62° to 64°: Landfall in Nuuk

Yesterday evening didn’t pass without a final test Throughout the day I sailed by and through rain cells without any fuzz. It was grey, then it rained, then it was just grey again. But just when I started to cook some daal for dinner, the wind began a hike from a comfortable 15 knots to 20 knots. I have the Code 0 out, I fall off 20 degrees that takes the grunt out and brings the apparent wind speed (AWS) down to 15. But the wind continues its hike up. 24 knots… ok, that Code 0 has to go. Cooking stove off, I furl the Code in and the Genoa out. A 10-minute job until all is sorted and trimmed. I feel safe, like this we’re good to 28 knots of wind, no problem. Hadn’t had anything stronger in days and nothing is predicted either. But the hike continuous: 28, then 30 knots. Again too much cloth out there, first open the sails, then continue reefing. Downwind reefing the main is never enjoyable, neither for me nor for the sail. TWS reaches 32 knots and then comes down again to the tame 15 knots of before. 90 minutes for the entire cycle. I continue on full main and genoa in to the evening.

Around 20:00 the wind dies - as anticipated. Too bad, we were all set for a 200-mile day. What lays ahead now is an unstable wind increasingly head-on and of unstable strength. Still sailable though. But right now, I don’t feel like it. With the unstable wind direction and 45° apparent wind angle, I’d need to put the autopilot into wind mode. But then our course may alter a lot and I want to catch some sleep. Add to that that I am still carrying around the extra diesel that I picked up in Mary’s Harbor and the decision is clear: down with the sails, both engines at 2kRPM for the last 90 miles! So we stomp at 6 knots upwind. Fuel burn is a tad over 1L/NM in these conditions. Never mind.

The night is still far from comfortable. It is raining and foggy. The rain requires to turn up the rain clutter suppression on the radar but that also reduces the sensitivity for ice. I don’t like it. Sometimes the fog lifts and I can get a visual perimeter of a few miles. We have enough light all night long, that is not the problem. Generally I am sleeping chunks of 20 minutes. I am surprised how quickly and deeply I can fall asleep again following a check. The phone’s timers are beeping at full volume and yet they are struggling to get me back into this world each time.

The approach to Nuuk is impressive. The mountain peaks in its background are more than a thousand meters high. Would be fun to just spend 2 weeks here with a mix of preparation and hikes. I hope to get at least one hike in.

On one of the last turns a huge black sail appears just out of Nuuk. I am struck. Such a rig up here? Turns out it is “Seatilt”, a 21-meter Gunboat catamaran. A carbon weapon with daggerboards taller than person. No insulation on their boat, I suppose. Got to hand it to them they are tacking their way upwind out of the fjord, wow, I am impressed! I call them up on the radio. Their intention is to sail up to Disko Bay and then back to Europe. That’s like taking a Ferrari to Alaska.

Immigration is a piece of cake. A phone call, an email with my passport and we’re done. In spite of having a rifle on board. Gotta love those nordic countries. I anchor in a practical but ugly anchorage. It’s raining.

This marks then end of a chapter of my voyage. The passage from Nova Scotia to Greenland was my first single-handed passage worth mentioning. I am happy with how this challenge played out. Nothing broke, neither in me nor on the boat. I like the intensity.

Next up is the Northwest Passage. Tomorrow Yann should arrive from France and in 3 more days Joerg. Together we will convert Hafiz from a sail boat to a tanker by adding about 2 tons of fuel, water and provisions. She’s not going to like this.Read more