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Viking Terry "adze" an 11th century perspective to the
21st
Log Date: July 26, 1998
Terry's Journal entry July 25??
Lat/Lon: 66 deg 52.48 min N, 53 deg 37.37 min W
Location: At anchor
Click on the pictures below to view enlargements.
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Yippee! Today we are free men once again. The part for our satellite phone (the link
that makes it possible to submit journal entries like this one, among other functions,)
finally made its way to us. Let's see if we can trace its path.
By jet from Norway to Denmark, Denmark to Kangerlussuaq, Greenland. By helicopter
from Kangerlussuaq to Sisimiut (where we no longer are, having long since felt the
need to be on our own anchor somewhere a little more remote than the town dock),
and by jet ski, believe it or not, from Sisimiut to us - courtesy of Finn Pedersen,
the local radio/camera technician who went way out of his way to help us out. Despite
the occasional bouts of grumbling under our breaths about all the errant technology
drifting around in the bilges of this 11th century boat, we all stood and cheered
as Finn roared up on his souped up jet ski, delivering us once again into the grip
of the 21st century.
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Our magic black box arrives in a most appropriate manner. 21st century, meet the 11th |
Our plan was to hang out close enough to Sisimiut for one of us to paddle the kayak back in to get the part when it finally arrived (and actually, Homer and Rob did paddle back into Sisimiut in the fog even, but only to get ice cream.) When Finn said he wanted to bring it out to us on his jet ski, that somehow seemed a much more appropriate last leg of this high-tech part's high-tech journey. Now we are no longer tied to Sisimiut, and as interminable as the wait may have seemed, we have had no wind to speak of in the last three days, so try as we might, we couldn't have been too much farther away than we are right now.
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And the hand off, now we are free men |
While waiting we got a new ice report; Hodding changed the oil in the generator
that we use to charge the batteries when the wind generator can't keep up with the
computer's power consumption - which is most of the time; and finally managed to
succeed in talking to Herb Hilgenberg on the single sideband radio. Herb is a weather
guru who out of the goodness of his heart, provides accurate weather info to sailors
all over the Atlantic.
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This is turning into a day devoted to the seamier side of technology |
Since I don't have as much skill as the Vikings had in reading the weather, nor would want to rely solely on local indicators of weather when making a hop of this nature, Herb has agreed to help us out. So let's just say that 21st century tools and technology have had more than their fair share of airtime in our minds these past few days.
Watching everyone around the boat, I wonder if the projects I see going on are a subconscious reaction to that. Erik is making a sail needle case out of caribou antler. John Abbott is sewing a leather sheath for his Ghurka knife. John Gardner is making a new canvas ditty bag to replace the one he gave away in Sisimiut. Homer is writing in a handbound journal. And Dean appears to be contemplating a piece of caribou antler as a handle for his knife. All good work with the hands to even the score a little.
Besides the boat projects we have all been doing preparing for the crossing, my own particular contribution to this floating craft show began today. Well actually, the idea has been with me for a long time, and tracing the shoreline in dense fog in the kayak yesterday, I passed a few pocket beaches with some big driftwood logs washed up (remember there are no trees in Greenland, and the current flows towards Canada from here.) So today, John Gardner and I, armed with a bunch of oak wedges, a small sledge, and a hand ax went in search of lumber. John wants a wood bottom for a canvas deck bucket, I want a Greenland kayak paddle. We didn't find any pieces to John's liking - after destroying half of our wedges splitting out a gnarly crook - but about a mile from here, on a tiny cobble beach with an old Inuit house site above, we found a big, clear piece of pine, or spruce or something that I would be lying if I said I knew exactly what it is. We proceeded to destroy the remaining wedges, but not before getting out a good usable section from the log. Stone age technology triumphs at last. We had a heck of a time getting the 8 ft. long piece into the double kayak, but once there, sharing the ride with it was pretty painless.
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John Gardner splitting out a driftwood crook in a land with no trees |
Back to the boat, exchange the busted wedges for a shipwright's adze, a Portuguese hand adze, an ax, a ball of string, and a pencil, and I was off to the little island right next to the boat to whack away at my piece of wood to my heart's content without getting shavings in the bilge. I'm pretty sensitive to shavings in the bilge. Partly because they can clog the pumps, and undoubtedly would at the very worst time, but mostly because I spent an entire day in Sisimiut unloading everything under the afterdeck, and scrubbing the boat to within an inch of its life, sheer to keel, and then putting everything back. So I know what kind of mung spontaneously accumulates down there without my helping it along any.
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Working on shore near the boat so as not to get shavings in the bilge. Good thing too, since by the time I was done, this was the world's most labor intensive 2x4 |
Quick break for dinner, and I was back at my chunk of wood, visions of it slicing the water already dancing in my imagination. And now, after most of a day, you know what I have? The most labor intensive 2x4 the world has ever seen. A clear, tight-grained Greenland driftwood 2x4, but a 2x4 all the same. Most of that tree is now a pile of wood chips and shavings, and me - not the most skilled craftsman on the block. The hard part is yet to come. I promise I'll send a picture of the finished product along when it is presentable. A lot of toothpick potential between now and then though.
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A half an hour ago this was a log on the beach from some distant shore. By the end of this trip I hope it will be a Greenland style kayak paddle. |
So we are free. The funny part is, now that we can go, there still isn't going to be much wind for the next few days from the look of things. And if we left to cross now, we'd get it in the teeth from a developing gale on the Baffin side. Just as well though, the ice in southern Baffin is disappearing quickly, but could use some more time, and this weather will keep us from having the option of doing something stupid. I wonder if the waiting will be easier now?