Picture: We watched the Japanese Taiko drummers the first night we were in Wajima. It was like a dream watching a show on land - sailing from Oki Islands to Wajima was a nightmare.

We left Nishinoshima around noon on Thursday, May 5th. For the first two hours we had light tailwind so it was pleasant. Before we leaving the Oki Islands, the wind died so we had to start the motor. We tried to slow down because according to the weather forecast there would be a storm near the Wajima area but it was supposed to be of short duration. We were hoping, and planning our trip, so that it would pass before we arrive in the area.

It was an uncomfortable ride right after we passed the last of the Oki Islands. The wind was almost a head wind but from two o'clock it changed so that it was coming from the starboard side. Waves were coming across the boat so it was a constant push and shove. At one point we had to use the motor and we felt that we got seaweed in the propeller again. It was pitch-black outside so there was no way I was diving down to the propeller. We had to stop the motor but there was no wind. The boat was rocking violently from side to side. We felt defeated and did not know what to do. Finally we started the motor again; somehow, that violent rocking had shaken the seaweed from the propeller. The uncomfortable rocking turned out to be in our favor.

We had a reasonable wind and with both sails reefed, we were still traveling around 3 to 5 knots at night, a little too fast to avoid the storm ahead. We did our shifts as usual. Ted did the night shift until 2:00 in the morning and then I took over until 5:00. Then I went back to sleep. I needed extra sleep because the uncomfortable ride caused me to feel seasick. Ted took a nap after lunch. After he woke up at about 16:00 the wind started to accelerate. According to the weather forecast we were not supposed encounter the storm until we got close to Wajima. The waves got higher. They were hitting us on the starboard side. It seemed like the wind and waves were becoming more and more aggressive. The wind was wild. Waves were breaking over the cockpit by the barrel full. Ted got drenched from head to toe. He saw a wall of green water coming and thought, "This is how people get washed overboard". He turned his back of the onslaught. Later, he came down, changed into dry clothes and put on his heavy rain gear.

We were both sitting inside at one point and thought about watching a movie to distract our attention from our miserable predicament but we could not concentrate on the movie because of all the noise outside. I went to bed since one of us has to sleep so Ted stayed up and watched. I was woken up by loud banging noises. Ted yelled at me to help him so in my nearly pajamas I went out and helped him pull the genoa in. He was trying to stop the boat by putting the sails in a "heave to" configuration like we did in the South Pacific during a storm. This time it did not work because there has to be plenty of sail area to "heave to". The wind has to push one sail to port and one to starboard so that the boat actually goes nowhere and becomes quite comfortable. We could not put enough sail out because of the high wind so it was not possible to "heave to". It was so difficult furling the genoa in that wind because the sail just kept flapping and the autopilot did not work well because of the slamming of the waves. We finally got it in. He then turned the boat toward the sea so we would have a little more comfortable ride, which meant we were off course but heading straight for some rocks 20 miles ahead.

I decided that we needed to have something warm in our stomach since we did not have dinner so I made some hot coffee for Ted and some noodles and egg for breakfast. The storm was so violent that I had to hold on with one hand all the time. A couple of times I used both hands to do something for one second and I got flung across the galley. I finally just fixed one egg for Ted and abandoned the idea of trying to fix him another egg or one for me.

In a dangerous situation like that Ted would not let me do the watch so I went back to bed. Not long after, I heard Ted yelling for help, so I jumped out of bed and went up to the cockpit. The genoa was not rolled up properly and was flapping violently in the high wind. If we leave it like that it will eventually bring down the forestay and then the mast. We had to let it out and then roll in back in. By that time the wind, waves and the rain were all raging at their peak. The cockpit side curtains had all come loose and were all flapping madly. We were desperately trying to maneuver the boat into the wind so that we could furl the sail again while all the time boat was leaning precipitately sideways. I kept saying to myself, "this is dangerous, this is dangerous" Finally we were able to secure the genoa and "Shuang Yu" continued to fly forward, far too fast.

I could not handle the stress any more so I went back to bed. Ted continued on watch. I don't know how he does it. We were still off course because of the adverse conditions. I was praying the entire night of course. And then Ted poked his head inside and said, "I can see the outer harbor wall." That was like music to my ears. I went outside and saw it.

Even as we motored inside the wall, the wind was relentlessly hitting us on the side. When we docked at the pontoon, it pushed the boat and hit the back on the port (left) side. A man came out of nowhere jabbering in Japanese a mile a minute and helped us dock the boat. We could not believe that we actually made it to port and that our nightmare was over. The next day it was calm and Ted launched the dinghy and spent most of the day fixing the damage with fiberglass. Now it's impossible to see where we hit the dock. He cleaned all the scuff marks off the hull at the same time so now we have a clean boat again.

During the height of the storm, our TV antenna decided its perch on top of the mast was not safe so it abandoned ship and the wind instrument that measures wind speed and direction (also on top of the mast) spun off the charts and doesn't work anymore but Ted thinks he can fix it with fiberglass.