We motor out of the harbour around 1500, turn into the southerly wind to hoist the mainsail and then head roughly north and pole out the genoa to starboard.
The sun is out and Bonny is soon romping along in the fresh southerly breeze at 6-7 knots. Unsurprisingly we make good progress and St John's is soon left well behind.
That evening we spot a couple of whales some way off (and later after some research George concludes they were probably Sei whales) at m the same time we are surrounded by scores of dolphins - some are very excitable, but interestingly, none of them do what all others I have seen did and that's to ride the boat's bow waves.
The sunset is beautiful...
Over night the wind eases slightly, but we still continue at a reasonable pace of 4/5 knots.
By midnight we have covered about 90 nautical miles and have 745 still to run.
George took the 2200-0200 Watch.
Day 2, 7/8/25
Just before George goes off Watch a small bird flies into the cockpit and can't get out. George picks it up gently cradles it in his hands and studies it closely. It doesn't appear injured and so after noting its colouring and shape and the small protrusions on its bill, he throws it back into the air whereupon it fl off non the worse for the experience. Using a couple of bird books on board, George later identifies it as a member of the Stormy Petrel family.
We come across lots of birds including comical Puffins and the seemingly ever grumpy Shearwaters. We often hear them scolding us as we pass by small groups of them. I'm not sure if it's because we're disturbing their sleep or their feeding! Apparently there are vast colonies of numerous species on the main island and its many satellites. Closer inshore and further up the coast, Bonavista Bay is also renowned for whales. Unfortunately we don't have time on our side. George's work commitments, my family commitments and most critically from a passage planning perspective, we should transit southern Greenland and get back across to Ireland/UK before the frequency and severity of the North Atlantic's low pressure conveyor belt makes sailing this patch of ocean too unpleasant. So reluctantly we press on without investigating the coastal delights of this beautiful 'new found land'.
Hopefully, I'll be able to come back and do it properly one day before I get too old and decrepit. I'd love to visit the Azores again too. Vincent seems to be getting keen on doing more sailing and he would also like to go to the Azores again . Perhaps in a couple of years we can do a proper North Atlantic circuit over a few summers!
Here's the plan:
Summer 1 - to Cape Breton (either along the Viking route ( Faroes, Iceland and Greenland) or direct or via the Azores) Winter 1 - leave the boat in St Peter's, Cape Breton.
Summer 2 - Explore Newfoundland. Winter 2 - leave the boat in St Peter's.
Summer 3 - Sail back to the UK via the Azores.
Sounds tempting doesn't it. The trouble is there are so many places to go and so little time left to voyage to them, not forgetting of course my poor long suffering wife and the grandchildren!
Anyway, back to the here and now.
The wind veered overnight and so at 0200, the beginning of my Watch, I gybe the boat at to keep us on a more or less northerly track. From the weather files we have downloaded over Starlink, it looks like we can minimise time spent in calms and contrary winds if we head as directly north as possible for the first 2-3 days, before then heading to Nanortalik.
It's a gorgeous clear cloudless night with a great view of the stars including a few shooting stars. The Plough sits in the sky on our port bow and Bonny heads directly for Polaris. A near full, deep orange moon hangs low in the sky, creating a perfect panoply of ocean and heaven through which we sail ever northwards for our appointment with destiny in the land of ice and polar bears. The name of our destination is "Nanortalik", meaning "The Place of Polar Bears".
I get my head down again for three hours from 0600 and then cook bacon and eggs for breakfast - always particularly enjoyable on a boat!
After breakfast the wind continues to ease and veer and so after lunch of sandwiches and beer in the cockpit in warm sunshine, we set the cruising chute. In the flat sea it's enough to keep us moving at about 2 knots.
We see dolphins some way off twice more that afternoon.
George cooks an excellent dinner of pork cutlets, mashed potato, fried onions and his speciality, coleslaw.
We continue ghosting along under cruising chute at 1-2 knots in a very light breeze. Fortunately the sea is almost flat and so there are no waves to slow us down.
I go off-Watch at 2200 and get a good sleep.
Our midnight to midnight run is 87 miles and Nanortalik is 666 miles ahead. So we reduced the distance to run by 79 miles
Should be in bed but kept up reading fascinating blog.
ReplyDeleteKeep it coming. Safe sailing.