When we came within 30 miles of the northern coast of Newfoundland we could see land. It is a jagged coastline with lots of small islands and bays with numerous skerries and narrow passages. We calculated that we would have a 60 nm nighttime pilotage through the archipelago so we prepared everything on deck so we would not have to look for fenders and moring lines in the darkness. When the night watches began at dusk we were close enough to see the first trees we’ve seen in two months and as we got closer we could smell them. I was on the the first watch and after comparing the chart program with the radar I trusted that the computer would guide us all the way.
It was one of the best watches of the whole trip and with the temperature back up to 15 degrees just like a normal summer night I enjoyed the feeling of having crossed the Atlantic. I woke Nick at 0200 and he steered us all the way to the mouth of the harbour before waking me and Morgan for the entry. After a careful entry in the shallow harbour we could finaly moored at the guest dock. The harbour was much bigger than we anticipated but in the early morning hours it was totaly calm. At the clubhouse we found a big sign that told us to call the customs immediately. Nick called them and while we all where enjoying a well deserved whiskey he had a very long conversation with a stressed customs officer about our whole trip and our intentions about taking the boat to Canada. When he finished he told us that we where forbidden to leave the boat until the next morning at 8 am when customs would come to clear us. Since we were tired it suited us just fine and it was easy to fall asleep in a boat that wasn’t moving, heeling or getting knocked by waves.
We are a day from making landfall, and for nearly a week we have had calm weather and fell into a lazy routine. We were expecting another lazy night of 10-15 knots just off the shore of Newfoundland and Labrador when the winds began to pick up at about 1 am. I was on watch and started to put one reef in the main, then I rolled in the Genoa and rolled out the smaller jib. Half an hour later I put another reef in the main and then another, and rolled the jib in even more. We were close hauled and seas were extremely short and choppy and we were banging into the waves. The wind had picked up to 30 plus knots. As I sat there monitoring what I could of the horizon I noticed something strange off the back of the boat in the water. At first I though it was phosphorescents in the wake of the boat but it seemed different. I leaned over and noticed it was a sail dragging behind the boat held on by a rope to a cleat up forward, the entire Gennaker was in the water! I quickly called Edvin out and we dropped sail and head into irons as we laboured to remove the large sail from the water. It was lashed to the front deck and the large waves spraying over the deck must of ripped it loose and dragged it into the water…….we were lucky to retrieve it in one piece and that it did not damage the boat.
Alone on watch again I heard a snap and looked back to see the the windvane lines had snapped after dealing with that I was happy that my wet wet watch was over. I woke up Morgan to take over and as I was about to tuck into my bunk when the entire shelving over the bunk I was about to get into collapsed, food lay strewn across the bunk with the large 3 by 7 piece of backing plywood laying crumpled there. It was the result of the constant banging of the waves and no doubt weakened by the severe stress the boat was put through during our ordeal in Iceland when we were pinned against the dock for two days by waves.
I crawled into the quarter berth promising to take care of it during the day. It was a reminder that at sea you can never become complacent and let your guard down!
Sailing between two high pressure zones has resulted in light steady winds making the first few days of our passage across the sea of Labrador very laid back. The overcast drizzly weather has reduced the amount of time spent on deck when off watch. The short three hour ice watches also have the unintended effect of those off watch cat napping all day. The boat has turned into a campsite of sort socks and underwear dry on in cabin clothes lines, sleeping bags and foul weather gear lay ready for use piled on top of the bunks, and the crew lie in their bunks sleeping, reading or discussing what they want to make for dinner. The meals on board are slowly becoming more elaborate as we challenge ourselves to go beyond our normal menu. And we use Sailmail to request recipes from friends and family. Greenland’s poor fresh produce selection means we are extremely low on fruits and veggies.
The calm weather and time is welcome though, being used productively to plan our passage and modifications to the boat. We are excited about all the new ideas we have for our unique passage, our website and to post all the exciting videos we have been editing. We are but a 150 nm from the coast of Labrador and will soon be sailing into iceberg infested waters. From the reports we are getting we will be encountering some mammoth floating ice islands.
We raised our anchors at dawn to head out from the fjord where we had spent the night. A mist had moved in during the morning reducing our visibility. We could make out the mouth of the fjord and headed out towards the ice belt that stretches up to 100 nm around the coast of Greenland. We had to shorten the watches to three hours to keep focused since we only had a mile of visibility or less to spot ice. At lunchtime the mist turned into a thick fog and navigation was only possible with the help of the radar and plotter. Since we have had problems with our radar display it was hard to make out anything but Icebergs and large bergy bits, it was frightening to discover meter sized growlers sneak through the radar web that would have damaged the boat. On several occasions we could see enormous icebergs materialize out of the fog less than half a mile away, incredibly beautiful but very dangerous. When darkness fell the only thing we could see was the blurry reflection of the navigation lights in the bow, visibility down to but a few meters. Since the ice belt varies in concentration there could be hours without ice which made it even more treacherous when we came close to icebergs and their associated bergy bits. We decided to continue moving but with the speed reduced to two knots which is the speed that we believe we could take a direct impact. It was a ghostlike watch throughout the night continually trying to decipher the silhouettes that showed up around the boat, it was hard to keep fantasy at bay. In the early morning hours the fog finally cleared after nearly 24 hours and 90 nm allowing us to enjoy yet another close encounter with a pod of whales who visited us just in time for breakfast.
Having reprovisioned, and made necessary repairs in Nanotalik we decided to spend the end of our time in Greenland in Tasermuit a fjord located just 4 nm to the southeast. Upon entering I felt dwarfed by the sheer rock walls and impossibly ponity peaks. We decided to sail to the end of the fjord, where it ends in a tidal glacier, although only the lower sections were charted.
We flew the genaker and passing grounded icebergs and old norse settlements on our way. The flora became richer, wild flowers and dwarf birch began to line the bottom of the mountains fed by streams and waterfalls from the towering peaks above. As we rounded the last corner the glacier appeared and we sailed right up to the mouth of it where glacial melt water was flowing out and ice bits where breaking off.
We anchored a ways off from the glacier, it was the most spectacular scenery I have ever seen in my life, it was surreal. The next morning we went for a short hike and as we followed a stream into the mountains the boat disappeared into the towering landscape. We spotted a glacial pond on the other shore an decided to go for a frigid swim and bathe. The dinghy ride over gave us a good sense of how big the fjord was. What looked like it should only be a short trip was much longer then expected and it was hard to get sense of scale when surrounded by a landscape of such a magnitude. After a brisk swim we departed down the fjord refreshed and ready for our next leg.
We anchored that night near the end of the fjord by a lake just off Tasiussaq, a small village so we could get one last good nights rest before we departed early the next morning. The fjord left me with a sense of the larger scheme of things, the worries and anxieties of life now seemed irrelevant in comparison.
When we came within 30 miles of the northern coast of Newfoundland we could see land. It is a jagged coastline with lots of small islands and bays with numerous skerries and narrow passages. We calculated that we would have a 60 nm nighttime pilotage through the archipelago so we prepared everything on deck so we would not have to look for fenders and moring lines in the darkness. When the night watches began at dusk we were close enough to see the first trees we’ve seen in two months and as we got closer we could smell them. I was on the the first watch and after comparing the chart program with the radar I trusted that the computer would guide us all the way.
