SKIPPER'S VIEW
Adventure_iceland
Sat 9 Aug 2008 12:21
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Well here I am, slightly more refreshed than I was
at 0305 hrs when I finally managed to get my head down. Regrettably I was
woken again at 0445 to send a position report to the Maritime Rescue and
Coordination Centre. We have to send these every 6 hours now that we are
in Greenlandic waters until we enter port. We arrived 75 miles off Cape
Farewell yesterday and since then have been battling winds, magnetic anomalies
and stuff to make progress towards our next waypoint. I rose this morning
to find that we had gone backwards in the 4 ours I was away from the helm!
Oh well, these things happen. We are now sailing in daylight, a fresh and
chilly northerly breeze blowing down the Labrador Sea from the Arctic. We
have about 8 hours sailing to reach the East Greenland current which will
favorably take Adventure up the west coast at about 0.5 kts. Every little
helps - as this could give us an extra 12 miles over 24 hours if we are
lucky. Only issue remains fog and ice. The current is exactly the
area within 30 miles of the coast where these things occur. The East coast
has ice bergs that float south in the East Greenland current and some turn
north up the west side but most on the west coast are calves from fjords or sea
ice. A couple of people thought they heard sea ice running along the
hull. Not confirmed, but the sea temperature might support some
bits.
Bird life has become more prolific. Most of
our passage we have been accompanied by white and grey sea birds that have
swooped and banked in our turbulent airflow and swept in towards the
rigging. They perform stunning passes and low level runs that touch the
wave top almost - they remind me on barnstormers at an air show. More
recently we have picked up a number of other species, most noticeably some
puffins. Now they are really cute, skimming short distances along the sea
surface before diving under the waves. I think I was the first to see an Arctic
Tern, so clearly distinguishable by its shape and colour when compared to the
common sea birds. And last evening we were sailing to windward but on a
beat in the confused airs following a blow but with the swell from the stern
from that blow, strange conditions. But it brought tens of sea birds
using the lift created to fly without effort behind us and soar up in
to the sky, banking round only to have another run at us; felt like being under
attack by a squadron of Spitfires!
The other noticeable change is the air temperature
- it is decidedly chilly now. All have donned more layers and
thermals. The rather sexy look of thermal long johns under shorts is
sported by a few of us! All the rage really. Others have donned
their provided Musto midlayers under their oillies and now look like Michelin
people. Hats and gloves are essential and we have still not found a glove
that remains dry. Drying anything is difficult so it is guaranteed to be
an uncomfortable task to don cold wet gloves for a 4 hour watch in the Arctic
airs. Morale remains high. We have a long beat to windward now - 400
miles or so if the wind does not change. But at present we have a flat sea
so it is perfectly comfortable.
Richard |