Navtex is an invaluable resource for weather and ice information. When our old Furuno combined weather fax and navtex receiver died, we balked at paying the high price (over a thousand dollars) of a new Furuno navtex and so bought another brand.
John Harries
EchoPilot Forward Scan Sonar FLSII
Reading Time: < 1 minutesWe have found that having a forward scan sonar has made exploring in the high latitudes safer and more feasible. Instead of feeling our way along at 2 knots when off the charts, we can now travel confidently at 6 knots, since the forward scan reaches out up to 200 meters ahead. Also, the sounder makes it possible to feel our way into tight anchorages, even when the water is not clear enough to see the bottom.
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Q&A: Getting Greenland Ice Charts By Satellite Phone
Reading Time: < 1 minutesQuestion: What can you tell me about receiving Greenland ice charts by satellite phone? Is it a good solution and more reliable than weather fax?
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Q&A: How Do We Get Treadmaster To Stick To Aluminum?
Reading Time: < 1 minutesQuestion: We are having trouble getting our Treadmaster deck covering to stay stuck to our bare aluminum deck. What can you tell me about getting epoxy to stick to aluminum reliably?
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Disassembly And Refit Plans
Reading Time: 2 minutes
It all started with six weeks of intense work last June stripping the deck for painting. Every cleat, every track, every fitting and every hatch came off and slowly a 10’x20’ storage unit filled with boat bits.
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Q&A: Getting Money And Shopping In Greenland
Reading Time: < 1 minutesQuestion: How easy is it to get money and shop in Greenland?
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Q&A: Circumnavigating Greenland
Reading Time: < 1 minutesQuestion: I am wondering if you know whether anyone has circumnavigated Greenland in a sailboat. Do you think it’s possible? My guess is that global warming has changed things up there and it may now be possible.
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Avon Dinghy
Reading Time: < 1 minutesOur 16-year old Avon dinghy may not be much to look at, but it just keeps on floating! The bottom is covered with patches necessary after many rocky beach haul ups, not to mention being used as a pusher boat to move growlers in Greenland, but the pontoons still hold air for at least a few days before softening. We know it’s time to replace this dinghy, but plan to go with an inflatable, soft-bottomed Avon again.
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Greenland 2003
Reading Time: 5 minutes
Our last news letter was written from Isafjørdur on the northwest coast of Iceland where we were getting ready to cross Denmark Strait to Greenland. This comes to you from the Bras d’Or Lakes, Cape Breton, Nova Scotia. The intervening 2000 miles and seven weeks have been intense, rewarding, and yes, stressful too.
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Our Furthest North 2002
Reading Time: 4 minutesWe last wrote from the west coast of Spitsbergen. From there we continued north visiting several anchorages, the most interesting being Virgohamna from where André left on his fatal attempt to reach the North Pole in a balloon. The dry Svalbard climate has preserved the remains of this expedition, and the slightly later Wellman attempt, so that it looks as if they left ten years ago, rather than a hundred.
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Finnmark And Arrival In Svalbard (Spitsbergen), 2002
Reading Time: 3 minutesAs I write this we are anchored in a small harbour formed by an old moraine, on the west coast of Spitsbergen, about a mile from the snout of a glacier. It is very different than Greenland in that the glaciers are much less active (smaller ice cap) and so we can get a lot closer to them. There is a bit of ice sloshing about with the tide, but generally small pieces, so not too much of a worry.
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The Dark Time, 2002
Reading Time: 4 minutesThe sun has returned to North Norway and we are out sailing again, although there is little sign of spring yet: The locals say that if you can walk on the crust of the snow on June 15th it will be a late spring! Yesterday was our first sail of the season, a boisterous beat into 20 to 25 knots through a wide fjord surrounded by snow-covered peaks. Beautiful, but we were glad to get in and retire below to the heater.
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Slowing Down in Norway, 2001
Reading Time: 3 minutesSince our last newsletter, sent shortly after we arrived in Norway, our summer has evolved, some might say degenerated, into the slowest and most relaxing cruising we have ever done—a real contrast to our usual expedition style trips.
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