Today's Report
Sep. 11/11 0700
JST
Position: 32°58'N, 139°59'E
Remaining to
Hachijojima: 10 nm (ETA: 2 hrs)
Remaining to
Yokohama: 140 nm / 99.8% finished, (ETA: 6 days – TBA)
Saito-san called an hour
earlier than normal this morning to report he had the islands of Hachijojima in
sight, their majestic 701- and 854-meter dormant double volcanoes easily visible
about 7 nm off his port bow.
 |
| Hachijojima and Hachijokojima Islands, Wikipedia |
Saito-san was planning to
furl sails and turn on the engine in about two hours to motor the rest of the
way in to a fishing harbor on the northeast corner of Hachijojima.
He sailed 102 nm in the
period, reporting no particular problems as he moved to within a bit over a day
of sailing time to reach the official ending point of his nearly 3-year
circumnavigation. He will stay in Hachijo until mid-week, then depart –
typhoons allowing – in order to make a scheduled Saturday morning, September
17, arrival in Yokohama.
Final word on the Yokohama
arrival location and time will be issued later in the week as weather
conditions are assessed for next weekend. Japan is currently at the height of
the typhoon season, with 14 North Pacific storms already officially recorded.
That number already matches the total number of storms in 2010, despite still another 2 months still remaining in this year's storm season which ends in November.
It is expected that the
final 140 nm into Yokohama will take under 2 days to complete, which is the
"weather window" he will require. Winds are notoriously weak in the
Tokyo Bay area in August (showing this morning as being less than 4 kts).
Winds were good during the
night mostly from the east at 11-14 kts. He called again at 0800 and said they
had fallen to under 8 kts with boat speed dropping to 3 kts. "That means
another 2 or 2½ hours before I can get there," he judged.
Weather continued to be
unthreatening on ClearPoint projections – at least for the next several days.
A developing tropical
depression is presently 700 nm SW of his position but looks to be staying on a
safe track to Saito-san's northwest. (On ClearPoint it is shown to be roughly
following the earlier path of Typhoon Kulap.) Meanwhile, a new and growing
tropical storm can be seen 600 nm to his SE in the 4-day projection (image).
***
Distance in last 24 hours: 102 nm DOG / 102 nm DMG
DMG over
last 5 days of sailing: 379 nm
Total
distance completed: 28,355 nm
To Yokohama:
147 nm (measured)
To
Hachijojima: 10 nm (measured)
ETA,
Hachijojima: 3 hrs
ETA,
Yokohama: 6 days (TBA)
Heading: 358°
Reported
boat speed: 3.0 - 4.0 kt
Average boat
speed: 4.4 kt
Weather:
clear, scattered clouds
Temperature:
28.0° C
Barometer:
1018 hPa
Wind (from):
11-14 kts ESE & E
Waves: 2.0 m
Sails: Genoa
90%, staysail 0%, mainsail 2pt reef
Engine: 0
hrs
Generator: 9
hrs
[Weather and wind forecasts are from ClearPoint Weather, a Saito 8 Supporting
Sponsor.]
