23/08/2011, St. Kilda / Outer Hebrides
| 14 TransAt du Nord (Newport-La Rochelle) |
|
Comments [0]
22/08/2011, North Atlantic
All well. Good winds.
Had to skip the Faeroer due to strong headwinds and depression over Iceland, and are heading instead straight to the Outer Hebrides/Scotland.
Everyone looking forward to fish & chips and whiskey tasting.
| 14 TransAt du Nord (Newport-La Rochelle) |
|
17/08/2011, Reykjavik
Next leg: Reykjavik-Färöer-Hebrides-Scotland-Isle of Man-Scilly Islands-La Rochelle. Appr 1,600 Nm over 2 weeks.
Unfortunately, Marielle and the girls have left back hom to start school again. The new crew is purely male, and consists of our two French Yves and Sylvain, Micky from Munich, Pat from Canada, Jean-Claude from Fribourg, and myself.
Departure time: Tomorrow night around midnight. We hope that the wind will permit us to sail all the way to the Färöer Islands, as there is a big depression approaching from the west which on its backside will blow easterly winds with up to 35 Kn in our face.. Worst case, we will skip Färöer and head straight to the Hebrides.
| 14 TransAt du Nord (Newport-La Rochelle) |
|
13/08/2011, Hvammsik, Hvalfjoerdur
Nice, soft, volcanic fjords.
And a beach with a 38 C hotpot on it!
But katabatic wind ghusts up to 30 Kn...
| 14 TransAt du Nord (Newport-La Rochelle) |
|
08/08/2011, Mid Hvoll, South Iceland
Youpii! Nos 4 vaillants matelots sont arrivés à Reykjavik pendant la nuit du 8 août. Pendant que Libellule affrontait des vagues assez conséquentes ( 2-4m... Ouille Le mal de mer...) mais avançait à bonne allure grâce à un vent de 30 noeuds (du nord, donc au pré), nous avons découvert la presqu- île de Snaefellness-puis sommes descendues dans Le sud jusqu à Vik / Myrdalsjökull... Pas encore admiré d aurore boréale mais 2 renards pôlaires de rencontré. Nous aimons rouler au travers des champs de lave gigantesques en écoutant notre musique préférée. Difficile de tenir les 90kil/h (limite de vitesse) sur des routes peu fréquentées. Pourquoi l Icelande ne s appelle pas 'Green-land' et Le Groenland 'Ice-land' me demande Anissa. En effet, ici pas d icebergs mais des montagnes toutes vertes entourées de sable noir. Nous pouvons même marcher sur des glaciers! Attention aux crevasses. Nous rions en nous rappelant les phoques se bronzant avec pour arrière-plan le glacier de Snaefellsjökull. Et Le phare que nous croyions gigantesque et qui s est avéré être tout petit. Les arc en ciel qui se forment sous les cascades. Quelle joie pour les Filles de traverser des fleuves à dos de Cheval. Plus besoin de porter jour et nuit 3 couches de thermos bien chauds. Pas de moustiques. Temps changeant mais agréable quand même. Nos poches se gonflent chaque jour un peu plus de galets tout noirs. Nos yeux s émerveillent devant toute cette belle nature.
... Et les photos alors? Et bien, elles vont arriver dès que l on trouvera un ordinateur. Et voilà qu à peine mis Le pied à terre, Phippu est venu nous rejoindre. Cool de continuer notre route à 5 avant de retrouver Libellule.
| 14 TransAt du Nord (Newport-La Rochelle) |
|
08/08/2011, Brokey Yacht Harbour, Reykjavik, Iceland
Arrived safely from Nanortalik in Reykjavik in 5 1/2 days for 900 Nm.
In the end, we were quite lucky with the ice - we managed to circumvent the main icefield in front of the SSW coast. And also lucky with the wind which turned out to blow mainly from NW rather than NE. With winds up to 30-35Kn the sea was quite choppy (2-4m cross waves) which was rather uncomfortable as we were sailing at close reach, but at least we were fast.
| 14 TransAt du Nord (Newport-La Rochelle) |
|
05/08/2011, Budir, Snaefellsnesi
Libellule and her 4 sailors are doing great; they managed to go through the ice and they are already half way between Greenland and Iceland.
Nous restons de notre cote encore emerveillees par notre vol en helicoptere entre Nanortalik et Narsarsuaq. Tant de nature brute. Les fjords que nous avions parcouru vu de haut. Des glaciers gigantesques a couper le souffle.
Et nous voila maintenant de retour a la civilisation. Tout est relatif, mais apres le groenland, l Icelande nous parait bien peuplee! Les icebergs nous manquent un peu a vrai dire mais nous apprecions notre petit voyage entre filles! Au programme aujourd hui: canyons, marche au bord de la mer, visite d un phare, massage de pieds sur une plage de galets noirs et pour finir la journee, tour a cheval!!!
| 14 TransAt du Nord (Newport-La Rochelle) |
|
03/08/2011, Nanortalik
... waouh! le vol Nanortalik- Narsarsuak était vraiment fantastique!!!
| 14 TransAt du Nord (Newport-La Rochelle) |
|
01/08/2011, Nanortalik
Just arrived again in Nanortalik where we are preparing for the 7-day traverse to Iceland. Diesel, water, food, shopping, weather forecast, icemaps, immigration, internet. Feels like being in a huge town again.
Tomorrow morning, Marielle and the girls will fly from Nanortalik to Reykjavik. The new crew for the next 7 days: Yves, Sylvain, me, and Rob, who will join us tomorrow morning, just before departure.
The ice forecast is very bad. Rather than being able to cut across south Greenland through the fjords, we will have to circumvent Kap Farvel by a wide margin. Actually, we are not yet sure how we will even get out from the coast to the open sea, as they forecast a 4-6/10 icebelt around the area.
The weather forecast is also unfavorable, as we are in the center of a big, stationary high pressure system with winds blowing from NE for the next few days.
| 14 TransAt du Nord (Newport-La Rochelle) |
|
01/08/2011, Qornoq
Met some heavy ice on our way back to Nanortalik
| 14 TransAt du Nord (Newport-La Rochelle) |
|
01/08/2011, Igdlukasik
| 14 TransAt du Nord (Newport-La Rochelle) |
|
31/07/2011, Sivinganerup ima
Water temperature: +2 C
| 14 TransAt du Nord (Newport-La Rochelle) |
|
31/07/2011, Quvnerit
Met a Swiss mountaineering expedition preparing some first ascents on Quvnerit, and got invited for spaghetti in their base camp.
| 14 TransAt du Nord (Newport-La Rochelle) |
|
31/07/2011, Sivinganerup ima
Beautiful fjords surrounded by unclimbed, virgin granite peaks...
| 14 TransAt du Nord (Newport-La Rochelle) |
|
30/07/2011, Qasigissat
...
| 14 TransAt du Nord (Newport-La Rochelle) |
|
30/07/2011, Qasigissat
Got woken up at 02:30 in the morning by a big bang. The ice flows had started moving back into our mooring bay due to rising tide. So we got up and spent 2 hours shifting iceflows around the bay.
| 14 TransAt du Nord (Newport-La Rochelle) |
|
Family Cottier at Semerunerit glacier in Prins Christian Sund
| 14 TransAt du Nord (Newport-La Rochelle) |
|
29/07/2011, Torssukatak
Mayou navigating happily around Tassukatak fjord, world famous with mountain climbers because of its 1200m high granite sea cliffs
| 14 TransAt du Nord (Newport-La Rochelle) |
|
28/07/2011, Pamiagdluk
Received a visit at sunset by a humpback whale, we were probably disturbing her in her bay...
| 14 TransAt du Nord (Newport-La Rochelle) |
|
28/07/2011, Nanortalik, SSW Greenland
1500 habitants, loin de tout...
| 14 TransAt du Nord (Newport-La Rochelle) |
|