Melbourne to Osaka A Whale of a Typhoon

by Rob Kothe on 15 Apr 2003 Typhoon Kujira, currently located South of Guam and moving at 280 degrees and 15 knots has impacted the cruising division boats in the Melbourne to Osaka race.

While the nearest racers Funnel Web, Beyond Outrageous and TMQ Marine are now well to the north of Guam, the two cruisers Boots and Louise decided to stop and shelter rather than risk being run down by a building tropical storm which rapidly turning into a typhoon.

George Shore and Robyn Brooks on Boots and Colin Smith and Adam Manders on Louise anchored near Ulul Atoll to avoid crossing the path of the developing system.

Two days ago Tropical storm Kujira (the Japanese word for whale) was generating winds of 30-40 knots, today as it continues westwards at 15 knots now upgraded to a Typhoon it is generating sustained surface winds estimated at 125 knots to 150 knots.

Sheltering at Ulul, its just south of typhoon alley, has not always been a good option.

In 1971 it and the associated island group was hit by Typhoon Truk and Typhoon Amy only a few weeks apart. There have been regular typhoons since.

Most recently the area received another heavy blast when Typhoon Chata'an devastated the 40 mile diameter Namenweito atoll group in July 2002.

This group consists of roughly a dozen very small islands, typically a few hundred yards across, grouped around a very large (~40 nm) lagoon. All the islands are low-elevation sandy coral islands, with a maximum elevation of 10-20 feet.

Five Namenweito islands are inhabited: Ono, Onari, Pisaras, Ulul, and Magur.

This time however the Typhoon passed 120 miles to the north and is now moving rapidly westward. Louise left her anchorage last night and some hours later Boots followed.

Naniwa, Salaku and Fine Tolerance were further south and were able to continue northwards.

This afternoon we talked to winning skipper Brian Petersen in Osaka. While we chatted John Bankart was fast asleep. Two Kirren’s and he was gone. We will post the interview tomorrow.

The latest Argos satellite positions data is available now at www.sail-world.com/osaka