Teddytoarctic2026.blogspot.com

Teddy prepares for her final leg of the 2026 Greenland adventure back to Clifden. Bad weather set in for a few days delaying our departure from Reykjavik so the crew spent their time visiting local sights including the tall ship Gloria from Columbia and victualling Teddy. On the 17th Aug the winds finally died and we departed Reykjavik harbour with an excited crew ready for the adventure ahead. On entering Reykjavik bay we were greeted by minke and humpback whales - a true delight. Off Keflavik we stopped to catch some fresh cod, sufficient for a few dinners. The winds were Northerly force 3-4 so gave us a lively few days with the boat rolling, this is when Nick showed his legendary ability to set the sails for self steering. Reefing the mainsail and backing the jib did the trick. It was a true delight to watch Nick so in tune with his boat, the rest of the crew are Bermuda sloop sailors so this was a rare treat.  The crew settled into the daily routine of watches, starting with 3 ...

                                                                             Pic by Eddy For the leg home, a fresh crew.  Left to right: Eddy, James, me, Rory, Andrew. Eddy Stocker, 64, a North Irishman who moved with his wife to the Clifden area a few years ago. He was a merchant marine engineer, and is highly capable at solving mechanical & electrical problems. He has his own boat, a 34 ft Moody bilge keeler and has sailed her to Scotland and down to Cork. He's been in the Fastnet, and twice in the Round Ireland race.  James Golden, 60, also Northern Irish, keeps two homes, one in Belfast, the other near Clifden. He sails a 33 ft Westerly Discus bilge keeler, in recent years accompanying Eddy to Scotland & Cork. Now semi retired he is a civil engineer and lawyer.  Rory H...

 From Greenland we ran straight south down the 23rd degree longitude to Isafjordur. A strong following wind, F7 in the middle 15 hours, and again approaching the headlands off Isafjordur, 255 NM in 47 hours. Josh was pretty thrilled with that. Greenland had 24 hours daylight when we left: at Isafjordur we had night and a few hours of stars. Such is the difference that 4 degrees of longitude makes. Burgers & sauna at Isafjordur. A night at Sudureyri, Westfjords. Then 160 NM south round the Snaefellsness peninsula to Reykjavik. Little or no wind: the engine ran the whole time. On the way, our astounding encounter with the solar eclipse. We caught cod in the Iceland waters, including the biggest I've caught, a very plump cod 29" long. These waters are teeming with cod. Josh flew out 2 days ago and is now back at home in New Zealand. Hue is now on the bus to Akureyri, to join a Polish boat we had earlier met, for the run to the Faeroes, possibly further. 7 years ago I sailed w...

 Off the SW tip of the Westfjords we stopped to watch the eclipse. With special glasses we saw the moon begin to take a bite out of the sun. As the eclipse neared totality the sea cliffs lost color, becoming washed out, grey. Then the sun was blocked out completely: within seconds the twilight turned to deep deep blackness. The speed of this change was shocking. Then we had 2.5 minutes of darkness. In the distance was the twilit evening of the eclipse rushing away from us into obscurity, and then in the opposite direction the dawn of the eclipse low low on the horizon rushing towards us. This dawn grew & spread with enormous rapidity. Suddenly a tiny fragment of the sun gleamed brilliantly on the far side of the moon. Within seconds the blackness disappeared and the washed out twilight returned. From twilight to night in seconds, and from night to twilight in seconds.  The slowness of the moon crossing the sun in the sky absolutely contrasted with the violent transitions w...

 One stop was at Sandbach Halvo, a peninsula. An Inuit told us that biologists worked there. We dropped anchor off the sandy beach, the next morning rowed in, were promptly greeted by an inquisitive fox. Went up to the ramshackle cabin; a note on the door said they were out with the auks. We saw them up the mountain and joined them. Jerome, French, the ornithologist in charge, has been coming here, 14x in the last 20 years. With him was Eva, North Carolina, USA, and Pauline, of Brussels, Belgium. There were here 5 weeks total, and they had already seen 40 polar bears. All 3 carried their own rifles. Anyway, this post is about the colony of 200,000 lesser auks they were studying.                 Blizzard of auks whirling past high up on a steep slope of talus - dizzying                                     Eva with auk chick, weighing & taking samples ...

  Muskox, shedding qiviut Fox, full of curiosity & life Found a goose egg, to his delight Dead Arctic fox. The white coat indicates that he died in the winter. The purity of his whiteness made him difficult to photograph. Ptarmigan. Smaller than a hen. We got close to many, usually mothers with chicks.  All pics by Josh