59:00.72 49:00.27 one day away from the Greenland Coast
mollihawk's shadow
eddie nicholson
Tue 15 Jul 2014 23:49
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Progress was slow at the beginning and we had
two sources of delay. The
first was a pallet of 'Stuff' from climbing gear to cupa soup. The cupa soup has had plenty to use but the climbing gear is still in the bag!! The second delay was Hurricane Arthur which decided to come our way! By the time it got to us it was nothing more than a gale but we were happy to be tucked up inside a nice marina. We had been very well looked after in Lewisporte by all members of the Club. There wasn't a person who didn't offer us their car to run errands up the town before we left. Overall the Newfoundlanders have shown us an amazing sense of friendliness and generosity. Now we are troubled with the opposite problem to the Hurricane as there is no wind as we go up the Labrador Sea. We are having to make a stop for diesel at the bottom of Greenland as stocks are running low. No fishing yet but after our dinner,again cooked by Mike, we saw a pod of about 100 small whales, yet to be identified, which stayed for a while. Saw lots of large icebergs this time leaving Lewisporte, much more than last year. Because there was not much wind we were able to travel at night but if the wind was up we would have had to 'Heave too' for the night which at present is between 11 and 3.30. The main bergs are not a problem as they show up on the radar but it's the small ones that appear only a metre above the water that are the problem. the Growlers which don’t appear on the radar and if connected with would be like hitting a stationary car. We are now clear of the icebergs as they hug the West coast due ton the
currents and these currents move in an anticlockwise direction.
As we travel north the night time is becoming less and we are able to sail/motor with confidence and not run into any icebergs. The water on the Labrador side is 1.8 degrees C (this is where the bergs run down the coast to Newfoundland) and as we move across to the Greenland side it has moved up to a very balmy 4 degrees. Night times are cold enough with 4 layers of trousers and 7/8 layers on top. definitely 2 hats are worn by all!! We have another 4 days of motoring to go before we get to Ilulissat where we need to to drop harry off and collect the new crew, which is half way up the west of Greenland. We are now heading to the first point of
arrival for a diesel top up and in the process of checking out the harbour we
are heading for to see if it's not frozen.
We called the lady in the tourist office of
Qaqortaq on the Sat phone to ensure that the entrance is not blocked with ice
and she confirmed all was ok and that the diesel pumps were operating.
We should be there by 4pm local time tomorrow 1pm UTC |