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Displaying items by tag: Scoresby Sound

In July 2022, the yacht ‘Danú of Galway’ will depart from Ireland for Scoresby Sound, East Greenland, the largest fjord in the world.

The team will comprise of a small group of independent adventurers aiming to sail to and climb in this remote landscape. On the way, they will sample for microplastics as part of a scientific collaboration with the Trinity College Dublin’s Centre for the Environment. They will monitor both salt and fresh water sources throughout their time in Scoresby Sound. This data will be used in improving global knowledge of microplastics in Arctic waters.

Danú in Henninsgsvaer, Lofoten Photo: Peter OwensDanú in Henninsgsvaer, Lofoten Photo: Peter Owens

Ocean Cruising Club member Peter Owens, expedition leader is a mountaineer sailor with many years of experience. He has put together a strong team that aims to be self-sufficient in Arctic terrain, with a strict policy of ‘leave no trace’. A number of exploratory mountaineering objectives have been chosen on Milne Land and Renland, within reach of the coast, using the yacht as a floating base.

Peter Owens, expedition leader is a mountaineer sailor Expedition leader Peter Owens is a mountaineer sailor

The OCC has supported the Irish expedition with a grant towards the voyage costs.

Renland - south coast from bear islandRenland - south coast from bear island

Published in Cruising

Coastal Notes Coastal Notes covers a broad spectrum of stories, events and developments in which some can be quirky and local in nature, while other stories are of national importance and are on-going, but whatever they are about, they need to be told.

Stories can be diverse and they can be influential, albeit some are more subtle than others in nature, while other events can be immediately felt. No more so felt, is firstly to those living along the coastal rim and rural isolated communities. Here the impact poses is increased to those directly linked with the sea, where daily lives are made from earning an income ashore and within coastal waters.

The topics in Coastal Notes can also be about the rare finding of sea-life creatures, a historic shipwreck lost to the passage of time and which has yet many a secret to tell. A trawler's net caught hauling more than fish but cannon balls dating to the Napoleonic era.

Also focusing the attention of Coastal Notes, are the maritime museums which are of national importance to maintaining access and knowledge of historical exhibits for future generations.

Equally to keep an eye on the present day, with activities of existing and planned projects in the pipeline from the wind and wave renewables sector and those of the energy exploration industry.

In addition Coastal Notes has many more angles to cover, be it the weekend boat leisure user taking a sedate cruise off a long straight beach on the coast beach and making a friend with a feathered companion along the way.

In complete contrast is to those who harvest the sea, using small boats based in harbours where infrastructure and safety poses an issue, before they set off to ply their trade at the foot of our highest sea cliffs along the rugged wild western seaboard.

It's all there, as Coastal Notes tells the stories that are arguably as varied to the environment from which they came from and indeed which shape people's interaction with the surrounding environment that is the natural world and our relationship with the sea.