Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year

Picture by Marijke 

at Odo Yacht Harbor, Fukuoka.

Enjoy the season &

Salute.

Alishan went on the Move for a Haul Out.

Alishan went On the Move.
Ehhhh....???

All the way to Odo Yacht Harbor, here in Fukuoka.

Indeed she was due for a haul out.

The last time was in 2011, so Alishan was in need of:

New Bottom Paint,

New Zinc Blocks,

New PSS prop shaft seal,

Teak Deck Repairs,

and a Hull Buff.

The video shows it all:

Odo's boatyard MarineTech took care of most of it.

We only had to supply...The Funds  ;-}

The whole haul out went smoothly.
 But we (incl Nori and Wakame) are so happy it's all over again...

Happy to be back in the water.

Now, just wondering:

What will the world look like next time?

Salute.

Trailing Mount Kosho, Fukuoka.

Early November is a right time to hit the mountain trails.

Nice weather, good temperature,

 awesome skies, pretty trees.

So as a final training for the Fukuoka GOOD JOG Marathon we decided to trail/hike Mt Kosho, Fukuoka.

See here (at Youtube) what my GoPro recorded.

(still a learning process, but fun indeed).

Salute

An other Perfect Autumn Sunset Sail.

Isn't this Magic Autumn Sailing...

Cheers!!

Tako-yaki.

Fun to make.

...enough said...

Ken the Man.

Serene Sailing Hakata Bay.

(should say: drifting due to lack of wind...) 

In the distance my favorite hiking trails:

 From Mt Raizan (r) to Mt Sefurie (l).

Meet you here or there.

Salute.

i GOOD JOG-ed the 2014 Fukuoka Marathon.

50.000 people wanted to join the first

Fukuoka GOOD JOG Marathon held in November 2014.

Only 10.000 got a starting-ticked. 

I was lucky.

A BIG Thank You to

the organizers, runners, sponsors, supporters

 and the Wonderful Volunteers.

It was SUPER.

Some pictures: 

Running friend Riki is volunteering at " the head-office".

My "home-town": Meinohama fisherman's families are supporting 

left and right. Eji and Etsuko san ( "our" SUMIE maru) with their 

grandchildren  (left).

Oki Arrigatto! 

Marina Animal Clinic staff.

(Nori and Wakame's care-givers).

Yachting friend Mena (r) and neighbor.

Total Towel Service at the goal by Noriko.

Happy Times: 4 h 41 minutes.

( exactly the same score @ 2014 Ibusuki Marathon).

And 2 videos, of course taken with my GoPro.

They are good action cameras, but even so, 

with running there is some "shaking".

Dear Mr Google who works at YouTube was so kind to 

remove those last shakes.

This is part 1: from the start in Tenjin to about 17K

Part 2 is from 26K to the finish at Shima, Itoshima

The bit in the middle?....oops, flat camera battery...

All in All, an Amazing GOOD JOG.

Hope to run you next year.

Salute.

Not a laundry Monday: Trailing from Mt Raizan to Kanayama.

I know, it should have been a Laundry Monday.

But the weather forecast was perfect ...

... with shitty-windy-wet stuff predicted within 48 hours,

 so we decided to hit the road ...eh ... trail the mountains. 

Not far away, just the charms south of Fukuoka.

And indeed, it became a very enjoyable Hiking Monday.

This YouTube tells it all.

Click On THIS link.

Thank you Noriko, Riki, Sachie and Kondou san.

Hope to Trail you Soon.

Salute.

Typhoon Vongfong comes to Alishan for a Cup of Tea.

So many times, we are asked what it is to be on board of Alishan during a typhoon.

See here some recording at our harbor during typhoon Vongfong aka # 19.

We are lucky as the center of the typhoon passes us to the East, hence we get NE and N winds, the "perfect wind direction for our location. 

Shortly after finishing the edit for this video, the real wind started. Yes when the barometer was going UP from 992 to 1010.  

Maybe we had for a while > 40 knots sustained with gusts well over that. 

Peanuts for what it was "blowing" down in southern Japan. 

But enough for us.

All is well.

Salute

Fukuoka Sunset Sailing at TripAdvisor

....and this is what some of our customers say about 

Fukuoka Sunset Sailing

at TripAdvisor.

To read, click HERE

Salute

a Picture Posting

These days a lot of my time is spent on board of Fu Kyo.

That's good...but i miss the mountain outings...

See here a couple of pictures taken from the GoPro videos.

An overnight-er at Odo Yacht harbor, being chartered  for the World SNIPE Masters 2014

A trip on board of Fu Kyo is becoming a top-hit for the KLM crew here in Fukuoka.

Well, we too luff it....

as we can talk 80 miles an hour in Dutch of course.

Gezondheid!

Fu Kyo's customers are enjoying a nice sea breeze, 

comfy sunshine and 

Fukuoka Sky-line. 

Spiced up with some of our Salty Sea Stories.

Yes, we have done it,

at last..

Our Selfie!

Salute.

August Fun

Hmmm, the tittle is August Fun....

Oleh-oleh, did we have many-many rainy days this month!!

This is our 19th summer here in Fukuoka 

and can't remember we have had so much heavenly water.

But..yes, there were a few sunny days and one of them was August 7th.

Fu Kyo was jumping her lines to take us for a spin on 

Hakata Bay and see here the YouTube:

or click HERE 

Bet you like to be on board next year.

Salute

An other pretty day on and around Mt Kuju Land.

....peeppeep peeppeep....

the alarm makes oodles of noice at 02:00 and by

03:00 we are all packed-up inside Esther the Car 

and zoeffing over semi deserted roads towards Mt Kuju,

 in the heart of Kyushu.

Just after sunrise we arrive at Chojabaru and here we split-up,

.....after a chu-chu of course..... :

Marijke with her Nikon and 

me with my GoPro and Montrail shoes. 

Click on the link: A Day at Mt Kuju area

or just see it here.

And yes, it was an other Amazing Day,

only a few hours away from the boat and the sea but

 it felt like a long vacation. 
The weather wasn't super (i got rained off the mountain as can be seen in the tube) but thanks to the strong-ish wind we had plenty of clear skies as well.
 Luff the Clouds.
That day i spotted a rainbow at 5 different locations.
Who's Lucky?

Regarding the video: it turns out that transferring the 

"real" to YouTube does something to the quality. 

Still have to find out what the best settings are.

Salute

GoPro did it again on board of Fu Kyo the Catamaran

Ahoy readers,

This is so much fun.....

...once the result (still poor) is there.

Click on the link: Party in the Sun

or just see it here:

(yep, this is what they call: a job.....)

Looking forward to welcome you on board,

Salute.

GoPro on Board

Of course it took a few weeks of

 thinking, 

YES-NOing and

 Yen turning. 

But since 2 weeks a homeless GoPro 3+  ended up on board of Alishan...and by times on board of Fu Kyo.

See here the first attempt.

Salute

Happy moments on the road and up the hills

Indeed, indeed,

The Red Rocket was "on the out" again. 

This time with buddy paddler Akari san.

The course was set: we were gonna do a coastal circle in Itoshima, 

that favorite patch of country-site to the west of Fukuoka.

Red Rocket did a selfie.

We had often done this coastal road "on the run".

 To the top of the hill, where this picture was taken,

..is...a....pff...pfff... breath-killer.

Be it on Asics or be it on the Red Rocket. 

But for sure, it took way less time when paddling.

And here is Akari, partner in push-bike adventures.

This picture was taken at Itoshima's one and only

Sea Salt Factory.

A Picture Stop at an inshore bay almost at the far west-end of Itoshima. 

Total Ks for the day: 60+

Akari san posing on the Musical Bridge 

 somewhere @ far Fukuoka East Side.

Indeed, that was during an other paddle adventure, this time we went around the east shore of Hakata Bay and including going around Shika-noshima. 

Total Ks for the day: 70+

Two Fukuoka Skyline Marks:

Seahawk Hotel and Fukuoka Tower,

as seen through the windbreaker fence at Izaki Port.

Time for Hikies.

First my favorite Mt Ihara and Mt Raizan.

At the base of these mountains is...

Itoshima.

Soon it will be rice planting season, 

so here are the babies in the nursery.

Wow, winter has Gone!

Hey Drew san, last time we were here we had 10 cm of snow!!

At the top of Mt Ihara.

But there are more places to be hiked in Kyushu.

This map shows Mt Kuju and his siblings.

One early Magic Monday Morning it was time for Mt Mimata.

This is her smoking neighbor....of course we don't like smokers, but it's good he's there because he supplies us with the hot water at the onsen afterwards....

...just look there...

....and there was zero wind...

and there were zillion twittering birds...

MAGIC

The only text possible.

Partner @ hikes and runs: Noriko san.

Salute.

KLM has landed on board of Fu Kyo

We thought we would have a lazy Sunday Afternoon on Hakata Bay.

But what happens when you get a boatload of KLM crew on board?

Please enjoy the following YouTube:

http://youtu.be/Pa7WZ6ICgFc

Thanx for producing this video Koen Boterman,

you are welcome on board anytime!

Sail you Soon,
Salute

A Sunrise trip on Hakata Bay with Fu Kyo the Cat

Early one morning....

Yep, this must be Fukuoka.

The old fishing harbor at Nakahama. 

When we first came to Fukuoka in 1989, this harbor was by times loaded with fishing boats.

Where have they gone?

Thank You.

Bayside Place, from here ferries come and go to the other side of Hakata Bay, the off-shore islands and even all the way to Okinawa.

...just to the left of the tower, shows the mountain-range  of my favorite hike.

 Mt. Raizan to Mt. Iwahara.

Hakata Bay as Fu Kyo the Cat sees it.

for more, click here

salute