Yachting Monthly – September 2019

unpleasant prospect of adverse conditions

at Langanes, a long peninsula that juts out to

sea with tide race conditions at its point. On

the north coast, Husavik makes a good

jumping-off point for Jan Mayen – a long

way and with no secure anchorages it could

be a hard slog with little reward. Any

difficulties you may encounter while heading

round the coast are more than compensated

for by the Horn with its spectacular cliff

scenery and then Isafjordur, a pleasant town

with all the repair facilities you may need and

a perfect jump-off for Greenland.

An alternative route is via the Westman

Islands (Vestmannaeyjar), a passage of

about six days from Scotland. Heimaey, the

only town, is a real hurricane hole where you

can re-provision before rounding the

Reykjanes peninsula. I have changed crews

by docking briefly in the small port of

Keflavic on the east side only a few minutes

drive by taxi from the international airport.

Reykjavik, the capital city, has much to offer

and justifies several days’ stop-over. All the

Icelandic spectacles of pulsing volcanoes,

historic sites, waterfalls, thermal vents and

glaciers are accessible by hire car or bus

from there.

The passage from Isafjordur to east

Greenland is about 300 miles and takes

you across the Denmark Strait which can

be as nasty a place as you will ever find.

That said, when we crossed in 2016 it was

in a flat calm with dense fog. You may

encounter icebergs about 100 miles from

Iceland but the main concentrations

generally occur about 60 miles off

Greenland with the prospect of pack-ice

shortly afterwards. The obvious place

to head for is Ittoqqortoormiit in

Scoresbysund. This is the largest

fjordic system in the world and has just

about everything you could wish for in

Arctic sailing.

An alternative after re-provisioning is to

head back out to sea and up the Liverpool

Land coast – splendid, isolated and poorly

charted – but is a world of adventure all

in itself.

From Reykjavik the recognised route is

across to Tasiilaq with an airport nearby

at Kulusuk handling direct flights from

Iceland. The surrounding area makes for

an ideal cruising ground in reasonably

sheltered waters.

WHAT KIND OF BOAT?

The starting point in all this is, of course, the

boat itself. Is it strong enough, properly set

up with spares on board to meet every

eventuality, fuel, water, and food? The list

goes on, so here is a breakdown to

summarise my thoughts:

Increasingly, standard production yachts

are voyaging to the Arctic but careful

consideration must be given to hull strength.

Boats that were built for the marinas of

Brittany were not designed to take the stress

of pack-ice, so any skipper considering

Greenland or Svalbard should first of all ask

the question, is the boat capable of dealing

with extreme conditions? Arctic voyagers

with deep pockets favour aluminium or steel

hulls. My sailing has mostly been on the sort

of yachts that were built in the late 70s and

early 80s when GRP lay-up was on the

heavy side compared to today’s standards.

With weight and strength acting in my favour

I have had no problems from ice damage.

CHECKS AND PREPARATION

BEFORE LEAVING

Do a stem to stern inspection and be honest

with yourself, make notes and if you doubt

something, have it double-checked.

Chainplates and rigging should have special

attention. Everything breakable on deck

should be stress tested – there’s nothing like

some competitive club sailing earlier in the

season with a bunch of gorillas pushing the

boat to its limits; this will soon expose the

PILOTS

Arctic and Northern Waters Pilot

published by IMRAY (RCCPF)

Norway, Oslo – Spitsbergen Pilot

published by IMRAY(RCCPF)

VIKING Polar Cruise Series Saga Maps

Admiralty, Norwegian, Danish and

Icelandic charts

Heinaey, a sheltered hurricane

hole in Vestmannaeyjar

EXPERT ON BOARD

Icebergs are beautiful, but can

be extremely unstable. Fog is

also par for the course in

high latitudes