A sailor’s last shower before you head to sea almost feels like a ritual. Since it’s been so hot, I opted for a cold shower just after 7am, but though the warm hot water crept in anyway, and you can’t help but bask in it not knowing when you will get your next hot shower.
We pulled off the dock of Cape Breton around 11am today. A quick jaunt across the waterway to fuel up and off we went!
The current plan is to head up through the Gulf of St. Lawrence along the west coast of Newfoundland. Over the next two days we’ll sail up through the Esquiman Channel and reach the Strait of Belle Isle, which seperates Labrador and Newfoundland.
There we will reach the Labrador Sea, and things will start to look interesting. There are plenty of icebergs coming down from the arctic and depending on the direction the wind is blowing, could be advantagous or precarious as we make our way across the Labrador Sea towards Qaqortoq, Greenland. Depending on the conditions, we may need to take shelter to wait out wind that could push ice towards us, or there is a possibility of sailing outside and around the ice flow area. The latter would be less convenient, but our priority is to always keep the boat and crew safe and make it to our destination.
We’re putting information from a myriad of sources, but the canadian ice charts are great and are generally updated daily.
Since we are still a couple days ago, it’s too early to know exactly what the conditions will be when we reach the Labrador Sea. Yesterday the wind forecast was showing southerlies so we thought the ice might get pushed north, but the the wind just hasn’t really filled in anywhere we thought it would and the seas are very calm now.
There is plenty of fog in the forecast and combined with dark nights, can make it much more difficult to see the ice. During our last adventure down Baffin Island and into the Labrador Sea, telling the difference between growlers (the smaller bits of ice that come off the icebergs) and waves of the water become increasingly difficult in low light and at night. So imagine how much more nerve racking that can be.
As we’ve learned, we’ll keep our minds and options opens as we make our way towards the ice. Nature is unpredictable, so we’ll do our best to adjust!
It’s been a very warm and calm motor sail so far, but we have seen quite a variety of sealife! We’ve seen several sunfish, a couple porpoises, a shark, and even a swordfish! We’ve seen a myriad of birds including murres, puffins, ganets, and shearwaters. We’ve had some time to work on splicing and even some music from Ted!
Everyone is starting to adjust into their watches. We’re running watches 3 hours on, and 6 hours off. Graeme and Brian took the first watch around noon today, Rusty and I took the second, and Al and Ted are currently on the third shift.
It’s time I get some very much needed to sleep before Rusty and I are up at midnight in a couple of hours. Please excuse the typos as I’m rushing off to sleep.
Good night and send us some wind!
