reading the air & contemplating death at sea
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| The crew of the Mario Express |
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Reading the air - understanding a situation without words or sensing other's feelings, an important concept for understanding a given situation.
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Hiroshima, Japan (2002) - A co-worker introduced me to a fellow who was a member of a local yacht racing team. I'm not quite sure what she'd told him about me but I imagine it had something to do with an old photo I had on the wall at the office. It was from my pirate reenactor days in America. That's how it all started, another episode.
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Continued...
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[Fast forward]
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I was invited to be a guest crew on a racing yacht (Farr 40'). The nine man team was set to enter a race in nearby Kure City about a three hour cruise under power just northeast of Hiroshima. I was nervous about accepting the invitation because I only knew two out of nine crew members and my Japanese ability was rudimentary at the time.
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| .Maintenance Always done high in the air . . |
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On race day I arrived at the marina and greeted everyone in my best Japanese. Unsure what to do, I just did as everyone else was. Everybody was more busy than talkative, which was fine with me because, at the time, my Japanese language skills were that of an infant's. It felt strange responding only when spoken to; actually, it's normal in Hiroshima because the locals aren't as prone to rambling as westerners are.
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[Fast forward]
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We cruised under power for a couple hours until arriving at a staging area designated by buoys in the middle of Kure harbor. There were forty or so boats present, about a third of which, the same class as our own; although, there were variants of racing class and some hybrid pleasure boats there too. To me, this indicated the potential to see some jack legged sailing.
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Local history...
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Kure City, Japan (circa 2004)
You can see two oil tankers protruding into the harbor on the right;
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The battleship Yamato 大和 (Circa 1941)
docked at Kure Naval Arsenal
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| Kurahashi Island the morning of the race |
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Because I was a guest, I sat at the stern next to the owner and the lone life preserver. It was interesting to see socializing in the middle of the harbor between the assorted boats; people were tossing beer and wine to each other from boat to boat. Everyone looked to be having a good time; although, some of the crews out there seemed drunk. We did not participate in the drinking.
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| Heading home in rough winter conditions of the Inland Sea . . . |
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The race format was to sail ten laps around two buoys positioned a few miles apart in the middle of the harbor; one leg was upwind the other leeward, or downwind. The biggest challenge would be navigating the traffic near the buoys at the turns while various classes of yachts, all under sail and operated by drunks of various skill levels, were also making their turns.
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The start was chaotic as numerous boats, all under wind power, attempted to synchronize crossing the starting line at the official start time with being at full speed; the pre-race tension was further stoked because boats of various classes and sizes, were jockeying for position in close quarters. That's when the disparate skills of the crews became frighteningly obvious.
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| We raced from Etajima to Shikoku, and back in the Seto Inland Sea in stormy conditions. The wind was pretty strong that day and we probably shouldn't have been out there; but we raced anyway.
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During the race a pattern developed. Our boat was in the larger class so, with the spinnaker raised we pulled away from the smaller boats. Heading into the wind, skillful tacking allowed us to avoid the alcoholics on the course; navigating the turns at the buoys was chaotic. Later, while approaching the midpoint of a leeward turn, I heard yelling coming from another boat; it seemed one of their crew fell overboard. In the ensuing confusion, as two fellow crew members struggled to pull him from the water, his other shipmates started throwing up red liquid all over the deck. Apparently, red wine and sailing don't mix.
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| The owner |
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| .One of many islands I pondered swimming to. |
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Later in the race, we had our own close call at the upwind buoy; another yacht, in the same class as our own, aggressively cut inside of us at the midpoint of the turn and was on a perpendicular collision course with our portside stern. I saw our captain was busy looking elsewhere so, lacking the precision Japanese (language) skills for the situation, I yelled "yaaaah abracadabra!!" Our captain, miraculously, reacted twirling his wheel hard to the left, quickly, increasing our boat's turning rate, and the bow of the oncoming yacht swept along our portside hull towards the stern missing us by less than a foot; the bow had swept right past the very spot the owner and I had just vacated.
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This isn't our boat, but we knew the feeling
Nearing the finish line of the Kurahashi race we were in
front running at 16 knots when the spinnaker
tore causing us to capsize 100 meters from the finish line.
I clung to the rail like a tick to a bloodhound.
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.The owner & I
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The fee for this adventure was to abide by local customs and protocols; nobody expressed this to me. I had to read the air.
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| .Searching for the Inn on Kurahashi Island |
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...survival at sea.
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