Arctic Circle? Check!

Aventura's route while crossing the Arctic Circle

Early this morning, Martin sent me a text saying that they had officially crossed the Arctic Circle.  This is important because many judge a Northwest Passage crossing to be successful, only if they have crossed the symbolic gateway.

They have officially sailed 3728 miles.  WOW!  That's a lot of miles.

See if you can make out an Iceberg (a rather large one) in this thick fog.

Martin called me often this past week saying that the fog was so thick that there was no way that one could be distracted while on watch because the fog was so soupy, making the crew stay on their toes while on lookout for icebergs.  After seeing the photo above, I can now understand why he was so concerned.

Martin relayed to me that there was lots of ice, flat seas and no wind.  Martin reported that these icebergs were quite large and at one point (and probably due to a little boredom) the crew started trying to make out what the shape of each iceberg looked like. Comparing them to animals and people.  I am sure it helped pass some time and make it a little lighter.  In spite of the light hearted conversation, there was still continual concern because they could only see a boat length in front of them.

It was reported in Jimmy Cornell's site, "that at one point, the air temperature dropped to -2 and the seas temperature was +1.5 and that is what cause the thick fog.  Lots of "anxious moments" making the night watch especially not fun."  The radar did help to a certain extent but only for the larger "proper icebergs".

This is especially cause for hair standing on end, because one bad chunk of an iceberg could cause serious damage even to a boat "as strongly built" as Aventura.

Martin filling the jugs with gas and admiring the icebergs.

Martin reported to me that they took many pictures of amazingly large icebergs.

Like us,  Jimmy also has a Parasailor spinnaker and they had asked that Jimmy send them some photos of these beautiful sails while hoisted.  No better time than this morning as there was finally some wind.

Martin and Jimmy in the dinghy taking the photos of
Aventura while Chris and Dunbar agreed to sail her past the Iceberg.

That is some iceberg!  Yikes!

Martin reported that while in the dinghy, the water bounced up and down in the swell and he said that he thought that this was the first dinghy to ever brave the Davis Strait.  Too funny.

The crew is now only 100 miles from Nuuk as of 4:09 pm MST.  They are almost there!  Once they arrive, Martin will leave having accomplished his goal and head home to us here in Utah.

We are counting the minutes until he arrives...

—Kym

(Photo cred: jimmycornell www.cornellsailing.com)