With little over 4 weeks before planned departure, there are never enough hours in the day…
Work, upcoming college exams, courses I took on as part of my preparations, researching, reading, planning, communications, storing away my stuff for the summer… I am already dreaming of just sitting in the cockpit and starring at the sea, not having to go anywhere or call anyone. It is all worth it in the end; the reward is going to be great and well worth a bit of stress now.
It won’t be all chilling time though, I am the youngest and least experience on this trip, I feel I need to prove I deserve my place on board…
And what will I be doing in Greenland? Am I a kayaker? a photographer? a diver? a climber? I get asked these questions a lot. Well, I am none of the above, nor an expert in any other area. I have sailed before, I take pictures, I just attempted kayaking recently; I am an amateur in all those areas hoping to learn and improve. I am also working towards getting as much experience prior to departure as I can on this short notice.
I am finding myself projects to engage in. I look forward to taking lots of photos and footage. Also, I will be bringing several pinhole cameras. I hope to install them in different spots along the coast on our way up, and pick them up again on our way back, in August. I’m hoping to record sun’s movement across the arctic sky for a solargraphy project I recently came across.
I am planning on doing some hiking too, now looking at maps and different possibilities. The Arctic Circle Trail looks pretty amazing!
In the meantime everyone is working hard and it’s all slowly coming together; even though the ‘to-do’ list does never seem to be shortening… Its pretty crazy how much work goes into organizing an expedition such as ours and it is inspiring to see people work together to make it reality! Keep an eye on the website and this blog, more info coming soon!
/Adam
PS Check out this passage about Inuit people, its from a book on Greenland I found in College’s library…
As for Greenlanders themselves, they had found the concept of war incomprehensible. In their own history, violence had always been a matter between individuals, for personal reasons. Any form of tribal warfare was unknown and it was beyond their imagination that, in World War II, a group of armed men, unmotivated by personal hatred, should set out to slaughter a group of strangers. (...) A hunter who would show outstanding fortitude struggling against a blizzard or confronting a polar bear was unable mentally to withstand organised human violence. This is all to the credit of a people in whose language there was no word for 'war'.
M. Banks- Greenland, 1975.