Day 13

Another mixed day of sea conditions keeping us on our toes. Initially on the approach to Iceland, we were faced with big seas and strong winds off our starboard aft quarter, which made helming difficult and concentration sapping, and led to many a drenching from waves breaking over the side. But before we knew it, we were in sight of the South coast of Iceland, and the sea was like glass! We enjoyed a spectacular moon rise as we trundled along making good speed, averaging around 6kts with summer tunes blaring from the upper deck.

As the day went on, we continued to enjoy beautiful sailing conditions and made way steadily towards a volcanic island roughly 10nm off the coast, in a group of islands called Vestmannayjabaer. As it turns out, this island was formed in 1973 following the eruption of a nearby volcano which we could see still smouldering as we sauntered past. It’s preserved as an area of ongoing scientific research, and landing there is strictly forbidden which explained the plethora of seabirds circling its cliffs.

When you’re at sea, deep sleep is difficult to come by, and you often find yourself drifting in and out of your surroundings. During one such period I drifted back into a conversation between Charley and Simon about their chosen final 3 course meal on death row! Seemed like the dits were starting to run dry….nevertheless I had FOMO so I crawled out of my bag and offered my selections.

Rolling into the afternoon and the conditions could not be better, glass-smooth water, sun bearing down on us and making good speed towards our destination. We decided conditions were too good to pass up, so we called an impromptu ‘hands to bathe’. Dropping the speed down to around 2kts and trailing a line of fenders off the back of the boat, we each dropped in to the freezing North Atlantic (the rest struggled with the temperature, I was fine) and grabbed on to the line now towing us through the water. It was great fun and we all felt refreshed and rejuvenated after the dip.

So, it had been a day of fun and easy sailing. With circa 150nm to go to Reykjavik, there were some aspirational predictions being floated around that we would be in port by Friday PM. Naturally, the sea gods laughed hysterically at our naivety and decided that our final approach to Reykjavik should instead be as miserable as possible as was befitting our previous port approaches. The engine appeared to be drinking through fuel at a rate faster than anticipated likely due to the choppy conditions, and even after a refuel on the go, we were running out of fuel fast and were down to our final 20L. Hence, we made the call to cut the engine and try to proceed on sail, saving our remaining fuel for getting into port. Of course, the wind swung around to our nose and varied in speed making it exceptionally difficult to make any progress on our intended course.

I finished my watch, and retired to my bag exhausted around 2200, demoralized and unfortunately pessimistic about our prospects of reaching Reykjavik the next day. Extremely disappointing given the fantastic day we had had. Once again, Mil AT in all its glory!!

Meanwhile in Iceland......

Rivets and preferably lots of them - that is obviously what you need when you set out on an Arctic expedition. In all honesty you need them and a myriad of other bits – some small, some big, some mission critical others more “nice to have”, but in unison it amounts to a vast collection of things to remember, source, purchase and along the way develop solutions to problems you only discover as you work your way through endless lists. The expression of laying the tar whilst driving springs to mind.

So, to get to a good start provisions where bought, both for use on the later stages of the Exped but also to be able to feed the weather-worn mariners expected ashore before long.

As soon as office hours allowed the shipping agent was contacted and we set off towards the harbour warehouse to take possession of our gear shipped in from Norway. Expecting an industrial type warehouse, possibly behind a customs barrier, we were a little surprised when the instructions took us to an industrial unit adjacent to a garage where behind the staff’s collection of vintage Jaguars and other project vehicles, our pallet was standing looking slightly out of place, but importantly intact and ready to be put to use.

So very shortly our Air BnB, with its art-covered walls seemed to take on a slightly new look, namely that of complete chaos, but nothing could be further from the truth. Gear, big and small, was laid out in neat rows. Things were counted, allocated, tagged, grouped and packed. Each time one area of the floor was cleared, new stuff was brought out and the process repeated.

Meantime discussions and brainstorming was aplenty on how the kit could be optimized in general, but especially the pulks were a focus of a lot of united creative endeavor. So, when you have ideas of what could be done, you need to see if they survive the first encounter with reality, namely whether you can source what you need in a city you barely know. Thankfully a visit to a local hardware store, which from the outside looked diminutive but turned out to be a vast Alladins Cave stocked with row upon row of shelves stuffed with stuff and yet more stuff. A kit adapters paradise, so before long the process of riveting in a new strapping system to the pulks was in full flow.

As an evening entertainment 150 bags of daily provisions were assembled all complete with rations, drinks and bars with more to be added. It later transpired that the rations total approximately 46 kg per person – so it takes a minute or two to put them all together. - Poul