After thirty-seven days at sea covering 3,580 miles, Kirk Patterson sailing solo aboard Silk Purse from Honolulu arrived safely in Hakodate on June 10th. All of us at TSPS would like to congratulate Kirk on completing the second leg of his trans-Pacific journey.

We followed Kirk’s progress closely on the winlink.org site and marveled at his at-times swift progress across the North Pacific Ocean, and so naturally grew concerned when Silk Purse went silent almost three hundred miles offshore on June 5 for four days. Relief came when Kirk sent a position report from a port on Tsugaru Strait between Aomori and Hokkaido.

Kirk will soon depart on a circumnavigation of Hokkaido before making his way south through the Japan Sea to Okinawa, where he will spend the winter. In the spring he will make his way north toward Tokyo. We look forward to meeting up with Kirk when he arrives.

Again, congratulations Kirk, and fair winds on the next leg of your journey.

Warren Fraser
Commander,
Tokyo Sail & Power Squadron