It’s over! We’re in Upernavik!

Ben, crew 15 September 2015 10:34 UTC

It’s over! We’re in Upernavik!  A total of ninety days, eight thousand and forty one miles and we are now the first British boat to have done the North West and East Passages in one season!  Things have been difficult at times, seasickness, having to be tidy and a teenager, but it was without a doubt worth it.  The Baffin Bay was horrid.  Headwinds all the way and the worst swell we’ve had since the Chuckchi Sea.  The last twelve hours have been steadily better.  The swell slowly got smaller and I finally saw the Northern Lights, true they were kind of sad and pathetic but they counted.  The last hour into Upernavik was amazing.  Huge icebergs everywhere and islands in-between.  Just before we tied up Johan fished a piece of ice out of the water for our celebratory coke/vodka(depends how old you are).  We tied up and were met by the man who owns the guesthouse Dad and I are staying in tonight.  His name’s John, or Jon, don’t know which, he’s been watching us on AIS so he turned up just as soon as we tied up.  The place is curious.  A small settlement built on a slope on a smallish island with an airstrip above it.  In the winter it’s surrounded by ice and in the summer it’s surrounded by icebergs.  On that note, the North West Passage has already frozen behind us.  So as it turns out we went through a very short window.  The V Strait closed almost as soon as we went through, the same was true of Barrow.  So despite the very obvious melting that’s been happening we were lucky to get through.  The plan from here on in is fairly simple.  We are now confidant that we’ll get home.  So first Barbara David and Constance get off and the Greenland Crew get on.  We then sail on down Greenland to its capital, Nuuk.  Then the Greenland Crew and Nikolai get off, and the Atlantic Crew get on.  I don’t know anyone on the Atlantic crew yet so that last leg will be an experience.  Dad gets off a couple days later in Quatorq and then it’s back to Bristol after aquick jaunt over the North Atlantic in Autumn, easy.  In the meantime I’m going to enjoy being on land.  See you soon, bye.