Today's Report
January 30/11 JST
Position: 21°17'N, 157°53'W (Honolulu)
Remaining distance to Yokohama finish: 13.4%
Now back on his boat, a week after his surgery Saito-san said he's feeling "just a little pain" after dispensing with his crutches yesterday. "I maybe walked just a little too much," he said, "and now there's a little pain behind my knee." He said his next clinic checkup, with Dr. Chan, is set for this coming Wednesday.
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He's happy to see his long-time sailing friend Takashi Ichige, the Commodore of YYC Cruising Club in Yokohama. Ichige-san, a long-time Saito supporter, was involved in final preparations for the circumnavigation start in October, 2008. He arrived in Honolulu a few hours ago and will visit Saito for about a week, while staying in a nearby hotel.
He came carrying a box full of goodies the Saito 8 Committee prepared, including Japanese books, assorted Saito 8 tee shirts and caps, and other odds and ends including a requested resupply of meishii (business cards).
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Exactly one year ago tomorrow Saito-san was departing Punta Arenas, Chile, as he embarked on his third and finally successful attempt to transit Cape Horn.
Here's what we and local resident Rose Bliss wrote at that time, and then our comments again 4 days later (on Day 490) when he again entered the waters of the Pacific Ocean facing strong headwinds and major uncertainties as he edged up up the rocky coast of southern Chile.
That roughly 1,000-nm stretch along the Chilean coast was easily the most perilous part of rounding The Horn, due to quickly changing weather and nearly relentless exposure to storms and rolling side-on waves that sweep eastward (and thus coastward) from the open Pacific.
And then there were the tidal waves from the massively destructive Chilean earthquake 3 weeks later.
