Sailing around Icelands's northside

Due to our relatively tight timeframe and wanting to spend as many days on Greenland as possible. We decided to split the 350nm distance between Seydisfjoerdur and Isafjoerdur into four parts. Seydisfjoerdur to Reufarhoefn, a small fishing village on the northeast side of Iceland. Reufarhoefn to Grimsey, an island situated at the polar circle, the northernmost land on Iceland. Then from Grimsey to Ingolfsfjoerdur, a fjord where we would anchor up for the first time on our trip. From Ingolfsfjoerdur, we would sail the last distance to Isafjoerdur where Atle would join us again for the crossing over to Greenland.

First leg – Seydisfjoerdur to Reufarhoefn

On July 10th at 0700 we left Seydisfjoerdur, after saying goodbye to Siri and Atle. It was a calm morning and we motored up the east coast. On our way we rounded the northeast corner of Iceland, and due to calm winds, we could launch the drone and take some pictures and video as we rounded it.

After the rounding we got some nice breeze and we could sail into the sunset

We arrived in Reufarhoefn late at night, so we put the boat at the fishing dock and went straight to bed. During our sail up to Reufarhoefn our autopilot had stopped working, so early next morning Bent went into the small locker containing the steering system to fix it.

Throughout the morning, fishing boats started to come in to unload their catch from the previous night. This small fishing boats are only crewed by one single person, and they are allowed to catch up to 800kg at a time, four days a week.

Second leg – Reufarhoefn to Grimsey

We topped up our freshwater tank, then headed for sea once again. We followed the coastline for as long as we could, before we headed straight for Grimsey. Grimsey is the northernmost land on Icelandic territory and the polar circle goes straight thru this small island. Except for the autopilot not playing along as much as it should the sail over to this island was uneventful, and we arrived there around 1900 on July 11th. We tied up and went out to explore the island.

But we didn’t get far before we found out that they had a swimming pool and jacuzzi. So, we went straight back to pick up our swimming gear to go for a swim with the locals. After a couple hours in the jacuzzi, we walked the 2km to the polar circle.

Third leg – Grimsey to Ingolfsfjoerdur

July 12th at 0500, while the others were sleeping, Marselius and Lars left Grimsey and headed for Ingolfsfjoerdur. The wind never built up to a strength, so we could sail, so motor it was. Ingolfsfjoerdur is not well charted, so we proceeded with caution. We knew there was an old dock in there somewhere, but when we got there we saw that it wasn’t suited for us. We went deeper into the fjord, until we got a depth we could anchor at.

Not a suitable doc for us 

Forth leg – Ingolfsfjoerdur to Isafjoerdur

This last leg to complete our sail around the northside of Iceland, was a grey and foggy one. Bent and Catrine lifted the anchor on July 13th at 0600, and we motored our way around to Isafjoerdur. Isafjoerdur is the place where almost everyone who is going to east Greenland sail from. Because of the relative short distance between the two places, it’s easier to find a window in the ice and weather to do the crossing.

We arrived in Isafjoerdur at around 1700, and Catrine and Marselius went to the supermarket to fill up on groceries. Atle met us at the dock, after a couple of days in Reykjavik. We went over the boat, filled up on freshwater, booked a time for fuelling the next morning and got in touch with customs, so we could get check out of Iceland.

As this was the last day in civilisation, for a couple of weeks. We grabbed the opportunity to go out to eat some pizza. Late that night, the customs officer arrived, and we got checked out of Iceland.

At 0730 the morning after, on July 14th, we left for Greenland.