Wednesday, 17 July en route

S/Y Visions of Johanna
Wednesday, July 17
66 12.5N/032 37.37W
1100 UTC

We have had some good sailing. Yesterday started with wind abaft the beam building to 24 knots with a brief period of 30 knot gusts. Winds eased a bit through the evening, then rose a touch at night. We sailed the day with a single reef main, staysail and 1/2 reefed jib but added a second mainsail reef late evening as a general precaution but also due the apparent wind coming forward of the beam as wind direction backed from ENE to NNE through the night time hours.

We had our first radar targets 85 nm. west of Iceland but these were a lone pair. Many targets were encountered 120 nm. from Greenland requiring 2 person watches by 4:30 AM this morning. Visualized the first growler at 0930 today and were pleased to note that we had it as a radar target. We are running one person in pilot house on radar and one or two persons on watch in cockpit, depending on target density and proximity. It's thick a' fog, though, and has been since last night. Targets do correlate with water temperature and fog.

Everyone has had good rest and sleep time and food has been tasty and plentiful. Boy, do faces light up when cookies are handed out into the cockpit! Tuna&egg salad sandwiches a` la Lucas with tomato soup with pasta and vegetable for lunch. Dinner menu was chicken drum sticks in herbed BBQ sauce, green peas and baked potato with pesto and chopped shallot yogurt topping. Mandarin oranges and Toblerone chocolate for desert.

Pending surprises, we hope to arrive at Storo Island close to 8 PM tonight which will mean only one night out for the crew. Everyone is looking forward to that!! Once we get to Storo we will decide whether to spend a day there or head the next day through an inland passage to Tasiilaq.
Bill and crew

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