Day 145 – Day 148. Thursday 13th – Sunday 16th August 2026.
Reading time: 5 minutes
We had already pretty much ruled out getting around the Langanes Peninsula on the north east corner of Iceland because the weather would probably turn against us becore reaching Vopnafjordur. Our next best option would be Raufarhofn, Iceland’s most northerly port, about 295 nm away.
We were hoping leave at 22:00 on Thursday evening but somehow my afternoon nap went on until 22:30, so then there was a mad rush to get underway. It would really have been preferable to leave at 21:00 but we were where we were.
Emile from Yacht Barba mentioned a pod of bowhead whales were in the area which she circled on the chart and we should look out for them. These whales can weigh 90,000kg, their heads can be 15m long, they have the largest mouth of any animal and they are perhaps even longer living than the Greenland shark!
Despite a promised northerly wind we found ourselves motoring for a while into a headwind.
At 70°06.4N x 21°28.2W we spotted a pod of very large whales which seemed to us amateurs to possibly be bowheads. Well that’s our story and we are sticking to it.
The wind soon picked up as we exited the sound so we could at last sail but it unfortunateely died 4 hours later. It wasn’t until 16:10 that the wind had enough power to push Sumara through the waves. The south westerly direction put the wind on our beam and we were soon charging along at 5-6 knots. The fluctuating power of the wind meant frequent sail changes with the staysail popping up and down and reefs in and out of the main. With Sumara running along the waves, it was a very smooth journey.
As we dont have Starlink, and we are not able to get the sat phone to download grib files (as we did in the past), we relied on sat-phoning Diana or Grit for weather updates. This worked well on these shortish legs but would get too onerous for the shore crew on a long Atlantic crossing.
As we neared the land, I contacted the Iceland Coastguard on VHF to say that we were going to enter the country at Raufarhofn. They said that it was not a port of entry for foriegn vessels and we must enter at an official port. Gulp!
That would have meant an extra days sailing to try to reach Vopnafjordur but the wind was due to change and we could have ended up with a tough beat to windward. I explained this and mentioned that Raufarhofn was our port of refuge and they very kindly relented and said we could enter and complete the clearance details over VHF. We must thank them for their unstanding.
We sailed into Raufarhofn at lunchtime and found that our pontoon berth that we occupied last time was still free. We moored up starboard side too and the sun came out.
Our average speed was 4.6 kn and the journey was super smooth, despite the 1.5m waves, not bad for a 26 foot wooden boat designed in 1936!
It is a nice feeling being able to go for a stroll without needing to carry a rifle! We can also replenish our food supplies without feeling guilty of taking food from the local population.
In the evening we enjoyed a fine Icelandic lamb meal in the hotel, we felt that we deserved it after such a successful crossing of a potentially dangerous sea.*
We will wait here until we can pass the notorious Langanes peninsular with a favourable wind. We will then either duck into Vopnafjordur or Sedisfjordur or continue to the Faroes or direct to Scotland. We need to grab any opportunity possible, we are not safely home yet!
- In an idle moment I wondered how much our meal cost in pounds and found that it was £168.00. However, it was a very special meal, we quoffed a fair bit of wine, and you can’t take money to your grave etc. No regrets!
Leave a Reply