Looks like tomorrow is time to fly the Noddy Bay nest.
I've been gifted special glove/mitts and wool socks for my trip knitted locally.
The water hear smells and tastes fine. I wonder why it's so yellow? But I've been reassured that nobody has died of it yet.
According to the latest iceberg reports - if I don't run into one in the first three days I should be in the clear. I do hope to get some good pictures of them though - at least one big one.
See you guys in Iceland with a full report (and some pictures)
until later,
Simon
Monday, July 21, 2008
Sunday, July 20, 2008
Video better but no there yet
I edited and put together chapter 1 an 2 but it still seems squished a bit. Back to the drawing board! I'll try a different format later but for now it will have to do.
Still in Noddy Bay with a likely departure for Iceland this Wednesday.
till later,
Simon
Still in Noddy Bay with a likely departure for Iceland this Wednesday.
till later,
Simon
Relaxing in Vinland
Been tied up in Noddy Bay for the past few days waiting for favourable winds for the next 1,300 mile leg to Iceland. According to the latest reports I've received I might be pushing off Wednesday morning (23 July) if the low pressure system passes over this northern part of Newfoundland as predicted.
Can't say I'm complaining though as life is fine here in the old Viking stomping grounds. The Newfoundland culture of xenophilia is well and alive up here. The locals go out of their way to meet you, have a chat, and lend a helping hand if they can. Doesn't matter where you are from, when you come to Newfoundland, it's a bit like 'coming home', so to speak. You're made to feel very welcome.
Tomorrow I'm invited to dinner with Frank and his wife. Frank's the local carpenter who makes 6ft lighthouses as lawn ornaments. Comes complete with working lights. Apparently they're a hot item around here and in demand.
Been driving around the area today with Keith who showed up at my boat this mornng with beer! We stopped of at his house in Quirpon Harbour (pr. Carpoon) A large comfortable house he only stays in during the summer as he has another down in St Anthony. He wants to sell it though, with 125 acres of land. He hopes to get $10,000 (5,000 pounds) Life is cheap up here. You could become a land baron around here for same price to buy a small plot in Wales (and much of the more populated areas of Canada).
Last night I attended the local 'screech out' at the only bar for miles around - Skipper Hots..(Screech is a Newfoundland liquor guaranteed to make you act silly and rot your gut.) I was invited to it by Austin, the main man and lead singer of the Skipper Hots band who lives just across the road from the wharf. Later his wife came over to 'make sure I was coming'.
A Screech Out includes a skit where some unlucky visitors are chosen to participate in a ceremony to become 'official Newfoundlanders' It involves, among other things, chatting up and kissing a cod (that they keep in a freezer). Fun all around. Thankfully I was not badgered into kissing cod. I guess being a sailor I'm Newfie enough already.
The the first 200 miles on my way to Iceland is going to be as a little tense as it is still within the iceberg limit. Remember what happened to the Titanic? It hit an iceberg and went down not far from here. But then again, life without risk is hardly worth living. Right?
until later,
Simon
Can't say I'm complaining though as life is fine here in the old Viking stomping grounds. The Newfoundland culture of xenophilia is well and alive up here. The locals go out of their way to meet you, have a chat, and lend a helping hand if they can. Doesn't matter where you are from, when you come to Newfoundland, it's a bit like 'coming home', so to speak. You're made to feel very welcome.
Tomorrow I'm invited to dinner with Frank and his wife. Frank's the local carpenter who makes 6ft lighthouses as lawn ornaments. Comes complete with working lights. Apparently they're a hot item around here and in demand.
Been driving around the area today with Keith who showed up at my boat this mornng with beer! We stopped of at his house in Quirpon Harbour (pr. Carpoon) A large comfortable house he only stays in during the summer as he has another down in St Anthony. He wants to sell it though, with 125 acres of land. He hopes to get $10,000 (5,000 pounds) Life is cheap up here. You could become a land baron around here for same price to buy a small plot in Wales (and much of the more populated areas of Canada).
Last night I attended the local 'screech out' at the only bar for miles around - Skipper Hots..(Screech is a Newfoundland liquor guaranteed to make you act silly and rot your gut.) I was invited to it by Austin, the main man and lead singer of the Skipper Hots band who lives just across the road from the wharf. Later his wife came over to 'make sure I was coming'.
A Screech Out includes a skit where some unlucky visitors are chosen to participate in a ceremony to become 'official Newfoundlanders' It involves, among other things, chatting up and kissing a cod (that they keep in a freezer). Fun all around. Thankfully I was not badgered into kissing cod. I guess being a sailor I'm Newfie enough already.
The the first 200 miles on my way to Iceland is going to be as a little tense as it is still within the iceberg limit. Remember what happened to the Titanic? It hit an iceberg and went down not far from here. But then again, life without risk is hardly worth living. Right?
until later,
Simon
Thursday, July 17, 2008
First Stop
9:07 am
Hawke Bay
15 July 2008
After bashing my way out of Charlottetown in a stubborn headwind on Thursday (10 July), I enjoyed a pleasant sail around the east end of Prince Edward Island and the following day sailed up the coast of Cape Breton Island.
The following two days I enjoyed mild but productive sailing breezes in the afternoons and evenings but only ghosting airs for the night and mornings. Saturday I sailed by the Isles de la Madeleine which I could see from some 30 miles off. Sunday I cruised up the south west coast of Newfoundland.
The winds started to pick up Sunday evening. I recorded doing 7.5 knots with a double reefed main and a two-thirds furled jib. By midnight the jib was completely furled and the mainsail reefed down to its smallest possible dimension as the wind picked up.
All night the winds increased in tempo - like the devil beating its drum faster and faster. The next day I spent hanging on as we surfed down the growing waves. With winds blowing 30+ knots, gusting well past 40 knots, the rigging wires start 'singing', or is it 'howling'. Perhaps 'screaming' would a better description. That's where the 'Screaming Sixties' gets its label.
By 4 o'clock in the afternoon I had followed the Newfoundland west coast for over 100 miles and needing a rest I ducked into an opening anchoring in Hawke Bay just south of Port Saunders. A welcome rest.
Hawke Bay is on 50 degrees latitude north. I have left the 'Roaring Forties' with a bang. Ahead if me in the next couple of weeks awaits the 'Screaming Sixties'. I'm not familiar with the nickname for the fifties. If yesterday is characteristic I'd call it the "ferocious fifties', or something like that.
I'm reminded of a book I read while in Trinidad. Entitled 'There be no dragons', it was authored by an American sailor who had sailed extensively. His book was out to prove that long distance ocean sailing was neither dangerous nor foolish. His one caveat was that this only applied to sailing within 30 degrees either side of the equator. It turned out that this brave soul had never ventured out of this 'comfort zone'.
Hawke Bay is an attractive and reasonably secure anchorage about 3 miles long and half a mile wide. We are the only boat anchored here. There is a small village (20 houses?) situated on the far side of the bay. It stradles the only road that runs up the west coast.
It's highly likely that we (me & boat) will be the only sailing boat to anchor here this year. (The last reference to Hawke Bay in the Newfoundland Cruising Guide was made in 1968). If it were in the 30 dergree latitude 'comfort zone' range it would probably be crowded by American and European yachts, marinas, resorts, and the like. Security always comes with a price.
We're 85 miles from the northern tip of Newfoundland. There's a former Viking settlement site there I plan to visit (L'Anse aux Meadow). It will be my last port of call before heading northeast into iceberg country, the screaming sixties, and towards Iceland.
Hawke Bay
15 July 2008
After bashing my way out of Charlottetown in a stubborn headwind on Thursday (10 July), I enjoyed a pleasant sail around the east end of Prince Edward Island and the following day sailed up the coast of Cape Breton Island.
The following two days I enjoyed mild but productive sailing breezes in the afternoons and evenings but only ghosting airs for the night and mornings. Saturday I sailed by the Isles de la Madeleine which I could see from some 30 miles off. Sunday I cruised up the south west coast of Newfoundland.
The winds started to pick up Sunday evening. I recorded doing 7.5 knots with a double reefed main and a two-thirds furled jib. By midnight the jib was completely furled and the mainsail reefed down to its smallest possible dimension as the wind picked up.
All night the winds increased in tempo - like the devil beating its drum faster and faster. The next day I spent hanging on as we surfed down the growing waves. With winds blowing 30+ knots, gusting well past 40 knots, the rigging wires start 'singing', or is it 'howling'. Perhaps 'screaming' would a better description. That's where the 'Screaming Sixties' gets its label.
By 4 o'clock in the afternoon I had followed the Newfoundland west coast for over 100 miles and needing a rest I ducked into an opening anchoring in Hawke Bay just south of Port Saunders. A welcome rest.
Hawke Bay is on 50 degrees latitude north. I have left the 'Roaring Forties' with a bang. Ahead if me in the next couple of weeks awaits the 'Screaming Sixties'. I'm not familiar with the nickname for the fifties. If yesterday is characteristic I'd call it the "ferocious fifties', or something like that.
I'm reminded of a book I read while in Trinidad. Entitled 'There be no dragons', it was authored by an American sailor who had sailed extensively. His book was out to prove that long distance ocean sailing was neither dangerous nor foolish. His one caveat was that this only applied to sailing within 30 degrees either side of the equator. It turned out that this brave soul had never ventured out of this 'comfort zone'.
Hawke Bay is an attractive and reasonably secure anchorage about 3 miles long and half a mile wide. We are the only boat anchored here. There is a small village (20 houses?) situated on the far side of the bay. It stradles the only road that runs up the west coast.
It's highly likely that we (me & boat) will be the only sailing boat to anchor here this year. (The last reference to Hawke Bay in the Newfoundland Cruising Guide was made in 1968). If it were in the 30 dergree latitude 'comfort zone' range it would probably be crowded by American and European yachts, marinas, resorts, and the like. Security always comes with a price.
We're 85 miles from the northern tip of Newfoundland. There's a former Viking settlement site there I plan to visit (L'Anse aux Meadow). It will be my last port of call before heading northeast into iceberg country, the screaming sixties, and towards Iceland.
Tuesday, July 8, 2008
Getting ready
This web-log is about my pending sailing trip from Prince Edward Island up to Newfoundland, up again to Iceland, and then back down to the British Isles.
A bit of background:
I sailed from Wales (Burry Port) on 15 September 2007 and proceeded to Porto Santo, Grand Canaria, Senegal, The Gambia, Cape Verde, Tobago, Trinidad, British Virgin Islands, Bermuda, Nova Scotia, arriving in Charlottetown, PEI on 12 June 2008. Approximately 7,000 miles and 4 continents in 9 months.
My nephew John joined me in Trinidad sailed with me as far as Bermuda. We did a blog together that you can view with this link: PEI or Bust!
The past 4 weeks I have been waiting for sailing guides to arrive to begin the northern phase of my circumnavigation of the North Atlantic. I was originally planing to visit Labrador and Greenland on my trip back but given the short sailing season for northerly waters and my late departure date those destinations are no longer viable without rushing rushing rushing - with no time to stop and smell the roses.
There are two ways to cruise and get past Newfoundland. The safer route along the south coast and up to St. John's before pushing off for Iceland. The trickier route up the west coast and through the Strait of Belle Isle. Its a narrower passage between the northern tip of Newfoundland and the continent where icebergs the size of mountains flow down from the coast of Labrador.
Today I'm inclined to up the west coast. Up there the nights will be short and in the moon should waxed enough to be able to spot an iceberg at night (before collision).
Pity I can't find anyone to come along but I'm hardly surprised. Sailing the ancient Viking routes is not for the faint-hearted. It helps to be partly mad. Unfortunately most people are I know are sane.
Final preparations are being put in place. More later.
A bit of background:
I sailed from Wales (Burry Port) on 15 September 2007 and proceeded to Porto Santo, Grand Canaria, Senegal, The Gambia, Cape Verde, Tobago, Trinidad, British Virgin Islands, Bermuda, Nova Scotia, arriving in Charlottetown, PEI on 12 June 2008. Approximately 7,000 miles and 4 continents in 9 months.
My nephew John joined me in Trinidad sailed with me as far as Bermuda. We did a blog together that you can view with this link: PEI or Bust!
The past 4 weeks I have been waiting for sailing guides to arrive to begin the northern phase of my circumnavigation of the North Atlantic. I was originally planing to visit Labrador and Greenland on my trip back but given the short sailing season for northerly waters and my late departure date those destinations are no longer viable without rushing rushing rushing - with no time to stop and smell the roses.
There are two ways to cruise and get past Newfoundland. The safer route along the south coast and up to St. John's before pushing off for Iceland. The trickier route up the west coast and through the Strait of Belle Isle. Its a narrower passage between the northern tip of Newfoundland and the continent where icebergs the size of mountains flow down from the coast of Labrador.
Today I'm inclined to up the west coast. Up there the nights will be short and in the moon should waxed enough to be able to spot an iceberg at night (before collision).
Pity I can't find anyone to come along but I'm hardly surprised. Sailing the ancient Viking routes is not for the faint-hearted. It helps to be partly mad. Unfortunately most people are I know are sane.
Final preparations are being put in place. More later.
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