Arriving to Tasiilaq - Traditional skills in Greenland 

Continuing the story where we left off after first part, you can read the previous blog post here

This story series is written by Annukka Pekkarinen, a traditional sailor, member of our organisation and working for our project "Traditional skills in Greenland".

PART II

How good it felt, the sky was blue and when the fog lifted, we saw the beautiful shapes of the ice bergs, the sharp mountains, sea birds sitting on the ice in large flocks and first a shy minke whale and then three humpback whales feeding around our boat.

This year was particularly icy in East coast, and the way to Tasiilaaq was slowed down by bands of sea ice. I pulled on my winter overall, geared with a radio and binoculars and climbed up in the mast to find leads though the ice. It was slow going, but we got through, only to find that the anchorage was so full of ice that we would not sleep well there. It was quite late already, so we decided to go opposite side to a lagoon-like anchorage in front of Polheim mountain, where the ice was less.

Felt good to have dinner with the whole crew together in the evening sun and calm anchorage after the cold-water washing machine of Greenland strait.

Next morning, we sailed over to Tasiilaaq and tied our boat on the side of expedition boat Nanook. We called our local contact Dines, who is a hunter and local member of parliament, one of the rare ones from East Greenland. Our plan must be reviewed with him. Our original idea was to sail during the weekend with younger kids from Tasiilaaq, school-age children. However, now we arrived to Tasiilaaq on a Tuesday when all the kids are in school.

Dines takes us on a tour in the town, we visit the local cultural projects for youth who has finished their schooling, many of them unemployed and thinking what to do next. Tiu tsiu-house offers a place where to spend time and work that benefits the community in many ways, the teenagers for example collect plastic waste from the town, melt it and make it into usable items such as buttons. They also have a garden where they grow vegetables in large boxes that have been donated to the program by Natural Habitat tourism company. After the inspiring visit, we go to the cultural house, that offers also a safe place to be for the local youth, with a table football, PlayStation, a workshop where the kids are helping to build a shared backcountry hut for the community, a kitchen and a washing machine for the kids who don't have easy possibility to wash clothes at home. Tasiilaaq has running water in many of the houses but not all, and the smaller communities mainly carry their water into the houses. "I think this is why I am so strong" says our Tasiilaaq-born deckhand Ivik Ignatiussen. "I have been carrying a lot of water in my life".

Dines talks to the director of the program, and he introduces the idea of a sailing trip to the teenagers who look as relaxed as only teenage boys can look sometimes, spending their Tuesday at the cultural house, sitting around on the tables and benches, chatting and using the wifi. Five of the boys between ages 15 and 21 are interested to join, and the program director drives them home to pack and even borrows them a couple of warm overalls and flotation suits for kayaking.