Stopping over in Nuuk for Avannaq
Published on 10.08.2011 - Avannaq 2011
After visiting the old town of Ivittuut, they had to leave Grønnedal the 2d of August, in the early morning, rushing to Nuuk as a new barometric low was announced over Greenland West coast.
The track to Nuuk, some 230 nautical miles was long enough and a diesel stop to Paamiut seemed to be necessary. At 4 o'clock, under an unforgettable sun rise over Kunaï Mount summit 1496m, they saluted on VHF16 the naval base's lookout man sailing taking the mouth of "Karsaqløb", a very narrow passage with a few depth under the keel. In the west of this short passage, the remarkable island of Arsuk Uummannaq called "De Gaulle" by the population, with visible in the North a too quite sea that bound them to keep the motor until Paamiut.
Excerpts of their logbook : "...I must say that I have been always very dubitativ by watching a large number of documentary films with nature protection or other beautiful theme because I did remark that all of them was shown under motor power more than under sails. Well! I must avow that since we reached Greenland South coast, 90% of our time at sea have been run under motor power. That is a shame because it is of course not the meaning. I think that alternativ power could be nice to study as 5 to 7 kt seem to be enough for any kind of sailing boats. Our little Nanni 23hp is not the worse pollution bomb and quite silencious, but earing it turning days along is also a challenge.
"The dream about a good 25kt Southly wind feels as a wonder! But most of the time depressions run with stronger winds from SW. Then the potential risk to be pressed against the difficult west coast most of the time mentioned as unpracticable stays as an evidence.
Heavy fog more than 200 miles with a 1/10 nm visibility kept our max. speed to 5kn after a first and very close iceberg apparition that brought the conviction that trusting the radar is an excellent psychological help. Then a minimum of 3 men on board is required as it is getting difficult to keep eyes open and concentration more than 1 hour each. Inside steering is a also a very good and comfortable parameter to fight against cold nights.
5 miles from Nuuk harbour, the fog disappeared suddenly and then went our spontaneous happiness to admire this beautiful town in a dream landscape as a scenography for hunters shooting seals around in the sun set.
Avannaq will stay until the 8th of August in Nuuk harbour before sailing the last part of the voyage with stop to Asiaat, Ilulissat and then Uummannaq...."
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