59º North Sailing // One Humongous Iceberg // Svalbard-Iceland Part 3

I think I have just one thing on my bucket list and it’s going on a high latitude sailing expedition. 59º North and the operation behind it is the reason the internet exists.

We’ve sailed almost 1,000 miles south from Svalbard and yet the temperature and the weather remains much the same. Grey, overcast skies, light drizzle, patchy fog and cold. Feels like we’ve gone sideways. I said to Mia earlier that when you leave the Chesapeake in November to sail south, you get a d

Source: 59º North Sailing // One Humongous Iceberg // Svalbard-Iceland Part 3

PS: Enable your RSS feeds Andy!

Sunrise at the Cathedral

When I got engaged my father-in-law to be took it upon himself to introduce me his favorite pastime.

He bought me a pair of boots, threw a pack on my back, then drove a group of us into the Olympics for a multi-night adventure over mountain passes and into valleys where the black bears and mountain goats outnumbered the humans.

After a decade and a half of multi-day trips with the guys we decided it was time to get the next generation up the mountain.

We took the boy to the favorite spot. Some snow field crossings with ice axes, fly fishing, alpine lake swimming, and bouldering would be the perfect introduction.

Other than the “oops I left the stove at the house I’ll hike back and drive all the way back home and get it” faux pas the expedition went off without a hitch.

The boy is addicted. Next year maybe we’ll get his brother up too.

First Sail of the Year

We had our first sail of 2018 last week.

I did some maintenance to the main and headsail and still had to slide the battens in before hoisting the main halyard.

Winds were pretty light from the north. We were doing four knots in the water upwind and peaked just under five heading down.

A pod of three or four Orca whales showed up heading north past Bainbridge island. A stupid motorboat decided to cruise right on top of them and scared them below. They resurfaced further north. There was no keeping up with them. We also paid a quick visit to the sea lion that lives on the channel marker near the marina.

While returning to the marina I noticed the motor wasn’t spitting out the stream of water from the cooling system. I decided to keep the RPMs low and dock before checking it out. Turned out to be some strange fluke but I’ll have to keep my eye on it.

Launches and landings have become pretty uneventful now that I’ve unlocked the outboard to allow tiller steering.

Sail Maintenance

Nirvana’s sails have seen better days. Today I pulled down the headsail so I could patch up the sailcover.

Nirvana’s headsail on the kitchen table.

I think it’s seen just a little too much UV and the threads were starting to go.

I did what I could with the household Singer but couldn’t get everything finished before I broke all the needles.

To finish up the rest I used the Speedy Stitcher which managed to punch through the thicker parts of the sail.

It’s not beautiful but the sail cover won’t be flapping in the wind and I was able to give it a good scrub. This should last another season.

Next on the list is the outboard carbeurator.

Ebay is still useful.

I have a hand-me-down Sony Alpha that has a busted battery door. It finally stopped holding the battery in all together.

I was able to find a replacement part for $39. Installed and as good as new.