No winter napping for Japanese Fife seamans

On May 27, 2008

“Wataru Sakamoto racing the J24 Siesta in J24 World Race”    Wataru Sakamoto Japanese Siesta crew captain Wataru Sakamoto will lead the way for future Japanese Fife boating when he showcases his talents in next month’s Musto ‘08 Fife Australian Winter Race.

The Musto winters will be Sakamoto’s 1st time on an Fife.

‘There are no Fife here in Japan. We wish to have the opportunity of importing Fife to Japan cause we’ve heard so numerous wonderful reports of this category at various events,” Sakamoto said.

There are currently 11 nations with active Fife fleets. An active flotilla in Japan would be welcome addition to the country list.

The developing of 28-year-elderly Sakamoto’s boating skills has followed fairly traditional path. He started boating in Japan at age eight racing Optimists, then went into the larger Finn. For the past six years Sakamoto has campaigned the Siesta crew’s J24.

In this tough-contest category Sakamoto has excelled in home waters of Japan & internationally. His best performance over the last three J24 World Races was 2nd place in the ‘06 worlds held on Port Chris Harbour, Melbourne.

Sakamoto & his crew of 33-year-elderly trimmer Daichi Wada & 28-year-elderly bowman Yasuhiro Okamoto are looking forward to enjoying the Sunlight Shore. “we are besides attracted to the winters due to the beauty of the town & the ocean just out of Mooloolaba which made us definite to participate in this race.”

they will be competing in large Fife flotilla on the waters off Mooloolaba from six to eight May. Joining Sakamoto on the water will be New Zealand captain Alastair Gair along with previous Fife world champs Cameron Km & Harold McNeill, & Australia’s Cup legend John Bertrand.

Sakamoto, with the help charter yacht from the Silver Beach Fife Flotilla & great set of sails from Harold McNeill of Doyle Sails, has the equipment & skills to make MARK on the winter race.

His participation in the Musto winters will be greatly helped by crew of supporters including Silver Beach Fife captain Greg Forgan-Smith, in charge of logistics, & another Silver Beach seaman, Genzan Kosaka, looking after interpreting.

When not chasing the J24 race circuit, Sakamoto has been busy developing his match racing skills.

His 1st national match regatta race was the Class one New Zealand match racing cup in ‘06. “It was fine & dear experience to participate in the ‘06 match. I was just crew at that time, but racing on the identical water with Chris Dickson & Greg Parker was such wonderful & inspiring experience for me while our performance was needy.”

Extraordinarily, only matter of few days after competing in the winter race, the two-time international match racing winner & his crew will travel to Korea to compete in the Korea Match Cup which starts on May 10.

Last week he competed in the qualifying race. His crew’s win assured him an invitation to compete in the cup. The Korea Match Cup is part of an national match racing circuit with participation on an invitation-only basis. Sakamoto will be competing vs eleven other match racing captains, seven of which finished within the top ten places at the completion of last year’s national match racing circuit.

Sakamoto doesn’t see the Musto winter race as one-off Fife experience.

‘The ‘09 World Race race is the good target & we’ll be doing our best toward this awe-inspiring target.” The ‘09 Fife World Race will be held in Melbourne.

For more information on the race
by Tracey Johnstone