Simon and Sally Currin are the recipients of the Cruising Club of America's 2020 Royal Cruising Club Trophy, awarded to a member of the Club for “the most interesting cruise of singular merit and moderate duration.”
The Currins interrupted their slow circumnavigation by slowing down further. After wintering in Iceland barely out of the sight of the Scottish Isles, they decided to explore the rarely visited, often ice-bound coast of northeast Greenland. Sailing north in July, just as the sea ice had cleared, they entered the largest fjord system of the world at Scoresby Sound. They were able to visit one of only two Inuit villages on this remote coast. As they successfully navigated through the remaining ice in a plastic boat, they commented, “We were now 360 miles north of the Arctic Circle and 180 miles from the open sea, and starting to worry about our extreme isolation.” Above 70N and far from radio contact, having spent more than one month within a rocky fjord, they found it prudent to retreat and cruise the dramatic coast of Greenland and south to Iceland. Shimshal II is currently ashore in Newfoundland awaiting their return to complete further adventures.
The Currin’s excellent article, “Exploring Scoresby Sound”, submitted to the CCA’s Voyages magazine, cemented their nomination. We are pleased and proud to award to the Currins the 2020 Royal Cruising Club Trophy.
The Cruising Club of America (CCA) was generously given this perpetual trophy by the Royal Cruising Club on the occasion of the CCA’s 75th anniversary (1997), to be awarded annually.
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