Tokyo Drift...
Posted by Sara (on the Esperanza):
Twelve nautical miles. Just under 20 kilometres, four leagues, 202 American football fields, 96 furlongs and nearly half a marathon. That's how far away from Japanese land we are, and after two days of the Esperanza being buffeted by gale force winds it's starting to feel like light years and getting into port really is becoming a marathon.
Everything was set a few days ago - we had a ships agent to assist with the administration and the paperwork was under control. We had a pilot provisionally booked to guide us through the white-knuckle ride that is getting into Tokyo Bay, one of the busiest ports in the world, and the sun was shining.
That was before the All Japan Seamen's Union paid a visit to our agent's office. Now they have formally cut ties with us, we had to cancel the pilot and we have had two days of gale force winds. The photo's don't do justice to the size of the waves, especially the one that landed on my head as I stood at the stern earlier today - you know when a storm force wind hits you.
So, here we stay, drifting at sea, waiting. We have sailed the Southern Ocean, taken everything that the wildest waters in the world can throw at us, but nothing is more frustrating than having to drift in a gale because politics, not weather have got in the way.
Japan is a democracy. Freedom of speech is, or at least should be, ingrained in the government and people of any nation that claims to be democratic. I can completely understand that the Japanese government disagrees with our view of their whaling programme, but that should not mean debate is stifled. If they have nothing to hide, they have nothing to fear. The Union claims we put their members lives at risk. They seem to have already forgotten the eight days that we spent drifting with the whaling fleet just a few weeks ago, standing by to help their members when the Nisshin Maru caught fire.
We are determined to do everything in our power to get into Japan. Until then I guess we will continue to weather the storms - political and meteorological
