Qaqortoq (=Julianehab) Monday July 13th
Sue has posted several very good entries and I will try
not to duplicate what she has written.
Our original intent after leaving Newfoundland was to go North to
Labrador and leave for Greenland from there.
It substantially shortens the crossing.
The problem with this plan so early in the season is that a lot of ice
is carried South along the Labrador coast and sailing through it at night can
be dangerous. The ice charts are updated
regularly and the commodore of RYNC had access to some very good unofficial ice
information that he shared with us. The
conclusion from all of this was that our best plan would be to sail due East
from Newfoundland for 24 hours and then NE for another 24 hours before turning
just West of North for a straight run to Nuuk.
We did this and did not see a single piece of ice as a result. The passage was remarkably uneventful. We had 24 hours of really good wind on the
beam but for the rest of the passage winds were light and irregular. We tried every sail combination but ended up
motoring the majority of the passage. As
we neared Greenland it became clear we would have enough fuel to teach Paamiat
(Fredeikshab) but maybe not enough to reach Nuuk. Our preferred destination was Qaqortoq (Julianehab)
south of Paamiat but Qaqortoq is usually not accessible this early in the
season because of the pack ice (they call it Storis) that is brought down the
East coast of Greenland, around Cape Farewell and then up the West coast. Ice Central told us initially that we would
not be able to get around the storis but by the time we had to make a decision
they had changed their minds and given us the coordinates of the storis limits
and it looked as if we would be able to make it. In the end we crossed the northern extremity
of the storis in fairly thick fog and passed through hundreds of bergs, bergy
bits, growlers and ice junk. Although
somewhat nerve-wracking they are not too hard to avoid if you pay
attention. The overall density was much
less than 10%; had it been much more it would have been more difficult.
We would not have been able to make Qaqortoq until late
in the day on July 3rd so we decided to find an anchorage, spend the night and
make an early start for Qaqortoq in the morning. Total passage time was five nights and six
days (130 hours). Anchorages in
Greenland are interesting. They are
fairly well spaced out and if they are protected they are not big. Tunuliatstaap Nuna Bay was certainly
protected with a 10 foot bar (rock) to
cross. It was big enough to accommodate
one boat and had steep too rock walls around most of it. We dropped the anchor in 25 feet, let out 150
feet of chain and dragged the anchor across half the bay. We did that four times before we could get
the Bruce to penetrate the weed and take hold.
Since then we have found most bottoms are the same with a lot of weed
that the anchor needs time to work though; once it does the holding is usually
good in heavy mud. Once anchored
securely the settings could not be more beautiful
Saturday, July 4th - Happy Birthday America - we motored
into Qaqortoq and after trying out the container ship quay (not designed for
small boats) we were assigned a place on the teehead of a floating dock really
made for much smaller boats. But it has
proved to be secure, convenient and they have water (no electricity). All three of us decamped to the Hotel
Qarqortoq (four stars) for three nights of unlimited hot showers.
I should say something about the amazing job the marine
authorities do here in looking after incoming and outgoing boats. The Search and Rescue (AKO) people require
you to report in when you are 250 miles from the coast and to continue to
report in every six hours thereafter. If
you miss a report they will initiate a SAR.
Gregers does all of our communicating in Danish of course and he developed
quite a rapport with their office. They
also had our tracking link and used it.
Gregers also kept in contact with Ise Centralen who gave us regular
current ice reports. The Harbor Master
here in Qaqortoq is friendly, efficient and very helpful. In fact everyone we have met seems genuinely
glad to see us and everyone has been helpful.
As an example I had a small engine problem that required the removal of
an injector to reseat it which, on this engine involves quite a lot of fuel
piping removal. Although I can do it
myself I really wanted a proper mechanic to do it in case there was something
else going on I had failed to appreciate.
The Harbor Master dispatched a mechanic at seven that evening. The mechanic returned at 0700 the next
morning and reseated the injector successfully.
He absolutely refused to take any payment (and I tried) and insisted
that we enjoy the rest of our stay in Greenland. The people here are very proud of their
country and rightly so. It is one of the
most beautiful places I have ever seen; the mountain and fjord scenery is
magnificent.
We have now visited three of the original Norse
settlements (active from 982 until the middle of the fifteenth century) and to
do so at this time of year is to understand why they stayed here. All of the settlements are right on the coast
in breathtakingly beautiful surroundings.
The requirements seemed to be relatively flat meadow land with a
freshwater stream nearby and an abundance of rocks with which to build things,
and build things they did. The cow barn at the Gardar farm was 208 feet long by
14 feet wide (internal dimensions) and could hold 65 head of cattle. Unfortunately not much of the original
structures remain and an Inuit village has since been built on top of the
ruins. The best preserved structure is
the church at Hvalsey. Each farm had its
own church; the Norse converted to Christianity in 1000 AD although Erik the
Red who started the whole thing never did.
The Norse history and its links to Iceland, Norway and Denmark are
fascinating and we hope to learn more as we continue back along the route they
took so many years ago.
And now to answer the question "what happened to
Nuuk?" Well we set out but it
became apparent we would need four days of continuous motoring to get there and
four more to get back. It is necessary
to use what are called inner leads which are narrow passages between high
ridges on either side. The wind either
blows one way or the other and neither is conducive to successful sailing (I
don't know how the Norse got anywhere unless they rowed most of the time). Anyway we decided to abandon Nuuk and spend a
few more days in the South which still has more to see. So we are back in Qaqortoq and today (Monday)
is laundry day. The storis has now
retreated to below Cape Farewell and we will try to access the inside passage
to the East Coast. If that is ice free
it will cut about 150 miles of the passage to Reykjavik and will keep us away
from the area South of Cape Farewell which is notorious for its bad weather.
If we can find internet (a big challenge here) this will
be posted and I have no idea when you will get another one.
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