Potential Race Crew sails Scarlette

SOUTH CHINA SEA (Feb. 22, 2009) -- Scarlette's potential future race crew traveled a total of 13 miles Sunday as it and the boat headed the furthest south from its mooring since the 1985 J/24 sailboat was bought by her owner last May.

"We were down almost as far as Ginowan Harbor before we headed back to Kadena Marina," said Cap'n J. "We made awesome time, had overcast skies and absolutely no rain."


Deckhands Kenny Yergler and Eli Hyman joined Cap'n J aboard Scarlette for the 2 hour and 40 minute jaunt along the west coast of Okinawa with an average speed of 5 mph.


"I like the way this crew is starting to mesh," said Cap'n J. "It's a sailboat not a cruise ship so there's always something to do except sit on your butt and Kenny and Eli are always willing to do their part as crew while sailing Scarlette," he said.

The personalities of this crew also seem to be jelling well. "Eli seems to have the most experience of the three of us and Kenny is always willing to do his part and has a great laid back attitude," said Cap'n J. "Getting a crew that knows what it's doing and that can weather any personalities differences is not easy," he said. "Hopefully, we've found the right mix."

The crew left Kadena Marine at about 6:45 a.m. Sunday and arrived back dockside at 9:30 a.m.

"It didn't take us very much time to pack up the boat, which again makes sailing with these two fun, because they know what to do and start doing it without being asked," said Cap'n J.

All of the crew took a turn at the helm during Sunday's sail to get a better feel for Scarlette.

"I also finally had an opportunity to cut the mainsheet so it isn't so long," said Cap'n J.

"The next phase for Scarlette will be to start sprucing up the trailer for the Spring refit," said Cap'n J.

The above is our trip from Scarlette's GPS system.

NOTE: Adjust the volume in the video! It's automatically too loud. Notice the heal in Scarlette as Cap'n J puts Scarlette through the paces. He backs off the wind a little so videographer Kenny Yergler doesn't get thrown around too much. Eli Hyman's hands hold the jib sheet.



NOTE: Adjust the volume in the video! It's automatically too loud. Notice the heal in Scarlette as Cap'n J puts Scarlette through the paces. He backs off the wind a little so videographer Kenny Yergler doesn't get thrown around too much. Eli Hyman's hands hold the jib sheet.

Scarlette's future racing crew to sail

KADENA MARINA, Japan (Feb. 21, 2009) -- The future race crew of Scarlette will set out on its maiden voyage Sunday, Feb. 22, 2009 according to the skipper of this 1985 J/24 sailboat.

"Aboard will be deckhands Kenny Yergler and Eli Hyman for a Sunday sail that may be one of the most exciting yet," said Cap'n J Saturday. "I've set a show time of 6 a.m. with a launch time of 6:30 a.m." Sunrise will be at 6:58 a.m. Moonrise is at 5:05 a.m.

High tide at Kadena Marina will be at 6:43 a.m. and the morning's low tide will be at 12:21 p.m.

The crew is scheduled to return at 9:30 a.m.

According to Kadena weather Winds Sunday will be 12 knots with gusts up to 18 knots. Partly cloudy skies with a low of 57 degrees farenheit and a high of 70 degrees farenheit.

According to Buoy weather, the crew will have conditions that are very windy with large choppy seas. Small short period wind waves.Winds: S 20 to 27 knots Seas: SE 5 feet at 4 sec.

Second Single-handed Trip

KADENA MARINA (Feb. 16, 2009) -- Celebrated President's Day with a single-hand trip down to the Sunabe Sea Wall and back. The trip took a total of 2 hours and twenty-two minutes.

I traveled 8.9 miles in the trip. My average speed was 4 mph.

I did a radio check before heading out and Kadena Marina confirmed. However, on the return leg I dropped both sails at the same time. Or at least tried to and the ship spun a couple of times. Someone at the marina saw this and thought I was in trouble.

I wasn't.

But it didn't help that I didn't answer their radio calls.

Got to remember to turn up the radio full blast when I'm by myself.

I did figure out how to import the GPS maps from my navigation system into the ship's log.

So there will be more additions to this blog.

I didn't take any photos of myself this time. I don't know why, maybe it's becoming more routine to me and less of an event.

First Sunday Sail in 2009

Eli Hyman, deckhand, sits on the port side of Scarlette as the sun rises over Okinawa.

KADENA MARINA, Japan -- (Feb. 8, 2009) Scarlette's first Sunday sail of 2009 ended with a thrilling ride in after the day started out with seas similar to a bath tub.

On hand during this sail was Eli Hyman, deck hand (and former Hunter 28 owner) and Cap'n J.

Cap'n J arrived at the marina at 5:20 a.m. to get gas for Scarlette's engine and noticed that he had left the VHF radio on overnight after a quick out and back in sail with a neighbor on Saturday afternoon.

After filling up on base where gas is now a somewhat reasonable $1.81 a gallon, he headed back to the marina to find Eli waiting at the marina gate.

Despite acknowledging that it had been more than a year since he'd been on the water. Eli fit in well with Scarlette and made excellent crew aboard this 1985 J/24 sailboat.

At first the seas, were very glassy and Scarlette's crew was a little concerned that they'd get no wind or light winds all morning but that changed at around 8:30 a.m. after tooling around for nearly two hours on either engine power or virtually no wind at all.



But after heading toward storm clouds, Scarlette's voyage dramatically changed as Eli got a chance to stick Scarlette's port-side rail into the water as we headed north. Our original heading was south.



After giving Eli a chance to get comfortable with Scarlette, Cap'n J took the helm. Eli offered to take some photos which was greatly appreciated as I have few photos of me at the helm of my own boat.



Three hours after our 6:30 a.m. launch we pulled into Kadena marina and the crew departed around 10 a.m.

Pictures and a video of Cap'n J at the helm of Scarlette are below this posting.
Trip started at 6:30 a.m.
Finished at 9:30 a.m.

We traveled 10.4 miles. Overal average speed for the trip was 4 mph.

From 6:30 to 8 a.m. the trip's average speed was 2 mph.

From 8 a.m. to 9:30 a.m. the trip's average speed was 5 mph.

TURN YOUR VOLUME DOWN -- Video of Feb. 8, 2009 sail

NOTE: Please turn your volume down as the wind in the video created from the sails of Scarlette is pretty loud. I'm going pretty fast so the wind sound makes it sound even faster.

SOUTH CHINA SEA -- Cap'n J puts Scarlette through the motions during a sail Sunday. Notice the heal (the way the boat is leaning) on Scarlette as she typically heals like this or a little more. "That's all part of the fun," said Cap'n J. "Especially when the toe rails on the side dip in the water and you ask yourself is this going to tip over?" Unfortunately this is the best quality for this video from my cell phone and the noise is the wind created by the sails.

Scarlette to make first passage in 2009

KADENA MARINA (Feb. 7, 2009) Scarlette, a 1985 J/24 sailboat, will sail early Sunday morning with a scheduled crew of two on it's first voyage of 2009, Scarlette's skipper said Saturday. "The weather looks good for a sail and I'm ready to get her out on the water," said Scarlette's skipper, Cap'n J.

The crew scheduled for this trip will be deckand Eli Hyman, a former owner of a Hunter 28, and Cap'n J. "I haven't been on the water in a year!" said Hyman in an e-mail Feb. 3. The last time Scarlette surfed the South China Sea was on Dec. 24, 2008. "I've been putting on nets along the lifelines and it's been not very fair weather," said Cap'n J about the reasons why it's taken more than a month to get Scarlette out on the seas.

According to the WWW Tide and Current Predictor, high tide will be at 6:18 a.m. Sunday with the sunrise at 7:10 a.m. "I've scheduled a 6:00 a.m. showtime and a 6:30 a.m. launch for Scarlette," said Cap'n J. "We should be easing out of the Kadena Marina Harbor just as the sun starts lighting the skies."

Light winds with a slight chop with small short period wind waves is part of the forecast issued from Buoy weather. Winds will be from the northeast at 10 to 13 knots. Seas will be E 3 feet at 10 seconds.

Kadena's weather site had a slightly different forecast, said Cap'n J. Kadena weather is forecast partly cloudy skies with 6 knot winds from the east. Temperatures will be from a high of 74 degrees farenheit with a low of 61 degrees farenheit.


with a show time of 6 a.m. and launch time of 6:30 a.m. from Kadena Marina

Trailer tires

The back tires on my trailer need to be replaced. I've put this off probably too long mostly because I get so little use out of the trailer.

But when you consider the wheels is what is holding up the trailer which holds the boat when it's on them, then it's time for an upgrade.

In the photo you can see where the rightside has been rubbed down. This happened because I had the trailer pushed with the wheels locked when I first moved the boat. Instead of jacking up the trailer and trying to unfreeze them, I tried to have the weight of the boat and trailer unlock them.

It didn't work.

Rookie mistake. Later after getting the tounge of the trailer fixed after it popped off during Scarlette's first tow toward the ramp, I was able to unlock these frozen tires by jacking up the trailer. Taking some WD-40, a screwdriver and a hammer, I was unable to unfreeze the heavily rusted tires.

But it was too late. Now the bill will cost about $200 to get the tires fixed.

Nets 6

Spent about 45 minutes today attaching the starboard-side net near the bow to the toe-rail. (Sorry for all the sailor jargon). The net kind of bowed across the top which I do not like the look of but it may have to stand like that as this is the way I will attach the net to the toe rail to ensure no kids slip underneath the net.

The net effect is that the middle part of the net is lower than I actually would like it which almost defeats the purpose of having a net but I'm tired already of doing this and I just want to get it done so I can sail.

I'll probably have to remove the net and reinstall it to get it to look like I'd like it. Not looking forward to that at all.

WWII Bomb to be set off Thursday near Scarlette

I got this letter from the Kadena Harbor Master via e-mail.

"There will be no vessels authorized to exit the marina on Thursday, Feb. 5, until the "All Clear" is announced.

He also sent a copy of the letter from the Yomitan Village Mayor to a base official entitled:

Request of Cooperation for Disposal of Unexploded Ordnance at Toguchi Beach.

"I hope this letter finds you doing well." It's start off like one of those SPAM e-mails from some guy in Africa who with your help will be able to remove millions of dollars from a bank if you simply e-mail him back.

The letter continues: "A mine (No. 5) of the Imperial Japanese Army (weight 205 kilograms) was found at Toguchi beach on Dec. 18, 2008. The water area within a 3,000 meter-radius from the detonation point will be off limits on Feb. 5, Thursday from 9 a.m. till the disposal of the mine is completed about noon. I would like to ask for your cooperation and notification to all organizations affected."

Alternate time and date due to inclement weather: Feb. 6 from 9 a.m. to about noon.

Cooperation requested

1. Notification to people and organization affected (letters, signs, etc.O

2. Permission for emergency vehicles (police cars) to enter the base in case of spotting a person (persons) in the water area or a person (persons) about to enter the water area.

Keizo Yasuda
Yomitan Village Mayor

Nets 5

Spent about an hour Monday afternoon installing the nets on the starboard side lifelines.

Nets 4

KADENA AIR BASE, Japan -- (Feb. 1, 2009) Bought some additional rope today at the base exchange so I'll be ready to put in some work after work on Scarlette.