53.5°: Preparation

As forecast the morning was all foggy and rainy with winds gusting 30 knots. Very inhospitable. I got busy cleaning up a bit, had a nice hot shower and prepped 3 more windows with an isolation foil. The idea is that the foil will reduce condensation and also help keep the boat warm. Hugues of Vanuily tipped me off on this one. Hugues and Anne are one of the buddy boats heading up for the NWP. They should also leave tomorrow, albeit from Newfoundland.

Around 14:00 the sun finally began to break through. The solar system is putting some charge back in the batteries but it is still cold and windy outside. When the deck has dried, I go outside to mend the trampoline. It doesn’t look pretty but at least the mend should hold. I now notice how badly UV-degraded the material actually is. Pulling a chord through an eye cuts right into and through a line of the mesh. This entire thing has become a death trap.

The yard already confirmed that an aesthetically pleasing material was chosen over the most UV-resistant material. Definitely we can’t go through the NWP with these trampolines where we will be stepping on them with heavy boots while pushing ice…. Either Yann will bring new trampolines from the yard or we will have a great time in Nuuk fitting two of those tough green HDPE fishing nets to the boat.

I feel rested, both mentally and physically. I am ready to set sail tomorrow morning and tackle those 10.5° north.Read more