Crew Blog

Ice off Sydney!

18 June 2008

With Sydney (Nova Scotia) now well behind us we press on towards the contact zone… There are reports of Icebergs ahead, hopefully a little further north. Our planned route will keep us south of the majority however there may be the odd one in our path. Fortunately a full moon, clear skies and long daylight hours will help our lookouts in days to come.

Race 13, hopefully not unlucky for some, will be challenging for sure, one of the more interesting aspects being ice. Fortunate to have encountered “growlers” before I understand their unpredictability, respect our vulnerability, but as yet have no such plans to let this affect our route. Fortunately the Canadian Coast Guard, using ships’ reports, provide data as to where the floating islands reside, and through Satellite communications we get 6 hourly reports. Unfortunately the busy fishing grounds of “The Grand Banks”, lie between us and Ireland and have the uncanny habit of being an iceberg car park.

The Grand Banks, 60 metres in depth, can ground an iceberg, however they usually keep moving, attaining average speeds of 0.5km/hr occasionally up to 3. Slow motion is good news as it assists tracking, especially when over 1000 have been reported south of 48 degrees north, 180 miles from Sydney in the month of June (not this year).

Alluring to the eye, these ice cubes with soft hues of green and blue begin their journey from Greenland taking 2-3 years to reach our latitude. Fresh from calving they may be 1000metres in length, occasionally 170 metres high, driven southwards by the Baffin Island current to the Labrador Sea. Cold waters of the Labrador current carry them further south, some parking in Iceberg Alley to our north west. Others chose to battle with the Gulf stream, a gift from the equator that can destroy them in a week!

Skippy