Arctic Ocean
VulcanSpirit
Richard & Alison Brunstrom
Fri 5 Aug 2016 12:11
The red dot is our anchor site, and the black line our actual track. As you can see, mostly in the same spot, but then with a couple of bizarre deviations, presumably caused by prolonged wind shifts in gusts. Because we are very near rocks an electronic anchor alarm is set, and when the boat moves beyond a set distance the alarm rings, as it did twice this night, causing the panic stricken crew to leap untimely from their beds in the pitch black night to determine if shipwreck was imminent. Not a nice experience, but all was well.
The trip north east from here, the very northern tip of Newfoundland, is know as iceberg alley because of the glacial icebergs drifting down from the far north. Here is our first one, with Mahimahi:
These are not too dangerous, it is the small bits that drop off them that are. Startlingly visible a long way off in good light, but totally invisible at night in fog which leads to very slow nerve wracking progress.
Bad weather. Here is a wave breaking over the cockpit:
And then worse. A loud noise while motoring in a calm fog in the middle of the night caused an emergency engine stop, and then enforced sailing - luckily the wind returned for a while. Daylight revealed a trail of fishing net, caught around the propellor:
Then lack of wind required a tow to Greenland; by great good luck and planning Mahimahi was there to assist in a flat sea. Rigging a towline took half an hour; note the iceberg in the background, this time from a Greenland glacier, Greenland itself in the background:
Towing in to port took about 7 hours, in perfect towing conditions.
And there was more trouble. Our cooking gas system suddenly decided to spring a leak and a tank of gas seeped over the side, so emergency cooking was required:
Note too the morale raising emergency chocolate cake provided from the galley for your correspondent's 62nd birthday.
This was a trip to remember, but hopefully not to repeat.
Sent from my iPad