Route Map   Weather Map   Daily Journal         Q & A   Special Reports   Education Section           The Game Click here to send the Viking adventurers your questions Greenland Tourism's Project Leif 2000		"The best thing: we aren't rowing" Log Date: September 1, 1998 Author: Erik Larsen Lat/Lon: 57.40 N, 61.30 W Course: 140 Speed: 5 knots Weather: Overcast, wind NW at 10 knots Sightings: Icebergs Click on the pictures below to view enlargements.   The Dane and the Captain in full battle dress   From Erik: Amazing, wow, beautiful, terrific, fantastic, impressive, magnificent, etc.! Strangely, none of these superlatives were used this morning when we weighed anchor. Well, the scenery didn't call for such outbursts, since we could barely see 100 yards. Neither did the wildlife, since it was absent. But we sailed off with a NORTHERLY wind filling our sail. This was what we had waited for for two weeks. Finally it was here. Papa Smurf and Festus     The excitement was not expressed verbally - actually, the silence aboard Snorri this morning was as heavy as the mist. The look on people's faces gave it away, though. Everybody was thinking: how long will this last? Is it also blowing from the north offshore? The excitement broke into disappointment very quickly, as it turned out we had to head upwind to get out between two islands in order to get offshore. Well, we rowed - in silence. But then when we rounded the last cape, the wind gradually picked up - from the north. It was a magical moment. We could hardly believe it, or rather, we didn't dare to. Now, six hours later, we are sailing southeast, pointing right toward our final goal - and though far away, it seems much nearer now. The best thing: we aren't rowing. At last, underway, under sail     Now you might find that we are being superstitious, and we are. As an old sailor's rule remonstrates: don't whistle or the storms will blow. So have we made our rules of caution. Basically, we are trying to make sense from the randomness that tosses us around. Of course, we wouldn't be so sensitive if it didn't mean so much to us. But at sea and traveling, two things matter much: weather and miles. And the next two things that make weather and miles come together as a journey is food and good spirit. We do pretty good on the last one, but food is becoming all the more uniform as provisions are dwindling. Everybody tries to avoid the fact that for the last part of the voyage we will have to live off beans and lentil soup plus oatmeal, and worst of all, there will be no hot chocolate. Quote of the day, from Homer: "I just feel so useless, now that there's flour on the boat." (Homer was king of bannock bread.) Top of page