The Quiet Ripple Defines The Pond

Good day as my boat got her papers. She is no longer an illegal immigrant but an official Okinawan resident. To be frank I am not sure how it happened as the excellent Tabata san sort of took care of it with the minimum of fuss. I now have the registration document and all the necessary stickers for Kanusha.

Aregato Tabata san!

It was another very social day down at the boatyard.  First my new buddy Sato san  and I discuss new engine prospects. He has tracked down a 1Gm10 in Osaka that has been fully overhauled and what is more the people there will take my motor in part exchange. So next priority is to get the engine taken out of the boat. The organizational skills that I have honed over the last 40 years are under test, but once again the most important feature of getting things done is proving to be – make friends with people.

Sato san – he is a very funny guy.

I sand, I varnish, I clean.

All the wood was so desiccated  that endless coats of wood treater and varnish are needed. The black bits have had 4 coats of the former and two of the latter.

I also rebuild the floorboard thing for the cockpit. Many planks were broken, so these I replaced with new wood.  Somehow all the screws had become loose, which I attribute to  wood shrinkage due to intense sun exposure. I tighten and drench everything in wood treatment stuff.

My foundation for years to come

As I am about to leave, two guys pass by. They know my boat, they know Tagushi san, the former owner. They talk a lot, I understand little. I think they were somehow involved in transporting the boat from mainland Japan to Miyako Jima 6 years ago. Anyway they are clearly delighted to see the restoration underway and we slash our palms with sharp knives to become blood brothers.

So, the engine is a concern. My seafaring friends from Japan lift the engine cover and jerk backwards in horror. As you know the Japanese are typically inscrutable but even the most hardened seadog’s inscrutability is dented when they see my engine.

OMG

I have buddies,principally Ichikawa san, who in two days turn up 3 GM10s, er the engine that is in the boat. The plan is to remove my blighted Yanmar and replace with a better one.  I imagine that this will cost some money but my dreams of island travel are only possible with a very reliable engine, so I feel this is something I have to invest in.

Meantime I roll in skeg fun.

The new skeg is a perfect fit. I will cover in anti fouling before I finally fit with loads of silicon adhesive gunge.

Okinawa is remarkably short of marine chandlers. This is strange on an island where each time you turn your head to the left or to the right, you see a boat.

So be it, there is only one and you find it in Tomari.

I feel I could help them with marketing

I have ordered yacht varnish named Tropical Schooner.  What other varnish could I buy?

The lady who runs the place is typically Okinawan delightful. She always makes me a cup of coffee before we talk business.

So, I return to the boat and start the lengthy process of varnishing.  5 coats for everything.

First of five.

The suffix -ness denotes the quality or state of something, for example happiness. Well today I am in Skegness. As I mentioned in a previous post, the skag, or more commonly skeg, on Kanusha was much corroded. I took it to a local metal yard place and asked if they could make me a new one in stainless steel, Well actually the delightful Haruna san did most of the talking.  “No problem!” cry the happy metal workers. Anyway we go back today to pick it up.

Happy Haruna! Who wouldn’t be? How often do you get a brand new skeg?

I deeply regret not taking a photo of the exterior of the shop. It is total chaos.  The ground is strewn with every sort of metal thing you can imagine. There is no order, no pattern. Inside it is worse.

There are no workbenches. The guys, all of whom are as friendly as can be, squat on the floor to work.

New skegs for old. Note the chaos.

They have done a wonderful job and I treasure my new skeg.

This is the guy who did the job. He is standing beside a support he has built for a wave turbine.

As we talk on things metalwork, it turns out that they do a lot of work for OIST. In fact the guy who made my skeg is going to the Maldives next week to install an array of wave turbines with Shintake sensei.

https://www.oist.jp/news-center/news/2017/9/20/sustainable-future-powered-sea

I am so pleased that such an apparent shambles is contributing  to the forefront of sustainable energy research. It makes my skeg even more special.

It is very gratifying to have an occupation where the rewards are so obvious. After decades of generally promoting stuff with little feedback on whether my efforts were having any significant effect, now I take a paint brush dosed in varnish, smear it on a chunk of wood and the reward is instantaneous. Job satisfaction.

Cabin beginning to look good.

Sundays are very sociable at the marina. Today Ichikawa san, an OIST colleague and very fine sailor passes by. He then invites Sato san, who is a professional rigger, over to the boat. He comes with a crowd and we spend happy time examining  Kanusha in great detail.  A lot of time is spent discussing where to find a second hand Yanmar 1 GM. I have allies.

Thunder Box

I have spent the week sanding, treating, and now varnishing. As I have mentioned the satisfaction is immediate. What was dry and dirty now shines. The cabin is coming along very well. Today, between social calls, I paint the roof of the cabin.

Grime

Spot the difference.

I did this

Very smart

By the way, Neil Thompson Boats http://www.neilthompsonboats.co.uk/  who build Norfolk Gypsies, have been very responsive and helpful. Thank you. Buy boats from them.

So, back to the boatyard. Most of this is archival,-apologies.

More wonderful hard wood, anded and and treated.

Hand rails getting ready.

Trusty sander, what would I do without you?

Harry explains the mechanics of the gaff rig. She is typically kind.

Petit a petit

21st January

Such fun.

One of the things I like most about where I now live is a vegetable plot that is just up the road. I have spent many years of my life trying to grow vegetables and I know a maestro when I see one.

It is a tiny plot squeezed in between  nondescript buildings.  Yet it is a masterpiece.

Amazing cabbages

The gardener is an old lady. She squats between the rows, generally weeding and cleaning up. I cannot take a photo of her, it would be too invasive, but we grin at each other.

Daikon!

You cannot grow Daikon in clay. Much of Okinawan soil is clay. Clearly much work has been done to lighten the soil in this tiny plot to allow the white radish to thrive.

Potatoes, praties, tatties. You gardeners will notice that it is January and the potatoes are flowering.

When I am not admiring this vegetable patch, I am sanding, cleaning and treating Kanusha. I gently coax her from destitution to beauty.

Bits of wood before and after sanding.

Cleaning brass has been one of my greatest pleasures. What was dull, dirty and neglected is suddenly transformed into something shining, brilliant and cared for.  What other activity can display such obvious progress so quickly? My understanding of the benefit of brass cleaning started at school when we would huddle in the boot room cleaning the brass  fittings of our cadet corps belts and gaiters.

We used Brasso. It was excellent.

Japan does not use brass. Indeed has never used brass it would appear.  I do not know why not, but there it is. Therefore it is impossible to find brass cleaner of the likes of Brasso in Okinawa. I finally track down a product that is used for polishing trumpets and other, er, brass instruments. It is hopeless.

My boat is infested with brass, all of which is much tarnished. Let’s look at the lamps. The boat has two archaic paraffin lamps which are clearly catering to the romantic. Notwithstanding I can imagine the pleasure of being at anchor on some obscure Japanese island reading to the light of paraffin lamps.

One of the mantles is busted

So I try to clean up the lamps. My big breakthrough comes with the use of very fine wire wool.

I yearn tragically for Brasso

Not wonderful but my lamps are looking much better. Alladin?

A very successful day as the boat passed inspection by the Okinawan Harbor authorities. What?!

I think they are basically checking that you have life jackets, a fire extinguisher, a flare and of course a whistle. Any way another hurdle bounded over with the help of Tabata san,

I also have success with the skag. This is a piece of metal that essentially protects the propeller. My skag is very heavily corroded and I worry that it will be a pain to remove, However the retaining bolts loosen easily and a bit of hammering and levering and the skag starts to move.

You do not mess with skag.

I continue to clean in every corner and to treat all the totally dried out woodwork. The weather is beautiful and I thoroughly enjoy myself.

I will find a metal shop that specializes in skag,

So I make a couple of poor IPhone videos more as an archival record than anything else.

I take some time to indulge in birds.

Little ringed Plover philosophizes

Intermeditate egret runs from the cops

Common Sandpiper. Dangerous usage. I mean common is not too cool these days

Grey Wagtail – Winter visitor

Cold Chinese Bulbul

Cosy is not a word that you would normally associate with Okinawa, it being very hot most of the time. This week however has been cold, I mean like a staggering 10 degrees. This has brought out a great enjoyment of living in my new crib-it is cosy.

Moving was hellish. So many boxes, where to put everything, hauling it all up to the 3rd floor, getting rid of empty boxes. I should have employed someone but I am so much enamored of my ‘I haven’t got any money’ frame of mind that it was not possible.

So much to do

The easiest thing to do is to unroll carpets

Anyway after a couple of weeks I am now pretty much installed. I love my new crib. It is just the right size – small but perfectly formed.

From the balcony. That is the sea behind the trees.

Where I live

700 mbps

I love James’ stuff

Where I sleep.

The washing machine works, the shower is hot and the water pressure is intense. All in all a wonderful place to live.