location: 60′ 39N, 51’03W
With Doina’s exception, all Aventura’s remaining crew disembarked in
Nuuk, and flew home. We had just finished preparing Aventura for the
long passage home, when I received an urgent message from the manager of
the Garcia-Allures boatyard, the French builders of Aventura. Rather
than sail Aventura back to Europe, they requested my cooperation in
having Aventura exhibited at some boat shows on the US east coast. It
sounded like an attractive suggestion, so I accepted.
We left Nuuk immediately, and at this moment Doina and I are about 200
miles south of Nuuk, bound for St John’s, Newfoundland, a passage of
some 1,000 miles. We have strong NW winds (35 knots), and are making
good progress. The winds were even stronger last night and in a gust of
40 knots, romping along at 9 to 10 knots with three reefs in the
mainsail, and no foresail, Aventura was caught on the lip of a large
following wave, and surfed at a dizzying speed of 14.8 knots.
The plans after St John’s have yet to be decided but one place where
Aventura will definitely be exhibited is the Annapolis boat show, in
early October.