Departed Koniya Ko

Where Next?
Bob Williams
Sun 16 Feb 2014 08:05
1700 Position: 28 15.5 N 129 06.7 E
Course: North west
Wind: South sou' east F3, gentle breeze
Sea: slight
Swell: north,1 meter
Weather: Overcast, cool

It looked to be a promising start to our passage north this morning. The sun was shining and a fair breeze was blowing from the east. At 10.30 I motored clear of the harbour into deep water in Oshima Kaikyo (Strait), set the mainsail, bore away to the breeze, and set the jib poled out to starboard. I was expecting the breeze to be somewhat fickle within the confines of the narrow strait, surrounded by steep hills and cut through with numerous valleys running down to some deep set bays as it is, but, with winds forecast to be a nice steady fifteen knots or so, I thought it would not be long before we were out of the strait and into open waters where we would soon be romping north.

Obviously this has not proven to be the case, or I would not have said all the above. Rather, the winds have been mostly light and fickle, coming from all over the place, and often we have been becalmed. I was tempted to motor a couple of times, but each time a breeze would puff up, so I kept on sailing.

We have at last cleared the western end of the strait, the breeze seems to have steadied from the south east, and we are running wing on wing to the north west. Once we have gained a little more sea room we will alter course to the north nor' east, for our next port of call, Migonoura Ko on Yakushima, about 150 miles away. Hopefully we will get there before the winds swing back into the north.

All is well.