bulldog Pub in Yurakucho. For more than a few years, TSPS has been holding its monthly Keelhaul get-togethers at the Bulldog and for all those years each TSPS member has received a 10% discount. We recently met with management and got this discount extended to card-carrying TSPS members slaking their thirst on any day at any time. So the next time you’re feeling a bit peckish and thirsty, head down to the Bulldog, flash your USPS membership card, and receive 10% off. Please note, this discount applies only to members, and not to non-members in the company of members.

We received the following message from long-time TSPS member Kirk Patterson, who over a year ago began a trans-Pacific voyage from Victoria, Canada to Hokkaido, Japan aboard his vessel Silk Purse. The threat of encountering tsunami debris and the onset of typhoon season, however, caused Kirk to lay up in Honolulu for almost a year, where he wiled away his time working as a bartender. He is now ready to finish the crossing and will soon depart on what could be a 35 to 40-day voyage from Honolulu for Hakodate, Hokkaido.

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Hi, TSPS Friends,

I trust that this finds you and everybody at TSPS well.

Well, I have had a very interesting, enjoyable 10 months here in Honolulu, including working full-time as a bartender (!).

But now I am ready to resume my voyage to Japan. I will leave on about May 1 and sail non-stop to Hakodate, probably arriving between June 5 and 15. After a couple of weeks in Hakodate, I will circumnavigate Hokkaido in the summer, go south along the Sea of Japan coast in the fall, spend the winter some where in Okinawa, and then go north back to Hakodate in spring/summer 2014.

After that, I might stay another 1-2 years in Japan…or return to Victoria…or head to the South Pacific…or ???

I will probably get to the Tokyo area in May 2014, so I look forward to seeing you all then.

Best regards,

Kirk

S/V Silk Purse

 P.S. If interested, you can track my progress across the Pacific by going to www.winlink.org/userpositions…at the bottom of the map on that page, input my callsign — ve0krp — and click “Search”. The blue/green dots will show my current/past locations. I will try to do daily position reports, but please note that if I am unable to connect to winlink relay stations then I will not be able to post position reports. FYI, my boat email addresses are cfk9236@sailmail.com and ve0krp@winlink.org.

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While we don’t know Kirk’s course just yet, it’s not uncommon for sailors to head west from Hawaii with some southing in their course until they reach a longitude near and east of the Bonin Islands (Ogasawara), then make a turn north. If Kirk follows this course, he can expect good winds from the north-east to push him along until the southerlies fill in for the ride north to the Kuroshio current, then a sleigh ride up the east coast of Japan.

Regardless of the direction he heads, we at TSPS wish Kirk only the best of luck and weather, and a very safe passage.

[box]After arriving in Hawaii, Kirk wrote the following informative article in the Hawaii Yacht Club Bulletin.

The United States Power Squadrons has awarded TSPS with two awards. The first is the “Distinctive Communicator” award for our website. The second is the USPS Educational Fund Certificate of Merit which was awarded for “the furtherance of education in the fields of navigation and small boat handling.” We’d like to thank the USPS for the awards and also thank the educators at TSPS , Jeff Canaday, Randy Erskine, and Tony Whitman, for their hard work in bringing educational opportunities to our members.