Captains Log; Stardate â€�" June 26, 2013. These are the voyages of the good ship “Rum Doxy”, who’s ongoing mission is… Sorry; I always wanted to say that. But here we are nine days into our voyage and I must say that, so far, It ranks right up there with the exploits of Magellan, Bligh, and Cook. Far different from sailing is voyaging. Sailing is what I have done most of my adult life, and includes mostly daysailing and racing in the confined waters of the Columbia River, Galveston Bay, and the inshore ocean waters of Southern California. Sailing is where you sleep in your own bed, get up in the morning to a long, hot shower, and leisurely make your way to the marina where you find the boat sitting snugly in a slip with barely a breath of motion to be found anywhere. You greet the crew, climb aboard, ice the beer and stow the sandwiches. The crew busy themselves with bending on sail and other sailor like things and then you motor out of the marina for a few hours of sailing or racing in typically nice weather. I mean, if the weather were too bad, why go out? You return to the marina, clean up the boat, and go home to your family, a nice dinner, maybe another shower, and back to your warm bed. Ah, Sailing! Now voyaging, from a swabe’s perspective, is an entirely different animal. It began for me years ago when I started sailing and reading all the sailing magazines about the lifestyle of voyages across the ocean. The ones that make the imprint are those describing tropical trade breezes whispering you across the placid seas of the South Pacific to exotic destinations such as the Marquesas, Tahiti, Samoa, Fiji and uncountable tiny atolls just waiting to be discovered by you. Night watches with the moonlight providing a path to follow, billions of stars, and soft warm breezes filling the sails to perfection. Days are filled communing with the ever present dolphins, whales, turtles and Mahi Mahi. Sunsets are the work of master painters and always include a green flash. So, this was my dream. Then finally, after giving up the dream of ever being able to sail across the ocean, opportunity arrives with Rum Doxy. What’s that? Japan to Canada? But that is not the South Seas! It’s “Tales of the South Pacific” not the North Pacific. Nobody sails across the North Pacific, for crying out loud. My friends said, “Take lots of pictures.” “Of what?” I said. “Be sure to wear lots of sunscreen”, they said. “It’s the North Pacific, there is no sun”, said I. Oh well, off to Japan I go, loaded down with sunscreen and optimism. Mike met me at the airport and we took the express train back to Yokohama where Annette and Rum Doxy were waiting. We had an interesting few days being feted by the locals, including the world famous Minori Saito, who I had read much about for his single handed voyages around the world. He holds the Guiness Record of seven times and he is 79 years old and planning yet another trip. The highlight of Japan for me was their plumbing. No kidding, their toilets and showers far exceed ours for comfort, gadgetry and efficiency. The first time I took a shower at the marina I was flattened against the wall by the best water pressure I had ever experienced. We finally checked out of customs and left Yokohama on June 17. Motoring down Tokyo Bay took all day and we were surrounded by the heaviest amount of shipping traffic imaginable. Thankfully, the boat has AIS tracking that spots, identifies and tracks all other vessels. This was in heavy use for the first couple of days as we cleared away from Japan and the shipping lanes. I’ll check in with y’all later for more adventure.

--