Notes from Peter:

 

Hello my Friends,  Well here we are in Cumming Inlet, about 40 miles to the West of Dundas. We set out to try and get some Westings in early yesterday, but as you can see, did not get too far because of – yes you guessed it – ice! But this is a well protected inlet with the mandatory polar bear prowling around the shore line, and a few hairy ox-like creatures wandering about, which Hywel informs me are Musk Ox. I read yesterday that polar bears can weigh up to 700 kgs, can swim at 6 kts, and run at 40 km / hour. So my idea of challenging one to a race is on hold for now.

 

I see that Cath described our interesting evening in the recent storm in some detail. I won’t add to it except to say that this was our first real introduction to high latitude sailing. Dai’s boat Catryn handled the challenging conditions extremely well, which gives us confidence for what lies ahead. Tomorrow’s forecast is quite good, so we may head out into Lancaster sound for another look in the morning. It seems that the ice is starting to break up now, so perhaps soon we can start to make some real progress. But – patience is the name of the game here.

 

I just took 3 of the crew ashore in the dinghy, they are going to have a hike in the cold, windy, slanting rain with a couple of guys from another boat, an Aussie and a Yank. Well what do you expect? Dai and I decided we needed to do some work on the boat (zzzzzzz’s!). I am sitting here thinking about my next voyage – it includes sun and palm trees and golden beaches!

 

That’s it for now. Until the next time.

Pete