Wednesday 22 July
Now back a sea after a really good stopover in Reykjavik. Great place to berth at Brokey Marina alongside the Harpa concert hall with very easy access to transport and the city.
A quick reflection of what we have done so far:
Leg 1
Gosport to first stop Kilnaughton Bay Islay to anchor. Then onto Tobermory and finally ending up at North Pier Oban. Total of 667nm. This got us from 50 47’.8 N 001 07’.0W to 56 24’.9N 005 28’.2W
Leg 2
Oban to Shuna Island for a night at anchor and the passage start just off Tobermory to Reykjavik. Total 816nm
This took us across 60 North and up to 64 09’.0N 021 021 55’.0W
You can follow the two SKIRR yachts using the YellowBrick tracker.
A really good stopover in Reykjavik.
Great place to berth at Brokey Marina alongside the Harpa concert hall with very easy access to transport and the city.
Buses are easy to use and electric scooters seem to be a way of Reykjavik life. Great fun! All the crew have had good experiences, some meeting up with family and friends. Tours are easy to arrange, but you can sort out do it your self-trips and the Hop on Hop Off Bus helps you to get located. Something for everyone, volcanos, geysirs, waterfalls, museums and plenty of good restaurants, coffee shops and bars. You can even try and revitalise yourself at the Blue Lagoon (Anti-aging facemasks!!). Definitely a place to explore further to see the beautiful landscape which has been defined by water, fire (volcanic activity) and Ice – depicted in the three colours of the Icelandic flag. You can even learn ‘How to become Icelandic’ in 60 minutes!
The Clipper 68 is in very good shape and we are all briefed up for the next part of this SKIRR Adventure. This is going to be an exciting trip.
Now onto Leg 3
Tuesday 21st saw us put together the final preparations to leave, fuel, water and provisions. We have said goodbye to Benedicte, who is taking a three-day tour before she departs home. Tom, first mate, has joined CV6 for this leg and Ewan has returned to CV11 to continue with the photographic record of this expedition. We have been joined by Patrice and Olly, which now make us a crew of 8 with Jake and Jason leading us on this next part of the journey.
Port Watch: Greg, Graham, Felicity and Patrice
Starboard Watch: Nigel, Michael, Ewan and Olly.
The departure was misty and rainy with hardly any wind. The prospect looked like two and half days of motoring in company with CV6 to cover the 350nm to Greenland.
However, during my off watch there was a nice sound of sail hanks rubbing on the forestays and the no noise coming from the engine room. Nice to hear the working being done while you are tucked up in your bunk! As I write this there is a nice northerly breeze, Starboard watch (Ewan) recorded nearly 11.5kts of boot speed and we are now averaging 8kts plus. This should give us a good 6-hour watch run. (50nm plus with luck!).
Sail plan: Full main, Yankee 1 and Staysail. The watch system is falling back into place and Olly has just produced a very tasty lunch, homemade salad served with cheese and ham wraps.
Not seen much sea life so far this leg, puffins and artic terns as we left and a few lone gannets.
So we continue on CV11 followed by CV6 across the Denmark Strait.
Graham Hill
