Charlie's Tokyo West Blog

24-hour marathon drive for porcelain -- 30-05-09

Wife Yukiko and I left our home in Chiba shortly after midnight, which made our departure on September 28. We drove across the main island of Japan to Kanazawa, arriving at about 6:15 am, just in time for breakfast at a family restaurant called Gusto. We made the trip to see Saiichi Matsumoto, an aging potter in the Kutani porcelain tradition, and buy some of his work. After stopping off at the Hayakawa Clinic, owned by old friends the Hayakawas where Dr. Hayakawa is an internist specializing in treatment of diabetes. When another friend, Masako Akashi, arrived, we were off to Torigoe, Masako zooming along ahead in her Mazda and we struggling to keep up in our Nissan Serena van. 

About 40 minutes out of Kanazawa, we arrived at Torigoe, where Matsumoto Sensei has his atelier. We spend hours going through his thousands of wonderful works and came away with several that we felt would add something to our lives. Here are the major choices.

A bowl about 11 inches across. Usually priced at $1,000.

Smaller bowl about 9 inches across. Usually prices at $750.

This bowl, also about 9 inches across, is very much in the Kutani tradition of colors. $500.

A shallow bowl about 10 inches across. Lovely texture. $700.

Platter in origami motif. $300.

Grapes, apparently, as a good luck symbol. Set of five small dinner plates. $500/set.

Four small origami-style desert plates. 

These are only a few of the items we purchased. As old friends, we received deep discounts, but we were glad to be able to help Matsumoto Sensei out as he is getting along in years and needs the income. 

We also stopped at kimono artist Mizuno Yoko's atelier where she was making a ceremonial kimono. Mizuno Sensei works in the Kaga Yuzen tradition and one of her kimono and obi combinations usually sell at about $10,000. I don't have a photo, but will see if I can get one at a later date. Mizuno Sensei's daughter is an artist in glass. You can see her work at www.michikosakano.com if you are interested.

Akashi san's son is leader of the duo known as Moumoon. Look them up on YouTube and see what Japanese rock sounds like.

Kids learn about sailing -- 24-05-09

Sunday morning at 10 am, 40 kids and their parents gathered at the public hall in Funabashi, just across the channel from Endeavor's berth, to start learning about yachts and sailing. Yours truly was the guest instructor.

Each set of parents and children stood to introduce themselves, and the tale of yachts and how they work started about 10:45.

As you can see, there's a pile of equipment on the table -- stores, sea anchor, foul weather gear, VHF radios, sextant, safety gear, and a bunch more. 

But first everyone was curious about this portly foreigner, where he grew up, and how he got all the way to Japan, and has stayed these many years. So I told them about my childhood in Arizona, how I commuted to my first part-time job on a horse, and how I learned about the Far East while at university. 

Then we got into the nitty gritty of yachts. How they have heavy keels to keep them upright, how the sails work so the yacht can sail in different directions than merely downwind, and so on. Later we got a fan out and everyone gathered round to watch a yacht scuttle across the floor.

The wheels needed a little lubrication, but the demonstration worked all right. The kids joined in with enthusiasm, and I think they'll enjoy the summer sailing season. Nearly a dozen volunteer yachts, ranging from 21 to 33 feet, take the youngsters out on good sailing days (breezy, that is not more than 10 m/s wind) so they get a taste of what sailing is like and how to handle a yacht.

One of the demonstrations involved how 4-part tackle adds to the strength of the puller. With heavy me on one end of the tackle, the kids easily pulled me across the floor. For the most part, the kids could pull their fathers across the floor as well, one on one, or two on one, depending on the size of the child. 

The session ended at noon with everyone sampling some Alpha freeze-dried rice of the type that I carried on Resolution as part of my stores. 

Good time had by all, I believe. 

Saturday night -- 15-05-09

Here it is Saturday night and I haven't blogged for 10 days. I'm making a new washboard for Endeavor. It's upstairs waiting for a coat of epoxy to dry. When I get it all together, I'll post a photo. Need to make permanent mooring lines for the berth. Have the 12mm line, but I'm waiting for some fids from Duckworks. My fids went down with Resolution. 

Got a new zinc for the outboard, but it sticks out the back so far that I can't put the zinc on without turning the boat around in the berth. That'll happen next week when the sun is shining (rained some today).

I'm about three-fourths of the way through my new Western but have other writing to do for Mitsubishi and Toyota. I should be finished with the novel by the end of June. Things move slowly when you near the seventh decade.

Photos with next post.

I'm giving a presentation to a group of Sea Scouts on May 24. 

Going home -- 02-05-09

Today rechristened ENDEAVOR left Yumenoshima yacht harbor's yard for the trip across Tokyo Bay to her new home.

The 8HP Yamaha jumped to life at the first pull of the starter rope. Steady. Throbbing. Anxious to be under way toward a new home. 

We exited the Yumenoshima Yacht Harbor at dead slow. That's what signs plastered all over the sea wall said. Dead slow. 

Outside the harbor, I pumped the Yamaha up to half speed. We were in a narrow shipping channel and had to pass through a set of flood gates before moving out into the Arakawa river and under the 35-meter-high bridge that carried thousands of cars between Tokyo and Chiba every day. Needless to say, ENDEAVOR's mast came nowhere near the bridge. We passed under, and faced a 15-20 meter per second wind on the nose. The main was bent on and we could raise it at a moment's notice. But the channel is only about half a mile wide and leads straight out into Tokyo Bay for about four miles. 

The east wind did not build swells within the confines of the bay, but the waves were 3-4 feet high and the wind whipped their tops to foam. We (My friend Masaya was with me) soon found that ENDEAVOR is a wet boat. Waves don't stop her, but her sharp bow parts them and sends splashing spray over the windward sheer, wetting the superstructure and soaking the person sitting on the windward seat in the cockpit. It only took about five minutes of that wetness to make the decision to get a dodger at the earliest possible moment. 

We drove due east into the weather until we passed the last channel marker and Disneyland appeared north of us. I turned ENDEAVOR until Disneyland was at nine o'clock. The wind was now abeam. Time to put up the main. Except I couldn't get ENDEAVOR to lie ahull in a set position to the wind. After several attempts, I made the decision to leave the main lashed to the boom and motor all the way to Funabashi. ENDEAVOR agreed and settled down for the three-hour drive. 

The course gradually turned northwest and the wind came from the aft quarter. Rollers would come up under our quarter and ENDEAVOR would swing her stern around and lay over. Her hull shape would cause her to surge windward and I'd have to steer her back toward Funabashi. Still, it wasn't a wet ride any more, just wild and wooly. The markers to the Funabashi shipping channel came up. Green to port, red to starboard. The waves simmered down. 

The Funabashi channel is a long one. It took us the better part of a half an hour to get to the last buoy. Head lay Hinode Bridge, and beyond that, Funabashi Boat Park, where ENDEAVOR's berth is D-3. Under the bridge, I cut the outboard to dead slow. We turned into the first line of boats and made our way to the head of the line, but one. ENDEAVOR slipped into her berth like she'd known exactly where to go. 

It's been a good day.

Laina is now Endeavor -- 01-05-09

I found her 1100km south of Tokyo in Shimonoseki. She was designed by Shun Takeichi, who lost his life in the ill-fated wreck of the yacht Taka, which sank during the Osaka-Sydney race. She is a classic JOG offshore yacht of just 6.5 meters LOA. In Shimonoseki, they called her Laina.

Built to Lloyd's scantlings forty years ago, she sells for a pittance of her true worth. I made an offer, the equivalent of US$2000, to her owner. He accepted. The problem was getting her from Shimonoseki to Tokyo. I finally found a shipper that would bring her from Shimonoseki on a return run so the shipping charge was EXTREMELY reasonable. The only thing, I had to wait for nearly three months. On April 23, the shippers got a crane to lift LAINA from the fisherina (fishing harbor with some berths for yachts but no facilities for haulout).

She draws more than a meter and sports a 45% ballast ratio. She's a much smaller boat than my RESOLUTION, though of the same length overall. Still, her keel is more than just a stick protruding from her hull and she has a solid skeg that swings her rudder and keeps her on track. Designed for offshore work. A little yacht. Just right for the rest of my life, me taking tons of meds to keep my heart ticking steadily. 

After 1100km, the truck arrived at the yard at Yumenoshima yacht harbor. The crew unloaded her and put her in a cradle so I could go to work.

Work started with two coats of antifouling. They'd water-blasted the bottom so all I had to do was scrape off a few barnacles and start painting. One day on the job, and she'd lost her name and her bottom was covered with two coats of terribly expensive anti-fouling paint. Next day, I retaped the waterline and started a new color scheme on the topsides.

Painting yellow over blue takes at least two coats, as you can easily see from the photo above. What's more, each coat takes three hours to dry, so the new character of the former LAINA comes into focus only slowly. 

Look familiar? Same paint job as RESOLUTION had. I firmly believe a yellow boat can be seen more easily than any other color. If a bit of wind is blowing and mare's tails are flying, a white hull almost disappears. Not my boat.

James Cook's first ship in the Pacific was RESOLUTION. His second one was ENDEAVOR. Is it any wonder then that I named my new old boat ENDEAVOR?

Her home is a small berth at the Funabashi Boat Park, about 30 minutes drive from my home in Chiba. She'll go to her new home tomorrow. This evening, a friend and I put up her mast. Tomorrow morning, we'll affix the boom and bend on the sails, check out the outboard, and set out for Funabashi. We'll let you know how ENDEAVOR reacts to her new name and home as the days go by.