Category: Expeditions
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Ice Situation Scoresbysund
Scoresbysund is still not accessible but Angmagsslik is looking just possible. Hopefully the situation will improve over the next few weeks. John has a helicopter ride and flight booked from Scoresbysund so if we go further south some new arrangements may need putting in place. (I think that was a hint Selma!) Sumara is waiting for…
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Not a Good Day for Sailing
We woke to creaking lines, howling rigging and a harbour full of white horses and decided to stay put but use the time to climb the Faroes highest hill – Slattaratindur at 882 m. As we didn’t have a map we decided to seek local advice. The girl in the supermarket said there are no…
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Bare Poles Down the Sundini
June 2011 Sumara set off yesterday down the narrow gap between Streymoy and Eysturoy. We had calculated that the mean tide would be at 20:37 GMT. The narrows from Torshavn to near the bridge have no tidal rise at all but just after the bridge the rise and fall is 2 m. At high water…
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Pre-departure Meeting
We all met up on Thembi last night go through any final details for the trip to Jan Mayen. Sumara will leave on Sunday to Eidi. We will clamber up the 887 m high hill near there on Monday as our final exercise before sailing north. Thembi, the faster yacht, will probably follow on Monday.…
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Will She Sink?
Sumara is now fully laden the waterline has just disappeared below the water. We are carrying 104 L of diesel, 134 L of water, climbing gear, food, anchor tackle etc. It should be enough to take us to Jan Mayen and then on to Greenland. We will be very restricted in the use of water,…
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John has Arrived Safely
John flew in last night just in time to join us all having a grand curry on Thembi. Now the crew is all assembled (apart from Charlotte who is arriving in Jan Mayen on the Icelandic boat) we will have a big meeting this evening to finalise plans. The Thembi crew are off on a…
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Faroese Fishing Boats
The small fishing boats here are very distinctive. You can see their Viking routes. They seem perfectly at home in the rough water around the island pulling up cod. Strangely the owners like to make the cabins look rather like big ship bridges with a series of small windows which seem to be in the…
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Nolsoy and Thembi the Tanker
After knocking off some tasks in the morning Sarah and I thought we would treat ourselves to a good walk. We took the ferry to the island of Nolsoy just half an hour away and walked out to the lighthouse. A great walk about 2 hours each way along a path well marked with stone…
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Fellow Seadogs
There aren’t many visiting yachts on the Faroes. Currently Woe Wei from Holland, a Maurice Griffiths Atlantic Clipper and James sailing Black Sheep, a Maurice Griffiths Golden Hind. So two MG’s and a Laurent Giles!
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Press Ganged
Sarah, Peter and I were press ganged into crewing the local tourist ship which takes tourists out to the sea caves for trumpet concerts. This was no hardship as it was easy work for a great experience. We just hauled the odd sail, served up coffee to the freezing passengers and threw the odd rope.…