Sea Ice

Just a short message today and maybe a longer one later on as we are making our way through sea ice most of the evening and the whole watch is on look out. Yesterday, making our way into Lancaster sound, we started with a 3 mile bit with icebergs and the first bit of sea ice. AFter that, clear blue skies and hardly any ice. But since 19:00 this evening it has been very busy.

We had been sailing beautifully last night and most the day, but with the ice starting to fill our radar screen and a speed of 7 to 8 knots down wind, it was better to reduce sail to forestaysail and mizzen. Gybing our way through the ice, the wind decreased more and more and is now down to about 5 knots from the east.

It is also foggy again, with the occasional shower. The fog sort of helps to make our way through the ice, as it makes you deal with the small bits in front in stead of finding your way through the maze ahead of us. And it keeps the heart rate up, which keeps us warm!

Our destination is still Beechey Island. Here we will find some relics of the explores who went before us. This is the last known stop of the Franklin expedition before they disappeared into history. A few graves and some new memorials remain on sight. We are still 75 miles off our anchorage and with 4 knots speed in the ice, we will not get there before evening.

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