S/Y Jennifer has arrived in Spitsbergen after almost 500 NM from Norway with gale and headwinds. We could sail on one tack, starboard tack, but very uncomfortable and cold. Cruising is not always fun. Now all is well though and the sun is shining. The GRIBB-files were correct, increasing winds first from northeast, then more from the north and then again from the north east, it was a hard passage. In the beginning, on our way from Mehavn, we passed Cape Nordkinn, the northern…most point on the European mainland (it’s not Nordkap, as it is situated on an island 40 NM to the west of Nordkinn). But it’s the point where the Norwegian Sea, part of the Atlantic Ocean, meets the Barents Sea, part of the Arctic Ocean. We also passed the island of Björnöja, between Norway and Spetsberge. Nobody lives there but for a weather station. We had hoped to visit them but the northeasterly gale made that impossible. The photo with me and Cecilia E is taken at midnight in Kirkenes. We are now in Longyearbyen, the main village in Spitsbergen. The views here are stunning – in the land of the midnight sun.
