USA to Norway

June 10th to August 6th - 2011

The Route

The Beginning

In the beginning of June we traveled to Boston to receive the new boat. We lifted the boat up on the hard and started the preparations for the 3500 nautical mile sail back home to Norway

Up the Coast of USA

After all the necessary work was completed onboard and we had her filled up with fuel and food. We started sailing up the coast of USA ending up in Halifax, Canada where some more crew joined us from Norway.

Our first Iceberg

From Halifax we headed up the coast towards Nova Scotia. On our way we went through the Saint Peter's lock, this was a first for all of us. A very neat experience. Onward between Nova Scotia and Newfoundland we encountered our first iceberg. This was a majestic sight, although it would not compare to what lies ahead. 

Crossing to Greenland

After spending our last day on the coast of Labrador, we set sail for Greenland. This started out nice, but after a day we started hearing a "grinding" noise for the CV-joint between the gearbox and the propeller shaft. After some diagnostics, which included locking the rotation of the shaft with a jack-strap while under sail, dismantling the CV-joint and filling it with shaft oil. We then felt like it would hold until we arrived in Greenland. Since we where under some time constraints because we had to make a flight for two of the crew out of Greenland, we pushed the boat quite hard under sail. In the middle of the night, we heard a big boom. The mainmast boom was whipping back and forth, we rushed out on deck and manage to furl the sail in. We had broken the gooseneck. Fortunately for us two new crew members was flying in from Norway and could bring a new gooseneck and CV-joint.  

The fjords of Greenland

After settling down after quite the crossing, it was nice to just sail through the icy fjords on Greenland. We also encountered an enormous iceberg. It was at least 40 meters high and had a nice lagoon in it.

Hot tub in the middle of nowhere 

This was a special one. A days boat trip form Nanortalik, surrounded by icebergs, up on a hill, lies a pond that holds around 36°C. The pond itself was constructed during the viking era and is feed hot water from three natural hot water springs. We swam around enjoying the hot water together with the locals.

Ice everywhere

We kept going south from Nanortalik towards Aappilattoq but we encountered a lot of drift ice. After a while trying to find a path between the ice, which was a slow prosess. We picked out a big sheet of ice and ran our bow into it. Then we used this piece as a ram, pushing our self though the ice. This was real effective. 

We then arrived at Aappilattoq. This is a settlement of around a hundred people and because of the surrounding terrain you can only arrive by sea or air. We stayed there for a couple of days waiting for a window in the ice, to pass through Prince Christian Sound. During this stay our youngest crew member Marselius, eight years old at the time, played with the local children although they didn't speak the same language.     

First boat through in 2011

After a couple of days in Aappilattoq, we saw an opportunity to pass through Prince Christian Sound. It all started smooth and on our way we swung by a glacier and picked up some glacier-ice for some drinks when we arrived back in Norway. But the further out the fjord we got, the more drift-ice we encountered. We push on through the night, but with the addition of waves from the ocean and ice-blocks the size of cars it was a nerve-racking twelve hours before we finally slipped through.  

We learned later that we where the first boat to pass through that season.

Four days of sailing laid ahead before we would set foot on Iceland.

Iceland and Vestmannaeyjar

Four days of nice sailing later we arrived in Reykjavik, which is the capital of Iceland. This was the first time in three weeks we came into a modern civilization. Just to pop into a grocery store and get fresh fruits was a hoot. We rented a car for a day to explore more of the Icelandic nature and visit the Blue Lagoon. 

After we finished up sightseeing, we headed for a short sail to Vestmannaeyjar. This is a volcanic island of the south coast of Iceland, with some pretty interesting history. In 1973 a volcano erupted on the island, forcing everybody to evacuate. But the stream of lava was heading for the entrance of the harbor treating to close it of. Meaning the only safe harbor for the village would be gone. They started spraying the lava with seawater to try and stop it and the flew in high capacity pumps from USA. This kept the lava under control. The eruption lasted five months.

Arriving back home

After 8 weeks at sea and 3500 nautical miles behind us it was nice to see some familiar waters. When we got close to our last port, we where met up by some friends and escorted into port. There family and friends where waiting to celebrate.