We started April on the run as we joined the annual Saga Sakura Half Marathon, for the 3rd time. Thanks to this years cold spring weather the sakura (cherry blossom) was late and just on its peak. The full blossom trees along the course made the 21 km (almost) a joy to run . For Marijke it was a bit of a love~hate run as an old injury was popping up in the final 5 kms. For Jaap it was a nice warming up for his next running adventure.
We crossed the finish line side by side at 2:09. During this run, we discovered that this year we are together 100 years old and well have our 25th anniversary
how romantic running can be
Afterwards we went to a luxury Hot Spring and had a Big Feed as usual, with our running buddies
.. What a way to begin spring.
A few days later Jaap flew to
Thanks Henk for taking me around the course and the moral support, hope to run with you again some time.
Mmm.
Yes we did live there, but could we ever again?
Weather wise: No way. The day before the Rotterdam Marathon (April 10) it even snowed!
People live a fassttt chaotic life. For example: driving a car, you dont stick to the max speed! Wrooommmmm , speeding, just to make sure that you are one of the first in the next traffic jam
and there are many traffic jams in
No, not for us.
But nevertheless I took some nice shots. Here you go:
Leonore was our temporary next-door neighbor yacht
80 feet Long!
Owner David and crew made
1+1=2 made me talk to our fishing harbor manager and with some shift work, the 80 feet fitted nicely alongside Alishan. Result: David happy, we happy and in the meantime helping the fishing cooperation to a little extra cash.
Had Alishans mast (18 meters above sea level) been a landmark before
Now even Leonores mizzen mast was taller. The main mast sticks 35 meter above water. What a height! What a length! And so was the jobs-to-do-list: 80 feet long.
Anyway, what happened: during my 10 days trip to
Well, she did that with Big Bangs. Her wadaiko group had a serious performance on Sunday the 18th.
Then came April 20.
At 6 am brbrbrbrbrrb .
Another # 6 earthquke hit our place. Yuck!
The fun part was that all trains and the subway stopped, so I couldnt go to work that day. The cracks in the concrete from the month before widened some more and the wharf took another plunge. Now with high tide, only 10 cm of harbor wall is visible. We keep our fingers x-ed that no typhoon will ever hit us at the peak of high tide.
At the end of April and beginning of May we always have a few holidays. Last year we sailed to Tsushima and this year we planned to sail to the Goto Retto, to the west of
First we had to help out with Leonores departure. Wow what a big anchors!!
We had had a great time, having another foreign yacht in our harbor. It was nice to be able to talk English strait from breakfast time on, for 5 weeks
.. We learned a lot and
we realized that we are just as happy with Alishans 43 feet!
So Leonore left, but then another mega yacht arrived: sy Diablesse. 90 feet this time. Luckily for Marinoa the manager could find a parking spot for them in the halfhalf repaired marina. And we were busy again, socializing with the crew and running shopping errants in our little car. It was nice to be able to help out and we enjoyed all that English boat talk. Nice sailing captain Micheal and crew!!
sy diabless
3 Days later Diablesse left
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Boat Projects:
Well lets start with the Big One
It took about half a million emails and as many hours of internet research, and with the help from Tante Biep we managed to order and received a Pacific Plus Windpilot.
Unpacking and installing was a much quicker job, although the manual could have done with a bit more Text for Dummies. The test sail went perfect, even in light winds! The cruising future looks bright!
In
Cooking. Our 12 years old NZ aluminum gas bottles were due for replacement. We were lucky to find Japanese aluminum tanks and even for a good price. Refilling these is going to be easier than our out-of-date NZ tanks. At least here in
Due to that first earthquake in March we lost our shore power connection.
So haste was made and a 2nd solar pannel was ordered, together with some extra SS tubing. Now the 2 panels fit nicely on top of our jungle gym on the aft deck. Let the sun shine and the amps come.