30th January 2025
Reading time: 5 minutes
I am going to have just one more attempt to get to Scoresby Sund in my little 26 foot wooden yacht. This time will be my 4th try and it will definitely my last attempt!
Before committing to the expedition I needed to secure a seafaring crew for the tough Greenland leg. I am very pleased to say that Paul has accepted the challenge and will be joining me on the north coast of Iceland in July 2026 ready for the Greenlandic ice to clear. Paul sailed with me from Greenwich to Spitsbergen in 2002 so he knows the ropes on the good little ship.
It is going to be an edgy trip but I am determined to get there. I actually feel as if I have already sailed there having studied the ice charts and pilot books over so many years. It was actually the weather and not the ice that stopped me in 2022. I just couldn’t find a gap in the storm systems which was long enough to get me from Husavik, on the north coast of Iceland, to Ittoqqortoormiit, the settlement just inside the sound. Sadly small boats sail more slowly than big ones, so what could be deemed a safe passage for a 40 footer, may not be in a 26 foot Vertue.
The hope is to circumnavigate Milneland which is a large mountainous island inside the sound. We will allow two to three weeks to explore the area before scarpering to the safety of Isafjordur on the North West coast of Iceland.
No final decision has been made whether we will try to sail the boat back to Stornoway in Scotland, via Reykjavik and the Westman Islands, or whether I winter the boat in Iceland.
It is just possible, and I hope it can happen, that my friend Tim and his daughter may be sailing to Greenland at the same time – perhaps even to Scoresby Sund. If that is the case, Tim will be short of time and they will overwinter their boat in Iceland. That may persuade me to do the same.
Although July 2026 may seem a long time away, it does require planning from now. I need to get the boat to Oban this year ready to depart to Ullapool and the Faroes in the summer of 2026.
While the boat is close to home in Walton on the Naze, I need to tackle a few jobs. The Eberspacher heater needs repairing or replacing and I have to make a new teak cockpit seat (wow, teak is expensive!). This is also the year to test everything, so any new gear should be purchased soon to check that it works. Luckily Sumara has made many visits to the Arctic so most of the important equipment is tried and tested, but there are a few bits of kit that we may add. Drones, Jordan Series Drogues, PLBs are all things to discuss.
I’m getting very excited!
Leave a Reply