Many of you will have met Naoki Uemura during his stay on our guest dock. Naoki sailed to Berkeley from Japan in August, and is now well underway to his next destination, Marquesas.
I asked him a couple of questions about his journey here.
Question: Did you have any scary moments on the trip, or any worries that turned out not to be as bad as expected?
Answer: I had a bad weather on the 10th day after I left Japan. The bad weather lasted for 3 days. The maximum wind speed was around 40 knots. With only small head sail, I sailed to leeward. I know my boat is strong, but I felt uneasy. Fortunately, I didn’t have any scary moments. My Japanese friend who traveled around the world by his sailboat said “I had small problems everyday, big problems every week”, so I was worried that I have to repair many things, but I didn’t have many problems. To prevent problems, I checked every part of boat often. Almost no repairs were needed. I was just looking around and adjusting heading and sails.
Question: What’s your next destination, and route, and why did you decide to take that route?
Answer: I will go to Marquesas in French Polynesia directly from Berkeley. I want to go to Southern Pacific. My friend from Belgium in my marina recommended me to go to Marquesas. He said that the area has not been developed for tourists is nice to visit. I will visit some islands in Southern Pacific, I will go back to Japan in summer of 2025.
Question: What was your best moment so far?
Answer: The best moment was passing under Golden Gate Bridge! Passing under Golden Gate Bridge and visiting San Francisco Bay is big dream for Japanese cruising sailors, because famous Japanese sailor Kenichi Horie crossed the pacific ocean and arrived San Francisco in 1962. Of course, I went to see his boat in San Francisco maritime museum. I shared the moment of passing under the bridge in my YouTube channel for Japanese sailors. I received many comments saying they were excited and impressed.
You can follow his endeavors on:
Instagram: @naoue123
AIS: You can also track his boat SV Tsubame on AIS ( MSI: 431024491 ), although there are some problems getting updated locations while he is out on the open ocean.
Other visitors: Just before Naoki left, we had Devin Jones arrive. He is doing a Sidney, BC, to Sydney, Australia, trip on his boat, SV Whiskey Soul, a fine looking Alberg 37 and is planning to make a couple of stops going down the west coast before finally heading west.
You can follow him on Instagram @whiskeysoul_sailing
Previous visitors:
SV Kanoa, the big aluminium sailboat that visited in spring 2023 has popped up on AIS in Richards Bay, South Africa, after having been off the AIS for a while (at least the non-satelite tracked part that I’m too cheap to pay for).
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