September 16th 2013

Held Up in Pevek

69° 42,326' N, 170° 15,792' E

On our way to Pevek, Pekka spent one whole day (eleven hours to be exact)

repairing our heaters. The plural form is quite correct as we initially

had two Webastos but for some reason they both stopped working almost at

the same time. Now, we only have one heater left because Pekka had to

cannibalize the two and take the fan from the one that had developed an

unrepairable nozzle problem and install it in the other one that had given

a 'Fan Error' message. During the eleven hours, the temperature inside the

boat dropped to nine degrees Celsius which was tolerable (after all, this

is an Arctic Expedition) but I must say that we were relieved when our now

one and only heater started working again.

We arrived in Pevek early Saturday morning when it was still dark and

dropped anchor in the bay next to the town. After a few hours of sleep, we

motored to the port and moored alongside a rusty barge that had sunk years

ago and has since been used as a wharf. Pevek Harbour Master and a

friendly Immigration Officer named Yura came to our boat to check us in.

Later the same evening, the Harbour Master arranged both water and fuel to

be delivered to the wharf, and now all our tanks and jerry cans are

brimful.

During the next two days, we toured the town, visited the city library,

the regional museum, a cafeteria, and several small grocery stores where

we did some reprovisioning. By the end of the third day, we were ready and

anxious to continue our passage.

However, as so often before, the weather didn't agree with our plans.

Yesterday, the Harbour Master hurried to the wharf to warn us of

approaching 15-20 m/s winds. Because of the incoming seas, he asked us to

move to the other side of the barge and moor alongside a small ship, which

we did. So, here we are once again held up, biting our nails, and

listening to the Arctic wind howling in the rigging.