Waiting in the Oki Islands for Typhoon Sinlaku to Pass Well East of Us

17 Apr Waiting in the Oki Islands for Typhoon Sinlaku to Pass Well East of Us

We are in a small group of islands (The oki Islands) in the Sea of Japan, 40 nm west of Honshu. What was intended as a short stopover of a day is now turning into a week.

                                                                                  180knt Typhonn Sinlaku (Starr at flag)

Super Typhoon Sinlaku, with winds up to 180 knots, is causing havoc with the local winds and seas. We want to get north to Hokkaido as quickly as we can, but we aren’t interested in getting beat up in the process.

In the meantime, our stay here couldn’t have been timed better even if we had planned the visit months in advance. Last Saturday was the annual island tug of war. Patrick was recruited, as was Russ Hewetson from a power cat, Sunshine 111. Russ and Margy are Aussies and always ready for some good fun.

                                          60ft powercat Sunrise III owned by Russ and Margy Hewetson

A day after Patrick and Russ gave their shoe sizes, shirt sizes, and weight — Patrick at 130 kilos and Russ at 127 kilos — they were informed that their weight would give their team an unfair advantage, and so, sorry, no tug of war for them!

Bummer!

                                                                      The Shinto blessing by the local priest before the big game

                                                                    One of the mens teams competing

                                                                      The womens team pulling hard!

                                                                 Both men and womens teams pulling at the same time!

                                                               Team Celebration dinner that we were graciously invited to

While watching the well-organized tug of war, we commented on what seemed like a large number of high school and college-age kids. This was the opposite of what we had experienced on most other islands.

We learned that the island we are on is trying out an experiment to reverse the exodus of young islanders.

Check out this link to learn about a daring project to stem the tide of young people leaving for the five major cities: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/09734082231183482

This experiment is already showing positive results, with young families putting down roots and elementary and high school attendance on the rise.

Margy and Russ rented a van and we toured three separate islands, taking the inter-island ferry.

The cherry blossoms were in full bloom and made temple exploring all the better!

                                                                                                    Lighthouse cherry blossoms

                                                                              Shrine tucked into cave

                                                                                    Timing is everything! (Cherry Blossom)

We were invited to the ferry wheelhouse to meet the captain and his crew. Two days later, the captain came to see Starr — and I’ll be darned, ten minutes later he brought back a beautiful wooden box full of Michelin rated Kobe beef, plus a case of locally produced escargot!

                                                                    Captain Fujita running his ferry

                                                                 Cpt. Fujita at Starr coming to visit

                               The Turban shells (Senzae) (escargot) that were given to us by Capt. Fujita

                                                                                                                The Waygu gift box

                                                                            The incredbile Waygu beef

Now we are getting ready to push off in an hour and make our way 400nm north to a town just under the tip of Honshu named Akita. If it gets a bit rowdy, we will head to one of the many ports dotted along the coastline.

                                                                                                              The next leg!

Related posts:

1082nm from Los Cabos, 09d 55.00 N, 122d 54.00 W – Friday, 23nd March, 2001 Mainland Coast of Mexico: Puerto Vallerta to Barra de Navidad – December 17, 2000-January 18, 2001 Seattle to Mexico – November, 2000 Seattle, Washington – September, 2000