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Writer's pictureRibbing for Arctic Team

Direction to Greenland

Updated: Aug 2, 2022

After many days on hold, back in the sea again.

Carlos Santaella Martinez, Cristiano Segnini and Thomas Panagiotopoulos in Iceland, just before they set sail for Greenland.
Carlos Santaella Martinez, Cristiano Segnini and Thomas Panagiotopoulos in Reykjavík, Iceland, just before they set sail for Greenland.

Day 19th - 21 July 2022

After many days in Iceland, a small window of weather gave them the opportunity to try and cross Greenland. Unfortunately, Tasiilaq is still closed by ice, so the only option for the crew, is to set course for Greenland's southern tip, with a final destination of Nanortalik to the southwest. The distance is 750 nautical miles.

However, their fuel autonomy does not allow such a long passage. So, the only option for the team is to cruise at just 5 knots for 1 or 2 days to reduce consumption, before increasing to cruising speed. This means that they must have good sea conditions for at least 2 days. Thomas Panagiotopoulos, explains the current status of the mission: "if you see the boat in SmartBoat Application moving at low speed for many hours, don't worry, it's part of your fuel management strategy. May God be with us……!


Day 21/22/23/24 - 25 July 2022 - Aappilattqq

Thomas Panagiotopoulos, writing about the mission: "Traveling for 3 whole days, we crossed the ocean and reached the southern tip of Greenland. The journey began quite well, but the last 120 miles made us realize how close hell is to heaven. We got the same feelings when we entered the Cristian Sud channel and were forced to continue our vigil for the 3rd consecutive night. We thank God that we are still alive. Once again, the sea taught us in the most intense way how "minimum" our actual size is. We're still trying to recover… We have a lot to tell you about in the future."


Carlos Santaella Martinez, Cristiano Segnini and Thomas Panagiotopoulos in Greenland.
Carlos Santaella Martinez, Cristiano Segnini and Thomas Panagiotopoulos in Greenland.

Day 25/26/27 - 27 July 2022 - Paamiut

The Ribbing for Arctic team, trying to reach Nuuk, the capital of Greenland, but the icebergs and thick fog do not allow them to cover a lot of nautical miles. Thomas Panagiotopoulos, describes to us the feeling that they have: "Sometimes we think that what we see, are waves of our imagination, we are dreaming of them. It is truly a journey to the end of the world. Many hours of navigation in thick fog, where you can't see beyond 20 meters, while at the same time the icebergs and especially the small pieces of ice cover huge distances and are 6-7 meters apart. Truly unprecedented conditions, scenes that look more cinematic than real, and as a result we travel at 7-10 knots, while anxiety, awe and sometimes insecurity block our thinking and negatively affect our psychology…"


 

During our mission there will be a 24-hour monitoring of our route by SmartBoat, which generates a daily report with the routes of our boat. You will be able to see live, where we are with the boat at any time during our journey. You can check in real-time the position of our boat : www.smartboat.info/arctic-live


Follow our journey!

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