Archive for October 2020

Monday July 28 – Tuesday July 29, 2014 (72o 58’N, 76o 17’W): Bylot Island After refueling and resupplying, we left Upernavik, Greenland Friday  afternoon July 25th and dropped anchor 3 days later in a bay north of Cape Graham Moore on Bylot Island, Canada. The trip across Baffin Bay started with ideal sailing conditions, finishing…

Monday July 28, 2014 (72o 58’N, 76o 17’W): Approaching Pond Inlet Early this morning, we were heading for a bay northeast of  Pond Inlet, Canada. Pond Inlet is a favored entry  point for the Northwest Passage, as it is a good port to resupply. As would be expected, the road here has been an ongoing…

1930 EDT Saturday July 26, 2014 (72o 54’N, 65o 55’W): Middle of Baffin Bay Thursday morning, Dave woke me from a deep slumber with 15 minutes to spare before my 0600 watch.  Half awake, I mechanically swung my feet around the aft end of the lee cloth, onto the cold wooden floor. (The lee cloth…

0900 EDT Wednesday July 23, 2014 (70o 33’N, 55o 21’W): Up the Greenland Coast Following our brisk sail on Sunday, we arrived in Aasiaat (Egedesminde) around 5:00 am Monday morning and dropped anchor in the far corner of the harbor, over by a cluster of large petroleum tanks. Exhausted, we slept in, rising around noon,…

1630 EDT Sunday July 20, 2014 (68o 00’N, 51o 44’W): Surfing Lillian is  currently running hard before the wind, at times surfing down the faces of the following waves. Her speed over the bottom (COG) has hit as high as 10 knots. Even allowing for a knot of current in our favor, that’s fast for…

Back entry from July 16th  (64o 10’N, 51o 44’W): Nuuk   After our sobering encounter with ice off the southwest coast of Greenland on the evening of the 14th, we motored in thick fog up the coast towards Nuuk, never seeing a hint of land the entire 200 miles. Chris voiced his skepticism that it…

Friday, July 18th  2030 EST  (64o 10’N, 51o 44’W): On Watch Monday evening of the 14th the winds continued to blow at 20 knots out of the northwest, denying us a direct heading to Nuuk but providing good headway under a port tack towards the southwest coast of Greenland.  I relieved Dave at  9 pm…

Monday, July 14th  1200 EST  (60o 10’N, 49o 50’W): 60 Degrees North The unusually good   weather that followed us upon leaving St. Mary’s Labrador has averaged out with a vengeance. The last couple of days have been cold and overcast.  The moon has not returned, and the sunrise this morning created a brilliant strip of…

Saturday, July 12th  1200 EST  (56o 22’N, 52o53’W): Labrador Sea Last Wednesday evening we were in a thick fog in the Strait of Belle Isle, looking for a spot to refuel. Crew member Dave Johanson, whose parents have sailed the coast of Labrador in years past, recalled that his mother had recommended the nearby Port…

Wednesday, July 9th  1400 EST  (51o 45’N, 55o50’W): In the Strait of Belle Isle The wind is light and the seas calm, with fog that obscures the horizon and occasionally reduces visibility to less than 100 yards.  Given the lack of wind, we are motoring through the Strait of Belle Isle separating the northern tip…