“Morgan’s Cloud” returns to her mooring in Nova Scotia, 4 months, 7000 miles, and 60 degrees of latitude later.
In the last chapter I wrote about the importance of understanding the weather systems in a wide area around you rather than just looking at a GRIB or forecast for your immediate area. I believe this is so important that I’m going to write about another storm to drive the point home.
As Colin writes, if the huge internal volume in a lot of modern sailboats was used to increase storage capacity, it might be somewhat justified. But if all of it is taken up with berths and shower units, then where does all the ‘stuff’ go?
We were tied up alongside a fishery wharf in northern Newfoundland when the roar of powerful engines brought us tumbling up from below to see two seine boats attached stern to stern by a thick line and both at full throttle.
Could Labrador be your next attainable adventure? Find out more.
Colin talks about the importance of designing boats for safety and comfort while at sea, not just when in harbour.
Colin discusses the implications for sailing performance and general boat handling of high freeboard, a wide coachroof, and beam carried well aft.
In this chapter I’m going to discuss a real world example of how we used the tools we have discussed in this book to manage a weather risk while transiting Hudson Strait and the northern coast of Labrador—no place to get caught by bad weather.
Colin charters a sailboat with swept back spreaders and laments this boat design feature.
Labrador: The Land God Gave to Cain or Nunatsiavut (Our beautiful land)? The crew of “Morgan’s Cloud” make their decision.
Baffin Island: “You might as well put a pistol to your head and pull the trigger”.
Colin charters a sailboat and finds out what has gone wrong with production sailboat design.
As a visiting cruiser there are two ways to approach a different culture like that of Greenland: Continually complain about the inconveniences and criticize the differences from the way of life back home, or embrace the differences and try and learn from them.
What to southerners is a hostile environment, is home to Greenlandics…albeit a rapidly changing home, as a summary of the scientist’s findings confirms.
We’ve just returned from two weeks in the western isles of Scotland, carrying out a short basking shark survey, our first in the area since 2006. Fortunately for us, the weather came good, and we had two weeks of light to moderate winds, with just the odd bit of wind and rain to remind us […]
Most windlasses fitted to production cruising boats are simply inadequate and can leave you in very deep yogurt when things go wrong. In this chapter we show you what to look for in a good windlass and tell you about a feature, the lack of which contributes to about half of the dragging incidences we see.
A discussion on when, and when not, to use shorefasts when anchoring in difficult conditions.
“Morgan’s Cloud” reaches her furthest north for this trip, in the Upernavik region, which takes the vigilance up a notch with more extreme weather and less accurate charting.
Colin and Louise start their voyage with a passage from Spain to Morocco.
Managing a sailboat in ice-filled waters with insecure anchorages on a schedule…a recipe for stress!
The scientist visits villages in Disko and Uummannaq Fjords and the crew of “Morgan’s Cloud” experience climate change firsthand.
The crew of Morgan’s Cloud attend a confirmation party and experience a crash course in cultural differences.
The scientist onboard “Morgan’s Cloud” gives her reading of what is happening in Greenland in the wake of climate change.
I’ve written before on the potential benefits of AIS for small craft, and having used it far more since then, it’s time for an update. After being initially impressed with it, and the capabilities it offers beyond radar, has it lived up to that first impression? A good test was when we recently crossed to […]
Greenland’s beauty still exhilarates despite the exhaustion and vigilance of dealing with marauding icebergs and insecure anchorages.