Aasiat, Greenland

We left Nuuk on Tuesday, July 22 after five days of much-needed recuperation. Every day we were there was sunny and warm and we enjoyed it very much. Nuuk had everything a cruising sailor could want including a Seaman’s Home.

Seaman's Home, Aasiat

This is a Danish institution and there is usually one in every port along the coast. They are spotlessly clean with hot showers, laundry, fast internet and a cafeteria serving plain, hearty meals at a good price. What more could you want? Three of the major Homes also offer three star accommodation. There were also excellent grocery stores available in Nuuk.

We were headed north up the coast to Disko Bay which was to be our last stop in Greenland before leaving for Canada. Due to all the usual problems: lack of, or, too much wind, headwinds and fog we expected slow progress, so, decided to press right through nonstop as we were starting to feel a bit of pressure that the days were ticking by too quickly. The slow progress was correct, it took four days to make 365 miles to Aasiat, on the south shore of Disko. The passage was difficult. On Thursday night, after struggling with headwinds, we decided to pull into an inshore lead to anchor for the night. After five attempts to set the anchor in two different locations, we gave up due to impenetrable weed and headed back out to sea again. It was a cruel blow to be denied a quiet evening at anchor.

This passage was also compounded by really weird tides. The tidal streams aren’t documented very well and we found ourselves caught where two tidal streams, one going west and the other south-east collided over the top of a sea-mount, just about the worst place you can be. We went west with the stronger tide as there really wasn’t any other choice. After we finally figured out what was going on, we just had to wait for the south-east tide to slacken and the westgoing tide to start turning north and we were able to get control of the boat again. For a period of about twenty minutes, at the change, the sea looked like it was boiling all around us.

Despite the hard work, Greenland is a fabulous sailing destination. Offshore, the coast is incredibly forbidding with a solid line of black, jagged peaks dropping directly into the water. 

There was no sign of human habitation for hundreds of miles. However, just inshore, the coast is riddled with inner leads and fjords just waiting to be explored. 

We have 24 hour daylight, but, there's still a sunrise at this latitude.

We could have travelled on inshore waters all the way up from Nuuk to Disko if we’d had more time to follow all the twists and turns and didn’t have an ice deadline further north. Maybe we'll return someday and give it the attention it deserves.

-----

Aasiat 26/7/2014 19:30 68°42.4'N 052°52.6'W

CONTINUE READING

Greenland pics

And a few pictures from our passage to Greenland....

We were leading the parade on a flat calm sea...

One of the very few sunsets we saw while at sea.

The 'aircraft carrier'

The fog finally lifted near Nuuk, look at what was hiding!

Nuuk, Greenland, Gjoa is moored bottom left

Nuuk, old town

CONTINUE READING

Ireland pics

While we still have internet access, here are a few pictures from Ireland....

Ashford Castle - now a lovely hotel

Cliffs of Moher

Fastnet Rock

CONTINUE READING

Nuuk, Greenland Arrival

Finally, at long last, we arrived last night at Nuuk, Greenland. We are tied up in the harbour enjoying brilliant sunshine and warm(er) temperatures. We sailed 2457 miles across the North Atlantic, in 25 days, to make 1800 good. The motor was on for 205 hours (8-1/2 days). Unlike the Perkins on our previous boat, Gjoa's Bukh motor just sips fuel and there is still fuel left in the tanks. There are a handful of foreign boats here, one US and the rest UK. Most, like us, are preparing for the North West passage. We'll be busy the next few days with boat maintenance and plan to head north again early next week.

The fog remained with us all the way up the west coast and it got considerably colder, about 1.8C at night. It did lift, briefly, on Monday, which afforded us a glimpse of the spectacular coast that had been hidden away. The last night at sea we could only see about 30 metres around the boat. The radar was picking up the icebergs and we were 'seeing' the couple of fishing boats out there on AIS, so, the only thing we really had to worry about was small ice and as we hadn't seen any at all, it really wasn't an issue. Luckily, we didn't have to worry about shipping. We only saw one ship in the entire passage. The fog lifted again about ten miles from Nuuk which was good because the navigation got a bit tricky in the approaches. We were swept along one narrow passage between islands at eight knots. Wouldn't want to do that in thick fog!

On Tuesday, we had a really close encounter with a whale just meters from the boat which was exciting. Generally, there was very little wildlife, we only saw dolphins twice, a few seals, a few birds and that was it. Icebergs were interesting. We'd seen a few in Svalbard, but, they were miniatures compared to the first few we saw here. Beautiful, massive, behemoths enjoyed from a distance. Then, we had one come across our bow and we realized what a danger they can be. It was the size and shape of an aircraft carrier, travelling as fast as we were and even generating waves. It was very difficult to determine its speed and direction of travel as there is no reference point. A wall of ice was approaching fast and we had to alter course to avoid it, lesson learned.

-----
Nuuk 17/7/2014 12:00 64°10.2'N 051°43.5'W

CONTINUE READING

Week 3

Our 21st day at sea. If you're thinking that we're being rather obsessive about counting the days, we are! We are plodding along at around 3 knots, just starting up the west coast of Greenland now, about 380 miles to go. The gribs for the next five days indicate that there will be no wind >10 knots and most of it <5. So, the motor is on. With the lively chop, we are only getting about 3 knots under power. Luckily, Gjoa carries 800 litres of diesel. We have enough left that we could motor all the way in if we have to. Hope it doesn't come to that. At least with the motor on we are warm. Our newly-installed matrix fan heater, which uses engine heat, has been most welcome with the temperature dropping to about 6 overnight. The dense miasma of sea fog we have been enveloped in for a few days is still providing a gloomy outlook. Today, the fog is bright white and has a blueish tinge to it. Makes us think that there must be a July sun up there somewhere, we're just not seeing it. It's an all-grey environment. The cruising guide said the west coast is mainly sunny and dry, hope we'll get some of that soon.

-----
Week3 12/7/2014 12:00 58°55.4'N 047°00.7'W

CONTINUE READING

Day 18

Our 18th day at sea. It's just another drizzly, damp, grey, murky day here in the North Atlantic. Temperature about 8C. It's another no-wind day. However, the last two days have been great sailing which has lifted our spirits despite the dismal view outside the doghouse. We are finally in reach of a milestone. This time tomorrow, we should have Cape Farewell abeam and we will then alter our course more northwest, leaving the Atlantic ocean and heading into the Labrador Sea and Davis Strait.

-----
Day18 9/7/2014 12:00 57°18.5'N 039°19.5'W

CONTINUE READING

Week 2

Our 14th day at sea. We'd hoped to be rounding Cape Farewell today. Despite sailing 669 miles in five days this week (two days were spent attached to the drogue) we've only been able to make 200 miles good towards our destination. We're now still about 450 miles east of Cape Farewell and not quite 1/2 way to Nuuk. It seems likely, with the feast/famine/foul winds we've been experiencing, that we could be out here another two weeks. We can see our planned cruising time in Greenland getting compressed, hope we're still able to do some. Yesterday, we were zooming along at 7 knots in 25 knots of wind (in the wrong direction). Today, we're totally flat calm again. We were also getting worried about Post-Tropical Arthur heading our way, but, it now looks like he won't be a threat and we may just touch his far edge. One small mercy.

-----
Week2 5/7/2014 12:00 54°18.6'N 031°32.5'W

CONTINUE READING

Force 9

It was all going so well on Monday afternoon. We had a brisk F7 and were sailing towards our destination. There was plenty of weather 'action' both to the north and south of us, but, somehow we were managing to go right through the middle and avoid it. The latest weather update indicated our luck was about to run out. The large low that we'd had our eye on for a few days was now coming right for us without any way to avoid it. Trying to go north meant moving towards an F10 (storm) in the Denmark Strait. There was another low coming from the south. The wind was supposed to pipe up after midnight (we've found the grib file data to be incredibly accurate on this passage) to an F8 (gale), so, we decided to take action sooner rather than deal with a rising wind and unfamiliar equipment later in the dark.

Gjoa came with a Jordan series drogue. We hadn't used one before, so, before we left we carefully flaked and repacked it to be sure it would run out freely when the time came. We also lashed it to the pushpit ready to deploy. We had planned to do a test trial run at some point in this passage. There hadn't been an opportunity before now. Unfortunately, we were about to perform a 'live' test where the outcome really mattered. We got ourselves in position and were thrilled when the deployment went perfectly. We had deployed in only about 25 knots of wind, expecting the stronger winds to come later overnight. Given the relatively light winds we were shocked at the absolutely horrible motion we were experiencing, the boat yawed back and forth, rolled and snatched terribly. We were dreading the night ahead, this couldn't be how it's supposed to work, could it? We soon learned that wind speed is a significant factor in keeping tension on the drogue and the boat steady. As forecast, the winds kicked in after midnight. When it got to 35 knots things got a lot more comfortable. When they reached their peak of a steady 44 knots (F9 Strong Gale) we were actually very comfortable. The gale blew for two whole days and only started to dissipate late today (Wednesday). We knew drogue retrieval was going to be hard work. We got it in, in 25 knots of wind, in about three hours.

While hanging off the drogue for 48 hours we travelled 109 miles back towards where we started. A little frustrating, but, we're underway again now with a few good days of favourable winds forecast ahead of us before the next round of low pressure systems come our way. We'll get there eventually...

-----
Force9 2/7/2014 12:00 56°25.3'N 025°49.7'W

CONTINUE READING

Week 1

Since I last wrote it's been a bit of an uphill struggle. We had two days with great wind, unfortunately coming from the NW, which is exactly where we're trying to go. Yesterday, all wind disappeared again. It was a welcome break after the stresses of beating to windward, but, after bobbing about overnight, we started the motor this morning to try and get some forward progress. We will be into the low pressure systems coming our way probably by Monday. Then we'll have too much wind!

Despite the setbacks, we are about 1/3 of the way to Nuuk. We've crossed into a new time zone and the nights are significantly shorter now with only about four hours of darkness. Our approximate location is 500 miles south of Iceland and 650 miles east of Cape Farewell, the southernmost tip of Greenland. As we round the Cape, hopefully by the end of next week, we are planning to keep an offing of 150 miles to avoid this notorious and potentially dangerous area. All the pack ice and icebergs are swept around the Cape and up the west side by the southerly current coming down the east coast. Although the south coast has some of the best cruising ground, with very beautiful fjords, it doesn't open up until late August. Once around Cape Farewell, it's about 600 miles up the west coast to the ice-free zone around Nuuk where we'll be able to make landfall.

-----
Week1 28/6/2014 12:00 54°17.9'N 023°00.8'W

CONTINUE READING

Day 5

We've been at sea four days and are now about 400 miles off the Irish coast, just SW of Rockall. We haven't seen a ship, or, heard a voice on the VHF for two days now. Progress has been reasonable given that only yesterday had a decent sailing wind. After a couple of days sunning ourselves on deck, the weather has changed to what you would expect for the North Atlantic: grey, rainy, cloudy, squally and cool. The decent wind yesterday enabled us to put Gjoa through her paces and she rose to the occasion proving to be a good sailor. We had a bit of a rough ride last night as the seas were churned up along with 20 knots of wind, but, today the seas have calmed and the wind has dropped a bit. Forecast is looking ok for the next few days, but, there is a nasty low looming ahead that will be difficult to avoid. We'll wait for a couple of days to get a more accurate forecast. It may then require evasive action to avoid, or, at least reduce the impact of the hit.

-----
Day5 25/6/2014 12:00 53°22.3'N 018°46.9'W

CONTINUE READING