In addition to considering currents and wind, I had two significant meteorological challenges to work into the schedule: beating any typhoons heading up to/through Japan and getting to Hawai'i before the hurricane season kicks off there.
For general planning, I relied on the World Cruising Routes book. My interpretation for timing was to leave Japan around July 1st (as early as June 1st is OK, but expect a rougher, colder ride) and arrive in Hawai'i prior to August 15th.
With that in mind, I opted to leave as early as June 1st, as long as I had a five-day head start on any typhoons developing south of Japan. The following graphics show typhoon tracks for various months around Japan.
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These three graphics depict typhoon tracks and
percentages during the early summer months. As you can see, getting
out and away from Japan is key...as long as you have a good head start on
any developing storms.
Click on them for a larger view... |
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Another factor in getting away from Japan is the Kushiro Current...it runs basically a northerly course up the eastern coast of Japan then turns east.. My goal was to get in the middle of it and use it for a speed boost...
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These two graphics best depict the Kushiro
Current route...I used these to plot LatLong fixes for my departure from
Japan
Again, click on them for a larger view. |
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For pre-trip enroute planning (winds and current), I used a series of maps like this one...obviously they change every day, but gives a good trend of what is happening. |
Finally, getting into Hawai'i. Just like Japan, there is a lot of material about storm tracks and freuencies...following are some of what I used.
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