BCC and the televised Earth Marathon

BCC Forum
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On 1st January 2009 hull No. 088, Aeolus, will leave Tokyo, Japan for Los
Angeles, CA.

The Kanpei Earth Marathon is the first attempt to circle the globe using
only man power and the wind, and Aeolus will be one of the stars of this
Nippon Television Corporation show.

On board will be Hiroyuki Hiki, together with Kanpei Hazama. (Kanpei in
Japanese means “Cheers”!)

Kanpei Hazama is a TV personality, comedian and an accomplished marathon
runner.

Kanpei Hazama left Osaka on 17th December 2008 and is scheduled to arrive in
Tokyo in December, whereupon he will join Aeolus for the transpacific
crossing to Los Angeles.

Upon arrival at Los Angeles, Kanpei Hazama intends to run from California to
New York, maintaining 50 miles per day, where he will rejoin the boat.

The intention is then to sail the vessel to Portugal, whereupon Kanpei
Hazama will again don his running shoes, to cross Europe and Asia, the run
terminating in Shanghai, China, where he will rejoin the vessel for the last
leg from China to Japan.

This event, anticipated to last about 2.5 years, will be televised and
broadcast in Japan, and details can be seen here:
http://www.earth-marathon.com/top_en2.html

Aeolus, as you will see in the video, is satellite equipped, and, as soon as
it is available, we will post a link to the progress of the voyage.

There are many photos on the Aeolus blog, including demonstration of some of
the problems you might have encountered at http://aeolus.exblog.jp

AEOLUS-1.jpg

AEOLUS-2.jpg

AEOLUS-7.jpg

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Hello Sumio,

Sounds very interesting…will stay tuned here. Congrats on your new ship.
I hope you get her in early Spring for a long season
Best to you
Mark
SV “Lightfoot”

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Mark:

Did I miss something in the translation of “new ship?”

Rod (BCC IDUNA)

P.S. Good to hear from you Sumio and Happy Thanksgiving.

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Hello Rod,
Rumor has it he has purchased a boat though not a BCC.
Best
Mark
SV “Lightfoot”

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I wish I could read this website - has anyone found a way to translate this site?! Looks like its FULL of great stuff… Sumio can you read it?!

Cant wait to follow it… if I can read it…

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You can get some idea with google language tools

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You can get some idea with google language tools http://translate.google.com/translate?u=http%3A%2F%2Faeolus.exblog.jp%2F&sl=ja&tl=en&hl=en&ie=UTF-8 Makes some sense to me since I kind of talk that way anyway.

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It’s a tough read :wink:

“I blow off the paint brush in the development of the abandoned west. But I’m really approaching winter.”

How’s winter treating you in Alaska? You gettin any sunlight these days?

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A tough read indeed! Takes you into another world. My favorite line from the second page: “The logic is unnecessary. You can do it, YARANAKYA. I think I’ll do that.”

Winter is definitely on us, in a couple weeks we’ll be seeing the sun come over the mountains at 10:30 am and it’ll be all gone by 4. I pickled the engine and tarped the cockpit but then some buddies on a Westsail put on their Mustang suits and got in on a half a gale yesterday (fortified I’m sure by a lively mug up). Time to make some dough for me so I can get off to an ealy start in March if the ice is out of the harbor. I put in a Wallas heater this year so its all toasty below. Attached is a photo in march 2006 (yes those are footprints around the boat, good time to do topside work :slight_smile:

froze-in.jpg
froze-in.jpg800×449 117 KB

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Ron I am putting in a Wallas stove in my BCC, how did you get on and are your pleased with it?

Stewart Hull 126

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I like it. I haven’t fired it up when its been really cold yet but it was more than I needed when the temps were about high 30’s overnight. If memory serves, I don’t think I had the controls even at the halfway mark after I got the cabin warmed up. I’ll find out more when March comes around.

As always, its a matter of finding a place to put it but I managed to get in on the forward side of the main bulkhead with a 5 gallon jug below it, tight but I just made it, then took the exhaust aft thru the bulkhead and up thru the cabin top just forward of the skylight hatch. (my main bulkhead is aft of the mast). I was a bit concerned about the heat coming out of the exhaust but its really not hot enough to bother anything. If I get down to the boat in the next couple days I’d be happy to take some photos if you’d like.

I chose the Wallas because I had a kerosene version 20 some years ago in a Contessa 26 that I used all winter and found it to be perfect. I bought the exhaust fitting that screws shut with a twist and seals tight so you never worry about spray or blowing snow getting into the unit when not in use. It is very expensive but it sure is nice to be warm and dry. BTW mine is the 30D.

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Ron my hull is a new build so I am installing it in the port side galley area just immediately to the left of the ladder. It will, I hope be a good buy, done a bit of research on them and they seem reliable and well made. They told me the exhaust can get to 200 degrees and advised I vented thru the transom… I did like the fittings on the deck and their ability to be sealed.

I have a fitting to the diesel tank and plan to run off diesel just for the simplicity of it all. I am in Newfoundland so we have some weather challenges as you do so it would seem like a fair testing ground, however no more than Finland i suppose where they are built.

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Location is always a tough choice in small boats like these, each spot has its pros and cons. Another reason I guess I chose the main bulkhead was I could fit the 5 gallon Blitz jug under it and use #1 fuel in it which will hopefully burn a bit cleaner. I’m guessing your winter weather is not a whole lot different than Homer where we benefit from a warm Japanese current. I’ll be interested to see how the installation goes for you.

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Ben, there’s no english for the Aeolus blog, but Hiki-san, who will be skippering her to LA from Japan (planned departure tomorrow, Jan 3) will be updating the Earth Marathon blog regularly with photos, text and movies til they reach LA. Just Hiki and Kanpei on board - Kanpei is the one running round the world. Aeolus is a lovely boat, and she’s in great shape - they’ve put a huge amount of work into readying her for the trip, but a winter crossing of the Pacific can be tough. I know they would really appreciate any words of support, so do leave them a comment if you have a minute.

http://www.earth-marathon.com

Tom

ps if the English is weird, you can blame me - I’m in charge of translating it all :slight_smile:

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Excellent, thanks for the heads up on Earth MArathon – I Was reading the other blog, and got the jist that it was ending. Thanks for pointing us to the new site with updates & ENGLISH!!! Really excited for them and to be able to follow along.

cheers,
Ben

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You’re welcome, Ben. Thanks for the link on your Elizabeth blog - much appreciated!

Aeolus is due to arrive in LA around the beginning of Feb, then Kanpei should reach New York some time in June next year (very rough estimate) having run around 50 km every day all the way from LA!! Then back on board Aeolus to sail for Lisbon. If anyone is in the area, or better still has their BCC in the area at those times, look them up!

Tom

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Tom, thanks for the translation–I’ve been following the passage with great interest. A winter-time crossing of the north Pacific was never going to be fun, but Aeolus is having some serious challenges, isn’t it? I’m sorry to hear about the failure of their jib furler! It looks like that from 1 Feb to 26 Feb, they’ve averaged about 95 miles of westing per day, with 1113 miles to LA.

I was a bit worried about the latest entry being “Day 72” before I realized that the day count didn’t start when they departed Japan, but 18 days prior. 3 Jan to 26 Feb is still 54 days–a VERY long passage! I hope they have plenty of food! How is the TV coverage being received in Japan?

The Aeolus boys have my admiration, and I sure hope they finish the passage without further major problems and that their health holds up. Raising and lowering the jib in the furler is a tough job on that bowsprit. In their 26 Feb blog they said they resorted to using 2 staysails. Did they rig one of them on the jib furler with a lashing?

We sailed our BCC back from Hawaii to Seattle twice, but in the summer, and that was all the challenge we wanted to deal with!
Regards, Dan SV Shaula BCC 59 Seattle

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Hi Dan - I’m glad to hear your enjoying the blog. Yes, they are having a tough time. The weather really isn’t being kind to them at all.

You’re right, the blog started on Dec. 17 when Kanpei set off from Osaka. He ran to Tokyo, about 690 km (430 miles?), in 14 days before setting sail on Aeolus with Hiki.

I think they managed to hank the second staysail to the jib forestay, and attached a downhaul to it to get it down. Hiki wasn’t very clear in his blog. As you say, hard work out on the end of the sprit.

I spent most of my childhood summers sailing on old wooden boats off the south coast of England - remember helping dad do something similar once, years ago - I was always the one on the end of the stick. Just a coincidence that I know boats, but I don’t think I could have translated the EM blog otherwise! furler, staysail, goose wing etc aren’t in the dictionaries! :wink:

To be honest, I wasn’t familiar with BCCs before this, but they seem like great, tough little boats, and pretty too. The hull, rig and cabin set-up are very like the pre-war boats I used to sail on. Can’t wait for Hiki to get back to Japan so I can have a ride. But that’ll be next year at the earliest - their going to truck Aeolus to NY after they get to LA, and take her across the Atlantic to Europe next, when Kanpei has run across the US (!). Hopefully that will be an easier passage for them - that’s one of the reason’s they’re doing the Pacific leg now, so the Atlantic will be in a kinder season.

We’ve set up a community site, Kanpei Earth Marathon Supporters Club, http://earthmarathon.ning.com where you can sign up and follow their progress. We’ll be updating that more often than the blog from now on, so do sign up if your interested.

Kanpei won’t be running through Seattle, but if you have any friends who live near his course, send them out to cheer him on!

Best, Tom