My Mother's 80th BIRTHDAY

Monday, we were blessed with beautiful weather from the morning. I met up with Hiki-san at Nishikujo Station and when we checked the bus schedule for Hokko Yacht Harbor at the bus stop we found out we had to wait for 30 minutes. We realized we haven't gone running in a while so we decided to walk to the next bus stop. We walked briskly. Everything seemed different from what it seems when I pass by in a car or bus. Touching and smelling the flowers along the road, hearing the energetic voices of kids playing baseball, and before we knew we made it to the harbor in 1 hour and 10 minutes. It was a good work out. We headed for the Aeolus as we talked about how we deserve an extra glass of beer today.

Hokko Yacht Harbor seems busy lately. That's because a racing boat that participated in a race from Melbourne, Australia to Osaka is there. There are 2 lightweight, fast looking boats that participated in the race parked on both sides of the Aeolus. In the afternoon, we went sailing with Ogasawara-san from LA. Ogasawara-san is the owner of the Misumaru which is the same type of yacht as the Aeolus. I was able to practice on the Misumaru for 2 months in January and February and it has given me a great advantage. I am very grateful to all the people who are helping to make this project possible. We had some good wind and was able to practice reefing. When reefing, you rig the cringle by hooking it onto the mast and we used a shorter rope that feels different so I don't confuse the 1st cringle and the 2nd cringle.

After practice, Ogasawara-san's and I went to a Yakitori restaurant with our families to enjoy our time together over a delicious meal. It was my mother's 80th birthday so it was a special day for both my mother and I. My mother was very happy and said "This was the most wonderful birthday ever" I hope that she will stay healthy and have a long life.

To all of you out there reading this, thank you from the bottom of my heart.

Originally posted by Hiro in Japanese on 4/30/2013
Translated by SWIS Project