The SIRENA Story
Family Sail to Sarushima Island 19 July 2003
Following the single-handed crossing I made two
weeks earlier, we made the trip as a family on 19 July 2003. Skipper Brian,
First Mate Yoshie, and two crew – Serena 11 and Bobby 8.
At 9:15 we left our berth at Yokohama Bayside Marina,
motored out into 5 knot winds from the Southwest. This was the first trip where the tides were taken into
consideration with High Tide reached 30 minutes earlier, and Low tide predicted
at 14:30. Thus we should catch the
benefit of the tidal current in both directions, as we planned to start our return at about 15:30.
Seeing the wind was blowing nearly directly from our
destination, I decided to motor as far out as possible, to the South-South
East, in order to get a better upwind approach on the Island and avoid too much
tacking. After motoring for about 45
minutes the sails were raised and we started on a SSW course, tacking 3 or 4
times. Even with the favorable tides
and increasing winds it became obvious after a while that we were not making
progress very fast. The youngest of the
crew started to call for the motor to be used.
He managed to rally the others into a nearly constant chant of “Motor!
Motor! Motor”. The skipper,
sensing we were near mutiny status relented, and we motor-sailed off and on for
the next hour.
We arrived at the Southwest corner of Sarushima at about
12:20. The winds had picked up to about
12 Knots. I laid anchor just outside
the buoys off the picnic beach. Then I instructed the crew that we would be
going ashore by the Windglider. This
led to near mutiny again as the first mate thought that the sea was too rough
and wanted to go nearer or beach the boat.
Brian demonstrated the inflated Windglider with one paddle and quickly
found himself overwhelmed with the current, and discovered (the first time
rowing) that the Windglider Kayak ability is very poor with only one paddle,
except for rowing around in circles while the wind & current carries you
away. The skipper needed to come up
with a plan B quickly and so he took the bitter end of the anchor rode and tied
up the Windglider to it. The anchor
rode was fouled in two placed losing a lot of it’s precious length and so it
was not long enough to make it all the way to the beach. Brian was assisted by the lowering of the
tide as he could now wade most of the way to Sirena. Carrying one crew and goods at a time, Brian ferried them all to
the shore, with a stop to tie off the rode on a nearby swimming marker. This worked well and it was much easier to
put the rope than to try to paddle out to Sirena. Our anchoring and ferrying attempts much have provided much
entertainment to the many people on the BBQ beach as not once but three times
the Windglider became un-secure and started to drift out into Tokyo Bay. Brian got a months worth of exercise
swimming as fast as he could to recover his tender.
Finally at about 13:30 all crew and supplies were ashore
and we had our lunch in a grassy area overlooking the swimming beach. Green Seedless grapes and open faced ham
and egg salad sandwiches were the fare for the day. The wind, now straight out of the South, seemed to be very
strong. And we watched the sailboats
out of Yokosuka sailing fully extended.
While we had planned to hike and explore the Island, Bobby and I opted for a swim. Serena and her mom did some beachcombing,
selecting from the many shells that washed up. Brian took a walk up to the top of the Island to the observation
platform. The dense jungle-like growth,
sound of birds and insects, and NO cars was wonderful.
At 15:45 we were all back aboard Sirena, and the anchor was
raised. By just raising the jib sail
we started quickly out into Tokyo bay.
The wind was probably somewhere between 12 and 15 knots, and the current
about 1 knot going in our direction. Not so experienced with sailing fast downwind, the skipper raised
a reefed mainsail and headed in a NNE direction. We surfed quickly along and as far offshore as I have ever
been. I purposely sailed this far
off the wind to make sure there was no sudden jibe, and after about one hour
found that we were nearing the green buoys indicating the Uraga shipping
lanes. Rather than risk a jibe in the
rather strong Winds, Brian tacked around and then resumed a NNW course –
directly for our destination. While
both kids slumbered peacefully in the cabin,
Skipper and first mate enjoyed our quick progress home. At 17:45 just before the marina entrance
we dropped the mainsail and fired up the metal wind, putting us back in our
berth at 18:00. We took some great
photos with a disposable camera, but between the beach & tender, tender
& Sirena, Sirena & Car, Car & home somewhere it got lost.
Lessons learned from this outing:
*-The West Wight Potter is NOT a racing boat, and while we
appreciate the stability and seaworthiness, making trips like this require a
lot of patience. Progress upwind is
difficult compared with those other larger, more canvassed yachts that passed
us by. I need to improve my skills and eventually consider
adding a larger headsail to address this problem.
*-The Windglider was used for the first time to ferry
supplies and crew ashore, and it seemed to work very well. It was ready to use very quickly, and the
idea to use the end of the anchor rode to tie ashore was great. Tying GOOD knots is essential, as it came
free at least twice when I thought it was secure. And I need to find a storage solution, wet after it’s use I
didn’t want it in the cabin, but instead it took up half of the footwell on our
return home. Maybe there is a way to
secure it to the bowdeck.
*-I MUST figure out a way to keep the anchor rode from
becoming tangled. If I just lower the
rode in the port hatch where I keep the anchor it seems to come out as easily
as it went it. However attempting to
coil the rode to keep it from getting tangled, I find in every case the
opposite occurs, and it is a very time-consuming and messy job to get it all
untangled.
*-The crew in this
voyage were naturally more interested in the ‘destination’ aspect of the trip rather
than the sailing itself. A full day’s
journey to spend two hours on the beach was a bit disappointing for them. And at least one hour was lost in the
process of anchoring, re-anchoring, and
arguing how we were going to get everyone ashore. The sailing world is very different from the express train, fast
food life that we live most of the time, especially in metro Tokyo. Sailing in general and Pottering in
particular requires a lot of time, and this can have it’s good and bad aspects
– but in this skipper’s mind it is definitely worth it, and time well
spent. Anything that gets us as a
family out in the fresh air and sunshine, and away from the telephone,
television, computer and game-boy for a
day certainly can’t be all bad.
“The breeze that carries you away from the
sweltering city with it’s din and commotion both cools the brow and clears the
mind. No clamoring telephones…..no
appointments to keep, save your anchorage by sundown, and you are on your way
with a freshening breeze and lifted sheet”
---
W.E. Warrington
Continue on to ‘Kannonzaki
– On the Rocks’