Sailing adventures on a Hallberg Rassy 40 in higher latitudes
Since clearing into the US we’ve slowed down due to extreme weather and social visits. It was a tough sail to Portland that left Snow Bear frozen, but we made it safely. We had a great Christmas, explored Portland and Portsmouth. Now, we’re wintering in Gloucester, doing a few boat projects and enjoying the area’s rich maritime and cultural scene
In this post we return to the boat and continue south covering around 750NM along the coasts of Newfoundland and Nova Scotia. We share our tips for sailing in lobster season and would like to hear your experiences navigating around traps!
We start to feel winter and also some rough sea, while making preparations to depart from Canada before Christmas.
After a pleasant crossing from Labrador to Newfoundland, we explored St. Anthony’s and the historic L’Anse aux Meadows, marking the end of our Viking Route. Stops in Lewisporte, Twillingsgate, Bonavista, and finally St. John’s offered scenic hikes, vibrant local culture, boat maintenance, and incredible encounters with local hospitality and 2 difficult harbour entrances.
Our sail to Labrador, Canada, was across the notorious Labrador Sea where we encounter some stunning marine life. We share our experiences with the border control and how to shorten the trip from Greenland to Canada. We also visit the historic Battle Harbour, which is a must see!
We spent a month in southern Greenland and had an amazing time visiting this quite remote destination. We had heard rumours of an amazing anchorage and were not disappointed by it. The supermarkets here are so well-stocked, which really surprised us, but there is one thing we just couldn’t find! And we also share the recipe for a great drink to make to celebrate a successful cold crossing.
Our trip to Greenland took a few unexpected turns leaving us with some unanswered questions about our radar! The weather is sometimes an evil master. We had plan A,B and C ready but it turned out to be a very hard sail and we share some lessons in this post
While waiting for the ice to clear and right wind to make the passage to Greenland we have been exploring the beautiful Western part of Iceland. The steep mountains often makes the gust in the harbours accelerate so the windy nights can come as a big surprise. We are really glad we had the extra time to explore more of Iceland and visit many excellent and completely free harbours.
We spent almost 3 weeks in Reykjavík as we visited relatives and had friends visiting the boat. This gave us a chance to experience a lot of the city. We also had the time to do some boat work and order new bikes and a VHF for the boat. In this post you can also get a discount code for reusable 316L filter for your watermaker.
We ended up spending a little more time in Faroe Islands tha planned as we couldn’t find the weather window to sail to Iceland. Faroe Island was amazing and we found a very special experience in Klaskvík. The strike however resulted in empty shelves, no gas or busses so we felt a little captured in the end. We also put some tips for planning your sailing trip to Faroe Islands in the post.
We have been using Starlink for a few months now and thought it was time to share an update as we now head across the Viking Route. So far it’s been excellent but we have a few uncertainties ahead.