Greenland To Labrador The Long Way

With our outboard motor returned, we were free to leave Qaqortoq and head for Kap Desolation. While untying our numerous lines form the dock, Frances happened to notice that the side cabin hatch was cracked. The drunk must have dropped the outboard on it as he carried it forward to the ladder on the quay. Krystina took one look at the broken Plexiglas and said, "I'll get the duct tape". We don't usually cross oceans with Snow Dragon held together with duct tape but even if we found Plexiglas in Qaqortoq it would still take 2 days for the sealant to cure. The weather wasn't going to wait for the repair.

After taping both sides of the cracked Plexiglas and wedging a piece of thick plastic between the Plexiglas and the hatch hardware for good measure. We started the engine and resumed untying our lines when a young Spanish guy stopped by to say hello. He turned out to be the skipper of a small Canadian flagged sailboat we saw sailing into Nanortalik. Figuring the knowledge gained would be worth the brief delay. We decided to shut down the engine and invite him on board for a quick cup of tea and picked his brain on sailing eastern Canada.

Fog surrounded us once we left Qaqortoq Harbour, reducing the visibility to less than an 1/8 mile at times. We didn't have enough daylight left to make it to our intended anchorage at Kap Desolation and ended up anchoring in a marginally charted cove just off the marked channel. Unlike the sporadic depths in the channel, the bay was remarkably even and provided excellent protection. In the morning, before continuing, we switched propane tanks to insure we didn't run out of propane while at sea. Then winched the dinghy on deck with the main halyard and secured it to the aft deck. By 7.30am we were ready to pull anchor and head for sea.

Before leaving the protection of the sound that runs past Kap Desolation, we pulled in the latest 5 day weather report off the satellite phone to double check the crossing conditions. The wind strength and direction was much more optimist than we had seen while watching the weather over the previous weeks. We were going to encounter some strong headwinds that would make it uncomfortable at times but nothing sinister was on the forecast. With less than 500 miles between us and Labrador, we exited the protected waters of the sound and made our way past a string of small islands and submerged rocks into open water.

There wasn't much wind but the sea was turbulent, making it difficult to adjust to the motion. Reading, eating and drinking were not appealing during our first night at sea. In the morning Krystina was woken by Frances. Thinking it was her turn to come on watch she gently started waking up until she heard Frances say, "I need your help". Which meant foregoing the waking up part and she sleepily rolled off the settee to find Frances hugging the stove in the galley. Frances had gone into the galley to put the kettle on for tea when she noticed that the stove was trying to make a run for it. One of the gimbals had sheared off and Frances needed help stabilizing it before the other gimbal gave out. Krystina stuffed a towel underneath and then took over holding the stove in place while Frances rummaged for a thick piece of plastic to wedge in between the stove and the counter. An inventive field fix that left only the stovetop useable but at least Snow Dragon was no longer in danger of her interior being attacked by a loose stove with very sharp corners.

Later that day we got a crashing indication that this wasn't going to be the smoothest passage when three of our plates went flying. Followed by the oven racks trying to escape. With the stove no longer gimbaled the racks slid forward and pushed the oven door open. Krystina grabbed a piece of string and tied it shut and then helped Frances sweep up the numerous plate shards, not and easy task when being bounced around. Then we properly secured our dishes for storm conditions. The wind wasn't excessive but the sea didn't seem to agree.

At 3 am on the 3rd day, Krystina heard a staysail sheet snap while she was on watch. She woke Frances up to assist furling in the sail and replacing the sheet. When we rolled the sail back out we noticed a tear in the center, making it unusable until we could repair it. We sailed under the mainsail alone until it got light and then put up the storm staysail for extra drive. It was alarming to have a new sheet snap in only 20 knots of wind but when you are at sea you can't exactly call the company to complain.

The sea finally calmed down on day 3 long enough for us to cook something that resembled a real meal after living off of a few bights of packaged snack food during the first few days while we adjusted to the motion. It was only pasta with jarred sundried tomato pesto and grated cheese but under the circumstances it was a gourmet meal.

Then the strong headwinds we were expecting finally arrived on day 4 and we spent the day riding out 35-40 plus knots of westerly winds. The steep waves were uneven and at times it felt as if Snow Dragon was being picked up and dropped off the top of a high-rise building when she would fall off a wave before another one came along and picked her up again.

As promised by the weather report, the wind began subside by evening and we enjoyed our first smooth sailing of the passage. When Frances went out to check the sail trim she noticed that the aft second reef line had chafed through the grommet. She lowered the sail and re-ran the line, while Krystina held her around the waist so that she could use both hands in the rough seas. The Northern Lights were putting on an impressive show as we worked, a rare sight at sea that made it easy to forget the hours of discomfort. However, the comfortable sailing was short lived and Snow Dragon soon resumed her wild ride. At least we had long enough in the calm to have a much needed shower and eat another meal.

The unrelenting west wind was disheartening. Labrador was right in front of us but we had to tack back and forth, adding a lot of additional millage to make little progress in the right direction. Not having the staysail also hindered our progress, as we were underpowered with the storm sail. Unfortunately there was too much wind to use the jib and we did not want to risk further damage to the staysail by taking it down in over 20 knots of wind to repair. After clawing our way across the Labrador Sea we finally dropped anchor in Makkovik Bay, a week after leaving Greenland. It wasn't our favorite crossing but not our worst either, though we did break more than usual. We seem to have a history of easy passages to Greenland and then paying our dues when we leave. At some point we might skip the difficult leaving and just spend the winter in Greenland. We just need to settle on a location.