Captain’s Log: Reunion in Ogi; Overnighter to Hakodate

May 10-13

Hi All,

They say it’s your Birthday…..pipe in Beattle’s music here…..yep, that’s right….gee John, what did you do for your birthday….how did you celebrate….well, we did an overnight passage from Ogi to Hakodate on the island of Hokkaido….hmmm, that doesn’t sound like too much fun….why pretell….well, you see there is this Mr Weather who has an odd sense of humor and he decided this was the best weather window for us to go….and so far he has delivered….trawler conditions, sweet as!!!!

Since our last two passages were on the rough side we were a bit motivated to find the best window….while we would have liked to stay and play in Ogi for my birthday and Mom’s day we chose trawler weather baby!!!!

Ogi on SadoGaShima: Yep….got our butts kicked on this run. We left on Wednesday, May 10 at 0600 for the 50nm run…we expected 10-15G20kt SW winds….which we got…..on aft port quarter….and 2-4′ West swell…..port beam….and a friendly fair current of 0.5-1.0 kts…..WHICH we didn’t have….in fact the opposite…a foul current so wind against current…..within 10 minutes of leaving we had 4-6′ steep, short period waves…..Mystic was doing 30-35* rolls…..yikes!!!! I wanted to turnaround and try another day but Kathy wanted to keep going but tack off….which we did….about 30* off course….better but still a lot of motion. When we got to the lee of Sado Island we were 6 miles off course but got some protection as we turned into the seas to head to Ogi….ugh…..that was one for the history books!!!!

The good news was Andy and Sue on sv Spruce were there and met us on the wall to tie us up. Sue had made chicken stew for lunch so let the games begin…..beer, sake and then bourbon….did they have fun or what….lots to catch up on as well to discuss the upcoming issues with the passages north…..needless to say I was a bit slow the next day:))))

Interesting fact: Ogi has latitude 37 8N which is almost the same as Pleasanton CA, our home….37.7N…..wow..100 deg of longitude between the two places or 6000nm around the globe!!!!

Passage to Hakodate: Well, Mr Weather is playing nice so far…..close to trawler conditions…..3-12kt winds mainly behind but sometimes on strbd beam, seas 1-3′ on port aft qtr….ride, pretty smooth. We are supposed to have a 0.5-1.0 fair current the entire run but we keep getting back eddies so speed has varied from 7.0 – 9.6kts!!!!

We did arrive on May 13…..Mom’s Day…..at about 2:30pm…..272nm….avg SOG=8.5kts…wow….speed ranged from 7.0-11.8kts….yep, that’s right….in the Tsugura Strait we had a +4 kt current…..GO MYSTIC GO!!!! The only issue was we had NE winds…right on the nose….I get sooooo irritated when the forecasts are sooooo wrong…..we were supposed to have ESE winds in the 5-10kt range but we got 10-15G20 NE…..so, wind against current…..the seas did build to 2-3′ but other than some spray Mystic handled it quite well for the 15nm as we crossed the Tsushima current!!!

When we arrived just about 10 minutes after Spruce we went to the designated wall and were met by Muzunosan, a friendly jeweler who helps coordinate things for cruisers. We had been in email contact with him…..before we tied up he had us move about 200 yards to a better spot….so, by 3pm we were all tied up, had met with Coast Guard and all of us were on Mystic having a passage beer/hot tea and getting introduced to Hakodate!!

The Plan: We will be in Hakodate for about a week. In years past this has been the gathering spot for cruisers going to Alaska. But, it seems this year, 3 boats are going out of Osaka (or near there) and maybe 1-2 other boats are coming to Hakodate. Hmmmm…..maybe 6-8 boats going to Alaska…half of what is normal…gulp…what do they know that we don’t!!! From here we will do an overnighter to Kushiro….210nm on the southeast side of Hokkaido and will use that spot to make the run to Petropavlovsk Russia. Mark arrives in Kushiro on May 25th and we will leave soon thereafter on the first good weather window….900nm, about a 5-day passage!!!

In the meantime…..we will enjoy Hakodate….lot’s of history….get duty free fuel, provision and do some maintenance projects to be ready to head for Russia!!!!

So…..that is how we spent my Birthday and Mom’s Day…..interesting life we cruisers live….eh Watson!!!

Hope all is well!!

John
Mystic Moon
REST MYSTIC REST!!!