2009 Greenland sailboat voyage planning underway
Saturday, December 27th, 2008in-earnest planning now begins for the summer 2009 Greenland sailboat voyage with Dr. Alun Hubbard of U. Wales. See earlier post. In a nutshell, the purpose of the trip is obtaining observations in support of holistic glacier studies while spending quality time in beautiful places.
Immediately on the list is identifying equipment to procure in the coming months and which port suits our need to hoist Gambo out of water for installation of bathymetry sensors on the hull.
I’m taking charge of the day by day itinerary. Presently, on the hit list (chronological order) is:
- Maine coast
- Halifax, Nova Scotia
- Labrador Peninsula. The area was known by the Norse as Markland.
- The Norse settlement L’anse aux meadows on the northern tip of Newfoundland is notable for possible connections with the attempted colony of Vinland established by Leif Ericson around 1003, or more broadly with the Norse colonization of the Americas. The site is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
- Nuuk, Greenland’s capital, a.k.a. “Nuuk York”
- Manitsoq
- Sisimiut, second largest Greenland settlement, here potentially, Alun +1 go to Kangerlussuaq to work on the Russell Glacier
- Qasigiannguit (Christianshåb)
- Ilulissat; here, potenteilly, a helicopter charter to nearby Extreme Ice Survey time lapse camera
- Qeqertarsuaq (Godhavn) on Disko Is.
- Uummannaq, our base of operations during our month in the region. Smaller Uummannaq district settlements include: Saattut; Ikerisak; Illorsuit; and Nuugatsiaq.
- where we go after Uummannaq remains unresolved. However, it does seem clear that Gambo needs to go south, with some of the crew; back to the US?; to overwinter in a south Greenland port?; to Wales?
I’ll add target dates very soon.