Japan 2010
こころ心
For quite a while here at FC we have been devising ways to cover greater distances on our trips. A few sailing rigs and R&D trips later (French Polynesia and the Exumas), and Someone had the bright idea of kayaking from Japan to Taiwan.
Trip one from Kagoshima to Okinawa in 2007 was curtailed due to some sea sickness (me!) and work obligations (not me!), so here we go again.
View Larger Map
With the experience of our trip a few years ago (recorded by Doug Simpson at http://feathercraft.com/gallery/journals/2007-japan-taiwan/index.php) under our belt, we have decided to try again. This time, we will be leaving from Okinawa and hopefully finishing our trip in Taiwan.
Sept 17th. Trip Musings
Our tickets have been bought: we leave on the 28th of September! Very exciting. Unfortunately, our group has been paired down to 4: Doug Simpson, Myself, Evan Simpson and Shiro Ose (Wari Guido). This, however, will have its benefits because some of our longer crossings may take as long as three days. Fewer people also means less for the lead boat to worry about.
The weather in Japan this year has been very unsettled. Hot hot air temperatures and warmer than usual ocean temperatures have increased the frequency of thunderstorms and Typhoons; something that will require vigilance on our part.
Downloaded a few weather apps on my iPhone and created a shortcut to the US Navy’s FleetNumerical’s data models https://www.fnmoc.navy.mil/wxmap_cgi/cgi-bin/wxmap_all.cgi?type=prod&area=ngp_wpac&prod=wav&dtg=2010091712&set=Core. This will help immensly with trip planning as the language barrier is immense, and as no english trip member’s japanese proficiency goes beyond swearing, asking for food and saying sorry. I blame Shiro.
“Katsu-don Omori.” <—– that one is important.
Gotta start thinking about gear and wrapping my head around our early departure.
