A stormy night in Stralsund followed by snow this morning as we moved to a more sheltered berth to sit out the next gale.
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Man in black!
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Man at work (although it's bl***y cold in the office!)
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Red sky at dawn - sailor's warning (and a great mackerel sky) - no wonder there are lots of 6's,7''s and 8's scattered around the shipping forecast this morning - we're going nowhere today!
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Grey and cold en route to SaÃ?nitz...
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The party's over - we've now got almost 200 miles to sail upwind to get back. The hatches are battened down,
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Sailing into the night. Heading for Kühlungsborn with 6.6 kn.
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Breakfast on board on a foggy Sunday morning. No wind so far - it looks as if we have to motor the 30 miles to Travemünde ...
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No boats left in the marina...
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Minus 6* at 6 in the morning. En route to Lübeck.
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We just arrived in Lübeck - time for a propper Glühwein at the Weihnachtsmarkt now!
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This is where we had the Glühwein - one for Chrissy, one for Jimmy!
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Nice butt!
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Getting ready to go sailing!
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Last preparations
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Having a pint at Dover Marina before we head weast tomorrow
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Having a pint at Dover Marina before we head west tomorrow.
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Up goes the Spanish courtesy flag
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Having Tapas in Camarinas - Galicia
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Tapas a la Clive
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Rounding Cabo da Roca, the most westerly point of mainland Europe in perfect sailing conditions, listening to great music from Laura Marling.
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Cleaning the hull...
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We had a great start - see the fleet behind us... :-)
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We've arrived (or at least we think we've got to the right place if the number of parties is anything to go by?!!!)
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We did it - despite being becalmed for almost 5 days we still managed to win the 2 handed division (and 4th overall in Class G) of ARC2011. A night of celebration at the przigiving last night.
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Is it time for another rum&coke yet???
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Today: Cold Carib on beautiful Iles des Saintes. Cheers!
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From here we will be following the directions on the sign - but not before we have enjoyed Christmas in the sun!!! Thanks for all the kind words and Happy Christmas to everyone following our journey.
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Arrived in the world of the super rich! We are by far the smallest yacht in the Marina...
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Arrived at the Bitter End Yacht Club on Virgin Gorda - where do we go from here - or do we simply stay?!!!!
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We have a plan - like all the best plans it's still "on the back of a fag packet" and will probably change a hundred times before it becomes a reality -but we're looking forward to making it happen!!
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Drinking piña coladas on Treasure Island.
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Having a beer in Jumbies Bar, Virgin Gorda
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sandy spit, jost van dyke
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cooper island, bvi
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busy captain, nanny cay, bvi
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who cares...
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white bay, jost van dyke
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peter island looking at road harbour, tortola
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Sunset in Norman Island
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A quick run ashore to the Pusser's Company Store for...... A Pusser's Rum Punch.
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Pre departure liferaft drills.
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After 6 days and 10 hours at sea we crossed the finish line in Bermuda at the end of the first leg of the Atlantic Cup. It's so windy the beer bottles are blowing off the bar table- clearly time to stay in port and have another one!!!
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Alongside in Herrington Harbour - home for the next 6 weeks.
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Bound for the "Big Apple" - 120 miles to run!!
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Passing under the Verrazano Bridge at dawn as we enter New York
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A peacful anchorage - Sachem Hd - Long Island Sound
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In good company - Cosmic Dancer ashore in Jamestown surrounded by a collection of fine Swan yachts, whilst she is undergoing essential maintenance to the rudder bearings.
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View from the bedroom window - sunrise in Jamestown.
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Port Jefferson at sunset
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View from the cockpit this evening- back in the big apple
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Storm clouds gathering over New Jersey
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Anoher fine evening in Manhattan
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Sunset in New Jersey City
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Heading north up the Hudson River. Concorde poses in front of the Empire State Building
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No more that 4 hours north of New York and enjoying pristine wilderness on the banks of the Hudson River
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Rounding Antony's Nose - Hudson River
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At anchor for the night at "Worlds End" on the Hudson River - wonderfully peaceful
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Another peaceful anchorage on the Hudson River
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Cosmic Dancer has now reached a cruising altitude of 255 ft above sea level and continues to climb as she passes Amsterdam!!
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Anything the French can do the Americans can do bigger- a giant guillotine Erie canal style!!!
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Perfect sailing conditions in the Great Lakes - fine winds and calm seas
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Canada to starboard, USA to port as we sailed up the Detroit River to Lake St Clair.
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We are in the "Windy City" - but not the one we had hoped to be in by this time (Chicago). But the poster isn't lying - we have been stormbound here in Mackinaw City for the last 5 days with not one forecast in which the words "25-30 knot winds" did not feature!!
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The GRIB Weather forecast - why is is that when the rest of the USA has winds in the 5-10 knot range, hardly enough to sail with, northern Lake Michigan and northern Lake Huron are the only 2 places to have 30 knot+ winds? Sod' law or what?!!
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After what seems an endless wait, the weather forecast we had been hoping for. Another gale from the southwest on Monday, but after that 4 consecutive days of moderate northerly winds. Just what the doctor ordered - let's just hope the delivery arrives!!!
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Wind blowing 45 knots and we have almost 30 degrees of heel under bare poles alongside in the marina!! 12 sets of lines out to keep us in place. Difficult to believe this will blow through by tomorrow ?!
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It was worth the wait. Perfect autumn sailing conditions as we at long last sailed through the Mackinaw Straits into Lake Michigan.
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Approaching the Winsconsin shore at sunset after a perfect days sailing across Lake Michigan.
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Autumn is approaching fast but the fall colours are glorious and the weather perfect.
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Sky at 0700 today- shepherds warning?!!! We are braced for the next gale.
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Climbers and sailors meet in London for a pre-trip warmup on the vertical walls of the Westway, Britain's largest indoor climbing centre. This time it was the sailors who were getting out of their "comfort zone", but in a few weeks time we get a chance to put the climbers through their paces at sea on a yacht!!!
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Climbers and sailors meet in London for a pre-trip warmup on the vertical walls of the Westway, Britain's largest indoor climbing centre. This time it was the sailors who were getting out of their "comfort zone", but in a few weeks time we get a chance to put the climbers through their paces at sea on a yacht!!!
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Launch day at last. We're back in the water!!
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Storing ship for the arctic. Is there going to be any room left for the crew we ask ouselves ?!!!
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Sails are all bent on and almost ready for the off. Just a couple of tons of stores to get stowed down below!
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The journey begins - sailing out through the breakwaters at first light on a perfect late spring morning.
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Chicago fine on the starboard bow at the end of a perfect days sailing down Lake Michigan - blue skies, calm waters and a fresh sea breeze to move us along at almost 7 knots.
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After a week of glorious weather winter has returned with a vengeance to these parts. We are stormbound in Chicago and the NOAA forecast for the Great Lakes is predicting snow and ice in northern Lake Michigan and Lake Superior - we didn't expect that - at least not until we got to Greenland!!
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We face some strange challenges sailing in these parts. It started innocently enough with a few flies on deck ............
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....and this was how it ended- believe it or not this is the leach of the mainsail - the whole boat was carpeted with a layer of black fly that was almost a cm thick on some places
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Passing through Detroit at dawn at the end of what has been a challenging 800 mile leg from Chicago. Freezing fog, thunderstorms, icy waters and black fly are but some of the things we faced. With a ridge of high pressure building we are looking forward to what we hope will be a slightly less challenging time in Lake Erie!
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200 years since Commodore Perry's much vaunted victory over the Royal Navy in the war of 1812/3 and the Blue Ensign is once again flying in Put in Bay, the scene of the original battle (and commemorated by the memorial in this picture). This time we come in peace and all we ask is that the local hostelries ashore serve us some beer later on this evening!!!!
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Another day, another city - this time Cleveland after a wet but fast reach across western Lake Erie. The water temp has sky rocketed from 2C on Lake Michigan to 14C in Lake Erie -does this mean summer is coming at last?!
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Enough room to squeeze through the gap? Only just - inches to spare on either side! Interestingly this vessel was "med moored" in the middle of the channel as it discharged its cargo. The anchor chain was the greatest hazard!
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Alongside in the Erie Yacht Club celebrating our 1,000th mile since setting out 3 weeks ago. Only 2000 or so more miles to go to reach Greenland.
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Safely descended Niagara Falls (via the massive locks of the Welland canal!) to reach Lake Ontario and Toronto. Q
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If it wasn't for the Canadian flag outside this could very easily have been a traditional English village pub - we even got to enjoy some very fine "Old Speckled Hen" ale which was almost served warm - absolute heaven after a month of drinking super chilled American beer!!
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Reached Kingston after a fast and exciting overnight sail from Cobourg - and this is where we are heading tonight - to sample a pint of "dragons breath ale" - perhaps the name gives a clue as to how we may be feeling tomorrow?!!
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A taste of things to come? We hope not !! This is today's forecast for the Labrador Sea showing severe gale force winds off the Greenland Coast. Here's hoping it calms down before the end of the month!!
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Does water flow uphill in Canada (or did we just find the longest back eddy on the St Lawrence River)?! Either way we found ourselves beating against a 0.5 knot current for most of the day (as evidenced from our 100 degree tacking angles!) despite the fact that we are supposedly heading downstream towards the sea.
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Canada seems hell bent on keeping its scenic gems hidden from us. First of all fog in Geogian Bay and the North Channel, and now torrential rain and chilling north east headwinds as we pass through the Thousand Islands region on the St Lawrence River. Not too many tourists to be seen on the upper decks of this cruise ship!
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PAYG Navigation - you pay your money, you get your rocks marked! Sometimes we don't appreciate how lucky we are to have Trinity House in the UK.
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Only 4 of these locks and 60 nautical miles now lie between us and the tidal waters of Montreal where we will start embarking the first of the climbers and their equipment. We look forward to welcoming them on board - a beer will be waiting (along with a long list of jobs that need to be done once it has been drunk)!!!!
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Summer is showing no real sign of arriving in these parts - the forecast for later this week is still showing severe gale force headwinds in the outer St Lawrence - if the forecast is right then it looks like we might have a little longer in Quebec than we expected sitting this one out!
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We're now reached Montreal having already covered almost 1,500 miles since setting out from Milwaukee a month ago. This is already a few hundred miles more than the straight line distance from UK to Greenland and yet we've still got almost 2000 more miles to sail before we reach our final destination in Greenland - and to think at one point we naively thought it would be straightforward to get to Greenland from this side of the Atlantic - how wrong we were - mercator charts can create such a false perception of relative distances at these latitudes!!!
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Montreal has seen some frenetic activity aboard Cosmic Dancer with the first of the climbing team arriving. Mountains of expedition food and equipment have been bought and are being stowed aboard, preventative maintenance on the mast, changing cooking gas systems, replacing the autopilot course computer, fitting satcomms that will work in the arctic,. ..... the list goes on with much midnight being burnt last night to ensure the food could all be stowed away before the next batch of rain arrives!!
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The sea beckons !!- We're on our way outbound from Montreal after a frenetic couple of days.
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After the bustle of the last few days in Montreal it's great to be at anchor in the lee of La Grande Ile - not a breathe of wind and a splendid sunset.
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Running goose winged down the St Lawrence River towards Quebec doing between 8-12 knots over the ground - getting a bit of welcome payback from all the rain of the past week which has left the river flowing in full spate!!!
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Safely alongside in Quebec after what was for Cosmic Dancer a record breaking run - 152 nautical miles in 18 hours at an average speed of 8.4 knots!
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.... now can I get a bit of practice in climbing that wall? (Motorway support arch mural in Quebec City )
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I'm determined we are not going to run out of food this trip !!
I thought I'd joined Cosmic Dancer to go climbing, not diving ....! Tom takes an impromptu trip to the bottom of the harbour to recover a "vital bit of boat" that somehow jumped overboard - looks like Peter is buying the beers tonight!!!!
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...we're on our way (and just for a change it is raining again!) Let's hope summer is saving itself for July and Greenland.
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A fine sunset for our first night at sea with the new crew. A pod of whales joined us and kept us entertained over supper, the seas are calm, and the winds are fair - all is well in the world of Cosmic Dancer.
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Sailing on a starlit night. After a brief 2 hour stop to refuel in Sainte Anne des Monts we're on our way again with a 320 mile leg to Port aux Basques, Newfoundland.
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This year's "must have" fashion accessory for the patriotic yachtsman! We enjoyed another calm night at sea and are now off the NE tip of the Gaspe peninsula heading for the Cabot Straits.
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Our fourth night at sea saw us pass through the Cabot Straits and round the far south west tip of Newfoundland. With a brisk headwind and foul tide it seemed to take forever to round the headland. However the winds and tide are fair again and we are now heading for Ile St Pierre where, weather permitting, we will take a short break before continuing on to St Johns. "
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After a short 36 hour stopover in the French island of St Pierre we're on our way again bound for St Johns, Newfoundland. The clear blue skies that greeted us on our arrival have been replaced by a grey, damp mizzle - the radar will be working overtime today, as will the cabin heater!!
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Tom keeping a radar watch in the infamous fog banks off the south coast of Newfoundland.
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Our best friend for the past 18 hours!! With visibility of no more than 5-10 metres and plenty of shipping around the SE tip of Newfoundland the AIS and Radar have been a godsend. The fog is forecast to clear later this afternoon but at the same time the wind will come round onto the nose giving us a stiff beat to windward for the final 80 miles into St Johns - this leg was never going to be a picnic!
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A most welcome sight at 0530 this morning as we sailed through the fog shrouded "narrows" into St Johns Harbour, Newfoundland after a difficult last 24 hours at sea battling against foul winds and currents - our final 20 miles took almost 12 hours to complete. We're looking forward to a beer tonight!
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Two of the smallest yachts from ARC 2011,Cosmic Dancer and Turbo, meet up by chance in St Johns Newfoundland - both yachts will be departing for Greenland within the next few days.
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Heading into Iceberg territory. We plan to set sail from St Johns tomorrow and there are still plenty of icebergs around just to the north of us (the numbers in each square of the chart represent the number of large icebergs in that area) - looks like we need to sail quite along way east before turning north for Greenland...
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We've decided to delay our departure from St Johns by half a day to let this depression (which seemed to spring up out of nowhere!) pass through to the north of us - there wasn't too much enthusiasm for sailing straight into gale force headwinds right at the start of the journey! So a liesurely morning in the coffee shop and then we're off ....
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What's the only place to be experiencing gales in the entire North Atlantic area at the moment? The 200 mile stretch of coastline between Nuuk and Aasiat - where are we headed next .... you guessed - Nuuk to Aasiat!!! Looks like we may be stuck here for a little bit longer.
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What do you do when you have just shot a seal in Nuuk? .... crane it into the boot of your car and take it home for supper!!
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Midnight sun as we approach Disko Bay.
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At anchor in Umanak harbour.
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Midnight sun in Umanaq Fjord
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Dancing to the top of the Horn
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Fighting the icebergs in Umanak harbour - in our constant battle to keep them away from grounding on our anchor...
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Cosmic Dancing team hits Uummannaq's Disco on a Friday night
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It's the end of the track for this year. After 5,100 miles of sailing Cosmic Dancer gets hauled out of the water ready to spend the winter in one of the world's most northerly shipyards
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It's a hat trick - for the third year running Cosmic Dancer wins the Royal Naval Sailing Association's Whitbread Silver Salver Trophy.
Presented by the Chairman of the Whitbread Round the World in recognition of the RNSAâ??s long association with the Race, the salver is awarded awarded annually to a member for â??Outstanding Achievementâ? in Blue Water sailing, racing or cruising.
Cosmic Dancer also won the RNVR Cruise Challenge Cup for the best report of a cruise completed in the current year.
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Aassiat harbour - the ice has gone.
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View from the church in Aassiat
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Just 12 hours earlier this had been a complete hull blocking our way. One man, one chain saw and 10hours later and it was in 3 pieces
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At the top of the slip and ready to go
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This is what has been delaying our progress for the past week. However, as Hurricane CRISTOBAL headed NE past Newfoundland we had an exciting sleigh ride off the back of it, with 25-30 knot northerlies carrying us the 200 miles to St Anthony in record time.
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Our season ends in one of the most friendly marinas we have come across so far. Many thanks Lewisporte Yacht Club â?? Newfoundland!
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Cosmic Dancer wins the RNSA's Tim Sex Trophy for 2014
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With Cosmic Dancer still "frozen in" in northern Newfoundland we had to resort to chartering a yacht in Norway for some early season sailing - a ski sail trip in the Lyngen Alps. A few highlights from the trip can be seen in the following link:
http://cosmic-dancer.com/video/lyngenalps2015_lowres.mp4
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The red sky - it lied!! Poured with rain and blew a gale all day so we got to spend one more day in Canada than we thought.
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Cosmic Dancer meets Suilven at Cape Cod
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Beautiful location, very welcoming Yacht Club and nice marina. What more do you want?!
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The view from the "office" window this morning as we catch up on a bit of work. Shame about the work but if you have got to do some then you couldn't ask for a more beautiful view whilst doing it!
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Unlikely bed fellows. Who'd have thought moose burgers and wireless internet would appear on the same favourites list?
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After 6 weeks of spending our nights in anchorages like this, or on a fishing wharf with just the odd trawler for company, we've been brought down to earth with a bang - within 5 minutes of coming alongside the marina in the popular holiday resort of Tadoussac the marina staff had their tape measure out checking our length so we couldn't cheat on our marina fees - welcome back to civilisation?!!
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It's official - we've grown. We left Newport as a 38 ft yacht and now we're 39.5 ft according to the official measurer in Tadoussac marina! Oh well, looking on the bright side - it's an easy way of getting a bigger yacht - what's an extra foot of mooring fees compared to the price of a bigger yacht!
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One of the joys of cruising is the kindness and hospitality that one finds at the most unexpected times and places. Thanks you Benjamin Bright for the wonderful basket of home grown goodies - we'll be feasting on our favourite roast tomato and basil soup tonight.
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Heading for Motown on a mirror calm Lake Erie. It's been a scorcher today, decks too hot to stand on so we're looking forward to the cool that sunset will bring. ETA Detroit 0530 tomorrow morning.
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We're almost 1,800 nautical miles from the open ocean, 174m above sea level, and still we are being overtaken by 200m long ocean going bulk carriers as we head into Lake Superior. The sheer enormity of this continent never ceases to amaze us.
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The storm clouds are gathering over the western lakes. With a tropical storm forecast to hit the US east coast and some pretty windy and unsettled weather heading for Lake Superior after the weekend we get the feeling the season is coming to an end. Still just under 400 miles to go and much time currently being spent poring over wind and wave forecasts looking for some weather windows to do those miles.
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Heading out the St Marys river into Lake Superior on the final leg of this years cruise. All calm at the moment - let's hope it stays this way!
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For the first time in the last 2,000 miles we enjoyed a rare moment with the wind aft of the beam. It didn't last. By midnight we were back hard on the wind as we headed toward the Keweemaw Peninsula
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Whilst the east coast braces itself for the arrival of Hurricane Hermine, we've taken shelter for the night in Ontonagon after a day of bashing into some very slab sided waves on Lake Superior.
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Welcome to Wisconsin - and what a welcome it was! After almost 600 miles of sailing without seeing another yacht we arrived in Bayfield at the western end of Lake Superior to find hundreds of yotties celebrating the end of their race week. It was quite a culture shock but after the first few beers we adjusted. The Northern European influence is very strong in this part of the US as the sign on the bar testifies!
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Our first night in Pacific waters - a blissfully peaceful anchorage in Port Madison, only a few miles away from the hustle and bustle of downtown Seattle.
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Friday evening rush hour in Friday Harbour - yachts, float planes, and ferries all competing for space in the same bit of fairway!
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Sunshine in the Pacific:
http://cosmic-dancer.com/news.aspx?ItemID=934
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Why you should never completely trust your chart plotter (even in a well surveyed country like Canada) - contrary to what the plotter indicates we didn't enter the harbour by going over the southern breakwater wall !!!
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The weather spirits are certainly looking after us as we head up to Desolation Sound - another wonderful sunset viewed from Powell River
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Approaching our anchorage for the night - Blind Channel, British Columbia
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Rapids and Float Planes - blog post at http://cosmic-dancer.com/news.aspx?ItemID=937
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Another stunningly beautiful anchorage in Northern BC
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Our new discovery for the season. Distilled no more than half a mile away from where we laid up for the winter this strangely coloured Empress Gin makes a very fine G&T when combined with a pink grapefruit!