The SIRENA
Story
First
Cruise – Destination SARUSHIMA (“Monkey Island”)
Click HERE for a chart showing the course (requires
Acrobat Reader)
Click HERE for some information on this exotic Island
in Tokyo Bay
I
left Yokohama Bayside marina at 11 am., clearing the fishing pier, out into Tokyo bay the wind was in my
face, coming in from the East at 10-12
Knots. After raising the sails
I tacked back and forth to get some distance from the shore, and then turned
the boat to the South, and our destination.
It looked like it was going to be a good beam reach, all the way to the
Island, which I could already see through the haze in the distance.
About
the time I passed the No.3 red buoy to
starboard, the wind started picking up.
I noticed a few whitecaps when I left the marina but they were becoming
more frequent. I decided to put into
practice the saying ‘reef early and often’.
Once back in motion I noticed that I had a lot better feeling of
control, and indeed the wind was now somewhere in the range of 15-18
Knots. For the next hour and one half
I sailed with the jib and reefed mainsail, looking at a growing Sarushima thru
the bow pulpit like in the cross hairs of a gun. Rolling 1 to 1.5 meter waves made the reach quite exciting, with lots of spray and on a couple of
occasions a wave would break on the beam, spilling a little into the
cockpit. There was a steady stream of
big cargo ships out in the Uraga traffic lanes, but being a weekday there were no other pleasure boats and only the
occasional fishing ship within view.
The midday sun had burned away the morning grey , and was shimmering
bright on the Ocean. It was working
out to be a glorious Summer day.
At
12:30 I could see Hakkejima off the starboard aft quarter, and the Yokosuka US
Naval base housing towers came into view at the fore. The wind backed down to 12-15 Knots but as I was nearing my
destination, I kept the mainsail reefed.
A Japanese warship crossed in front of me on her way into port. I looked into Yokosuka to see if the Kitty
Hawk was in, but the only big ship I could see was the Japanese Self Defense
Force Frigate which just crossed my path.
At
13:00 I was close enough to Sarushima to make out certain features of some
brickwork of an old building on the West side.
I decided to find the beach area, which
was on the leeward side of the Island.
As I approached I had to steer
through a narrow channel between the Island and some rocks. I could see the color of the water change
to turquoise, then light blue, probably 2 meters deep. I turned my boat into the wind, facing
the beach, and got out the 3.5 Kg Danforth from the under the cabin hatch, dropped it over the side,
and lowered my sails. In the lee of
the Island, I could hardly feel any
wind at all and with the sun overhead it didn’t take me long to decide to go
into the cabin to change into my swimsuit.
I walked the anchor rode to the bow and cleated it off. Then, this being my first time ever to use
the anchor I decided to see how the anchor was set. I jumped into the sea and climbed up the rode until I found
the chain. I was now in chest deep
water and so picked up the anchor and started to walk to the beach, carrying
the anchor and pulling the boat. At
about waist deep water I dug the anchor into the sand and tugged on it to make
sure it was secure. Time for lunch.
I
floated the cooler bag containing drinks and my lunch on top of a lifejacket as
I waded to the beach. The lifejacket
became a nice cushion to sit in a grassy area near the pier. My lunch was a 390 Yen O-Bento (Japanese
Lunchbox), containing rice with seaweed & sesame seeds, some Fried Chicken, a sausage, boiled egg,
and some hamburger in a sweet sauce.
It was delicious and I washed it down with an ice cold Pepsi. From where I was sitting, Sirena was
bobbing happily on her anchor in the foreground, the city of Yokosuka in the
background. The hourly ferry arrived
and a group of elderly birdwatchers disembarked. The Island looked like a very interesting place to hike and explore, but that would have to wait for another day, I looked at
my watch and it was 14:30.
After
bringing the anchor up and raising the sails,
I initially attempted to go back out to Tokyo bay the way I came
in. But tacking against the wind in
the channel between the rocks and the Island was a little to tricky so I turned
the boat around and decided to go all the way around the Island. After making the full circle around the
island the wind had died to about 2-3 Knots.
I lowered the 2HP Suzuki and motor-sailed as far as the Oki-no-ne
buoy. Not wanting to find myself
running out of gas entering the marina,
I refilled the 1.2 liter tank to the brim. Now the wind had completely died and so I ran the motor for
about one full hour at about half speed, I was in no hurry to get home. At one point I felt some bumping on the
rudder, and the engine was making some ugly sounds….I wondered if I had run
over some rope, and I looked down from the stern to see hundreds of these
rather large Jellyfish, all bunched together in my wake.
Within
sight of the breakwater of my home port, the wind came up again, this time at
about 10 knots from the Southwest. I
killed the engine and let the sails do the work. I didn’t miss the noise and vibration of the motor at all. I watched sadly as the marina entrance
got closer. I thought about continuing
North and enjoying the wind some more but I had some chores to do on the boat,
and so checking the time at 17:00, I lowered the sails and motored the
remaining half mile to Sirena’s home slip.
On
the subway ride home from the marina I reflected on the many ‘firsts’ I
encountered on this cruise today:
*-First
time to reef while underway.
*-First
time to use the anchor.
*-First
time to jump off the bow into the ocean.
*-First
time to see the keel (while snorkeling under the boat).
*-First
time to use the transom boarding ladder.
*-First
time to go on a ‘destination cruise’ – where I actually ‘go’ somewhere, do
something while I am there, and then go home.
Until now all my sailing has been mostly going back and forth and around
the bay without any particular destination.
Sarushima
is a very cool little Island. The beach
is great and the water surprisingly clear for being part of Tokyo bay. I felt like I had taken a kind of miniature
exotic vacation and I will most definitely go back with my family, barbeque,
hammock and camera. I promise that
this next report will be long on pictures and short on words.
