GREENLAND
Arctic Circle
Paamiut
Hove to
Nuuk
START
Sisimiut
Nunarssuit
Nanortalik Tasiussaq
Unarjoq
(hot springs)
Qaqortoq
Kap Desolation
Cape Farewell
Cruncher I.
Hamborgerland
Maniitsoq
Finnefjeld
Tassiussaq
Evighedsfjord
Kangerlussuaq
Hvalsey Channel
x
0 50nm
GREENLAND
1 7/8
16/8/15
18/8
19/8
21/8
22/823/824/8
25/8 26/827/8 28/8
29/8
31/8
20/8
Hove-to
Cape Farewell
ATLANTIC OCEAN
FINISH
Shetland Is.
Orkney Is.
Faroe Is.
Oban
Nanortalik
0 300nm
We had good holding
near Kap Thorsvalden
but weren’t sure if the
icebergs could reach us
ADVENTURE
44 http://www.yachtingmonthly.com APRIL 2016
Martin is an Arctic research scientist, so
he brought a wealth of information about
ice, and Patrick had voluntarily taken over
all the cooking, a welcome fi rst on this
boat. Patrick and Trystan also became
masters of night-time raids on skips in the
settlements, purloining quantities of food –
bread, chocolate, bananas, pizzas – thrown
out by the supermarkets. We ate it all with
relish and without mishap, marvelling at
the wastefulness of westernised society,
even in these remote places.
I was getting weather forecasts by email
from the redoubtable Peter Semiotuk in
Yellow Knife. He pointed out a limited
period of northerly winds, essential for us
to get south, so I radioed the team ashore
and we left the Shark’s Fin, as we had
named it, in a hurry, setting sail for Nuuk
to the south with a following wind. The
wind eventually died near Nuuk.
Rather than mooring in the town, we
motored round to the fjords to the north
and east, where we discovered a well-
protected inlet immediately to the north of
the town. It was a pleasing way to escape
the hurly-burly of the capital city. Further
on, we explored the fjords and two of the
team took in a high standard Alpine-type
ridge, probably the second ascent. We
PHOTO: MARTIN DOBLE
CHARTS: MAXINE HEATH
The beautiful northern
lights appeared in
Tasiussaq