GREENLAND CALLING

13 July 2014 » Uncategorized | respond

THE ATLANTIC CROSSING
The Maud Returns Home Expedition 2014 has now arrived Nuuk on the west coast of Greenland 17 days after we departed Farsund on the south coast of Norway on the 25th of June.
We are all well but pretty tired after fighting some unexpected heavy weather in the mid atlantic. We pushed through it at slow speed during a short week, and now we can feel pretty happy to have experienced that both Tandberg Polar and the barge Jensen stood the test in rough seas.
And so did we.
We had some minor tehnical damages but considering the fact that we had winds in the upper scale of storm and waves up to 10 meters we must be quite content and pleased to be well and fit here in Nuuk and also super ready for the continuation of this journey.

After rounding Cape Farewell on a sunny morning we said goodbye to a continious rolling experience of more than two weeks and soon were introduced to a new challenge, namely the ICE. Chunks of ice from small lumps, up to major icebergs of more than 100 meters of hight ment our attention had to be on full alert passing through a mix between thick fog patches and brilliant blue skies as we sailed near the coast up to Nuuk, where we ancored yesterday morning, on the 12th of July 2014.
This arrival on Greenland represents another milestone for our MRH project and I do feel a certain joy and also a deep appreciation towards the crew of Tandberg Polar. We have had several challenges to deal with during our crossing due to the winds and weather conditions, and the crew on board TP showed great seamanship. Thank you guys.

Now we can look ahead and we will hopefully be ready to advance up the coast early next week. Next stop will be Upernavik. This will be our last stop before we cross over Baffin Bay into the famous Northwest Passage, which will be our last major challenge before fianly arriving Cambridge Bay in Nunavut, Canada.

The ice situation this year seems to be quite average, which means we can cross our fingers for an opportunity to enter the passage and get through to Cambridge Bay towards the end of this month.



Out of Farsund, with a mixed feeling of excitement and curiousity.
































And soon the quiet of the ocean finally embrased us.






















As the Northern Gannet (Havsula) kept a good view on us, from above.














Jensen is beginning to feel the elements.





















As Havsula keeps watching us.

















As Jensen hits the big seas and deals with it all.













As we all watch in silence.















































First dinner served on deck by chef jan, west of cape Farewell






















Out of the blue – Into the white.



























True colors – Kitch Greenland style














photo JW (C)