After a day watching the wind assaulting the coast around Choshi, albeit with the pleasure of doing a little sightseeing, Spirit of Cardiff is now under way again. The wind has dropped, and we're making good progress to Muroran, on the Japanese island of Hokkaido. But we're being chased northwards by Typhoon Hagibis, and we know a second one is forming. Typhoons coming a month early definitely weren't part of the plan.

Getting to Muroran shouldn't be a problem, but we need to know our long thousand mile passage to Petropavlovsk-Kamchatskiy on Russia's Kamchatka Peninsula is going to be safe. We'll be following the Kuril Islands chain, and whilst we should be able to seek offshore shelter, we're not so sure about harbours if the need becomes desperate.

Apart from the sterling work done by Yamaha's engineers whilst the boat was being serviced yesterday, we also had a visit from a representative of Solpower Japan Corporation, who've provided our all-important Soltron fuel additive for this part of the trip. As well as the special additive itself, he presented us each with a lightweight jacket - bright yellow, so you should see us coming.

He also gave us a handful of Japanese good luck charms, two of which are hanging in the cabin, and one of which jangles merrily every time we hit a bump. Not that we're complaining. We've decided we need as much good luck as we can get!

Clive Tully

Copyright Clive Tully ©2002
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