In the approaches to Aasiaat (formerly Egedesminde), this whale seems to be welcoming us to Greenland.

It is great to finally be in Greenland! This is my fourth attempt (in three years), to sail to Greenland. I haven't mentioned all of the attempts before on the blog because I like to focus on what has happened, not on what might have been.

In 2009, I left Argentina singlehanding. In the north of Brazil, I got dengue fever (it comes from certain mosquitoes--there is no vaccine, no cure and no immunity--you either survive it or not) which made me too weak to sail for several weeks. After recovering, it was too late to get to Greenland for the summer, so I sailed back south instead.

In 2010, I singlehanded (except for a few hundred miles) from Argentina to New York, picked up crew, and we left Labrador for Greenland. About 50 miles out, two shrouds (wires holding the mast) broke and the mainmast came out of its step and was damaged (see blog entries of last summer). We sailed back to Cartwright Labrador for repairs, and then I didn't trust the rig enough to cross the Labrador Sea with it, so we sailed up Labrador and to Baffin Island, before sailing south again.

This year, almost a month ago we left Labrador for Greenland and got farther, but again had rigging problems (followed by engine problems) which caused us to go to Cartwright, Labrador for repairs.

We arrived late last night, and promptly celebrated :).