Respecting The Cape

1,335 miles of open water separate us from the Azores. It is not the conventional way to get to the Mediterranean from Greenland but the most efficient. Kap Farvel (Cape Farewell) is one of the world's most legendary capes and there is no shortage of stories about what can go wrong even for the most capable sailors. We are approaching this crossing in the same relaxed, organized manner that we would any other. Keeping Snow Dragon maintained and watching the weather. There is no point in getting caught up in the legend and unfortunate realities of the Cape. Though we have firmly kept to our plan of leaving by the 24th of August. A date advised by a friend who rolled his Damien off the southern tip of Greenland in September 2001. Our tactic will be to get south as quickly as possible, so that we are out of the 200 mile danger zone that extends form the southern tip of Greenland.

Tomorrow, Sunday August 15th, we will leave the protection of our anchorage, Qasigissat, at first light. The early start is a concession to the brash and broken sea ice which is difficult to see, unlike icebergs that can be seen from a long distance and are more easily picked up by radar. By covering as much distance as possible before dark, we lessen our chances of hitting the small but still dangerous ice that tends to be closer to shore. Icebergs are carried south by the East Greenland Current and will continue to be a potential obstacle for the first half of the crossing.

Last night we took advantage of a break in the rain to tighten Snow Dragon's forestay which had stretched from all the sailing we have done over the past few months. This entailed taking off the jib and dismantling the furler drum to reach the turnbuckle. A task made pleasant by the unusually warm evening. After sleeping in, something we will not be able to do during the crossing. We enjoyed a leisurely morning before going to shore. The morning drizzle had subsided and we were happy to find blueberries amongst the lush vegetation of the valley. Something we did not find in Prins Christian Sund.

Back on the boat, Frances baked ginger cookies and energy bars for the passage. While Krystina sorted the blueberries that needed to be made into jam from the one we wanted to keep for eating. Apart from preparing Snow Dragon, we like to make sure we have food pre-made for the first few days of the passage. We also pulled in some more weather faxes on the SSB to double check that nothing sinister had formed. Before we leave in the morning, we will also download a new GRIB file on the satellite phone which will give us more detail of the wind and wave conditions in the immediate area. After dinner, the rain that began during our walk was still showing no signs of letting up. With the dinghy still needing to be brought on deck and deflated, we geared up and got the task done. We also changed propane bottles so we would not run out during the passage before diving back inside to dry off. Our only wish aside from a good crossing, is for the rain to stop and the sky to clear so that we can see Kap Farvel as we sail past tomorrow.