Report by C.P.
There is a lot of folklore about the moon. Modern folklore has it that full moons make for better parties and higher booking rates at mental hospitals. The understanding of a blue moon being absurd led eventually to a second meaning of never and eventually to very occasionally. The same can not be said of Blue Moon sailing events. The Blue Moon sailing club recently invited IAC members to join some of their sailing activities around Yokohama. With an event planned for most weekends, the relationship with a Blue Moon is unclear.
For an IAC adventurer, the thought of crawling out of bed on a cold February morning in time to get to Negishi port near Yokohama for 08:45 should not be a major drawback, as according to Taro Aoki, Captain of Blue Moon and creator of the Blue Moon Sailing club, the wind is at its most reliable in Winter, making for great sailing conditions. Having joined Blue Moon for the inaugural IAC / Blue Moon sailing trip earlier this month, I was very impressed at the effort that Captain Taro made to welcome the IAC members to his club. Taro tries to find out the nationality of his sailing companions ahead of time, so that he can put out the welcoming flags of the participant’s countries.
Blue Moon, which is the name of the boat as well as the club, is a 30 foot sloop which comfortably accommodates about 6 people for day sailing trips. Blue Moon has a schedule of events for most weekends currently running from now through to April. A wide range of sailing based activities are planned, from Hanami parties to the promise of Izu island trips in the Summer (I am waiting to see how they get the boat under a cherry tree for the Hanami party). There are days intended for complete beginners where you can just sit on the deck or try your hand at some sailing tasks, through to trips for experienced hardened sailing adventures. Whilst it is fair to say that the scenery round Negishi is not the most picturesque, unless post modern industrial architecture is your thing, it is just over an hour from Tokyo, making is an ideal place for Tokyoites to do a bit of sailing.
On this first trip, the mood was very much one of involvement and participation, with the sailing tasks being shared among the
group. At the end of the sailing, this extended to sitting around on board Blue Moon to swap stories, and finally it was all hands on deck to wash the boat down.
Blue Moon is a non-profit club and offers a great way to do some sailing from Tokyo whether you are interested in furthering your sailing skills, learning the basics or just having a nice day floating around on the sea. While many of the Blue Moon events are open to IAC members, Taro is quite happy for IAC members to join the Blue Moon sailing club. Membership is worth thinking about as some events are only open to Blue Moon members.
