Change of Plan
We had been plugging away into unforecast headwinds, albeit light ones, for 140 miles towards Canada when I dropped a line to Commander’s Weather who are an American based team of meteorologists who advise yachts on passage. Twenty four ours earlier they, like me, had seen nothing evil brewing in the Davis Strait. To our consternation an immediate reply came back strongly recommending a retreat to Nuuk 80 miles NE of us.
A few minutes later the full forecast came in describing a rapidly developing system bringing gale force winds gusting up to 55 knots. After the briefest of team SHIMSHAL meetings we span around through 270 degrees and set sail for Nuuk,
The trouble was that an easterly gale was now forecast to greet us on our approach to Nuuk and so speed was of the essence. SHIMSHAL did not let us down. With reefs in she flew north east at 7.5 - 8 knots through steepening seas. Black clouds gathered to our south and Aasiaat radio called us up to check we were OK. They confirmed we could expect 40 knot headwinds on our approach to Nuuk.
But SHIMSHAL skimmed along and covered the 80 miles in 10 hours and had us tied up on a rainy, but surprisingly windless Nuuk by midnight.
So our first attempt to cross to Canada has ended in a hasty retreat due to the rapid development of an unforecast system. At least the crossing from Nuuk, or maybe even further south, will be a day or so shorter than the 700 mile crossing we had attempted from Maniitsoq. Thus, hopefully, we will have less chance of getting caught out again.