Scoresby Sund Expedition 2022
Day 44. 24th July 2022
Position: Moored Husavik, Iceland
Weather: Not too bad at all
Ice: Awaiting a new Ice Chart
Sumara has the best position in the harbour being the only yacht on a pontoon. On the harbour wall lies Dagmar Aaen, the crew of which are all waiting news of their Captain’s health after he fell ill a few days ago. We met Judith from the ship while we were in town and decided to go for a little walk along the trails in the hills behind Husavik. Ray led the way, having already explored there before. It was a good healthy walk which somehow managed to bring us back into town via the new Husavik brewery – well Ray was leading us so surprise surprise. The magnetic attraction of the tap bar was so strong that we deviated off course and found ourselves ordering three glasses of their new IPA. Not long after, more of the Dagmar Aaen crew passed by and succumbed to the same fate resulting in what I believe is called a bit of a “sesh”.
Judith is the Cook on Dagmar Aaen but sadly concluded that the crew will have to fend for themselves after her third IPA rendered her no longer in safe state to handle the planned hot gnocchi meal. So, Judith, Marie, Ray and I, went back to Sumara for a pasta lash-up followed by rum and chocolate.
The following day we were invited onto the amazing Dagmar Aaen for supper. The ship is planked with 60 mm thick oak (?) and further reinforced with steel and aluminium plating. It is strong enough to overwinter in the ice. The ship is owned and Captained by Arved Fuchs who is a highly accomplished German Polar Explorer and the first person to walk to both poles unaided. Unfortunately, he was suddenly taken ill last week and although now recovering, the crew must await news regarding the fate of the rest of the expedition. We wish him a speedy recovery. There should be a press release soon on their website. It has just been released to the national press.
The good thing about sailing to these more difficult places is the quality of the people that you meet. There’s no riffraff up here just highly skilled sailors, scientists and climbers. And they are all good fun!
Soon Sumara will be ready to depart but the weather looks like holding us in port until the weekend with northerly winds followed by a fairly deep depression. Once the depression passes the wind should shift to southerlies on Sunday evening to gently waft us northwards, well that is the hope. In the meantime, preparations continue.
We have been trying on our survival suits and labelling the shoes “left” and “right” to speed things up. Ray is an expert packer, so I am exploiting his skills to repack the forepeak. Everything is strewn across the pontoon in the sun drying off, then it will be carefully repacked so that we hopefully gain a few cubic feet. I have fitted spikes to the carbon fibre ice poles or tuks.
The useless breather valve to the paraffin tank has been replaced with an industrial tap. We lost half our paraffin on the trip from the Faroes because the one way valve seems to work both ways!
We have just rented a car for tomorrow (which is Tuesday) so we can do the touristy things and have a day away from worrying about the weather and ice. I’m sure we will get to Scoresby Sund somehow!
Still no new ice chart.
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