Northwest Passage Expedition – daily update 29 July

Missed yesterday’s post? Click here.

Got up at 4:30am after 8h of sound sleep. Got some work done on my mobile phone, later got some work done around the house. Also cleaned up the area around Hermione’s launch site a bit and picked up items that we had left there on launch day but might want to take with us to sea, like a manual air pump.

PICKING UP LEVEN

At 9:45am the three of us drove to town to pick up Leven, who is staying there. He found a room at a B&B for almost exactly the same price as Chez Shawn, but with more amenities; however it was the last room available. It makes sense for Leven to be walking distance from Hermione, of course, and the rest of us enjoy staying where we are.

GROCERY SHOPPING

Went shopping at Northern again. Most groceries are more than twice the price you would pay in London. The team bought food for three days, because we are now expecting to leave on Thursday morning.

NEW ROWING-SCHEDULE REQUIRES SNACKS

I also bought some snacks, even though I struggled to find good ones. Until today I hadn’t quite realised that the current plan is that all of us continuously and repeatedly row 1.5h, then steer 0.5h, then row 1.5h, steer 0.5h, etc., for at least 12h non-stop, while the weather holds. This means that contrary to my initial plans I have to have snacks, because even eating bits of standard expedition food rations from my giant thermos bowl is going to be very difficult while steering. It’s impossible while rowing.

GOOD SNACKS HARD TO FIND

Only found some beef jerky so far. There were only three types of nuts, almonds, which I don’t like, pistachios which are too messy, and pecans which had no best before date and looked suspicious. Peanut butter is not for me. Rest was all stuff full of sugar like gummy bears, cookies, chocolate, etc., so not my kind of (savoury) snacks. Will check out Coop tomorrow.

HERMIONE LOOKING GOOD

After our shopping spree we checked in on Hermione. All looked good. Leven noticed that the emergency outboard motor had loosened from its attachment point, so he tightened the screws. The ropes and fenders all looked good, partially because the Bergmann crew had made a few changes to our set-up, preventing the risk of excessive wear and tear.

BANTER WITH BERGMANN CREW

The crew very kindly offered that we could join them for breakfast. We thanked them but regretfully declined, after a bit of a chat and plenty of banter. We didn’t want to impose and the crew seemed busy preparing for the start of their next journey, which was scheduled for later this week.

CHOWDER, CHEESE MELT

Next we had breakfast at the same cafe we had been to before (where we had had muskox & caribou burger). Mike had char chowder, the rest of us the Chef’s Special: cheese melt on beef with fries. All food was delicious and for $20 (£11, USD 14) each extremely reasonably priced for high up North.

DOING SOME COOKING

I spent about 1.5h in the kitchen, preparing vast amounts of stir-fried vegetables to have as sides for the coming days, as well as a bolognese sauce (ready-made from jar, but with added herbs, spices, peppers, onions, garlic, and minced beef) for the pasta we would have for dinner.

LATE AFTERNOON RUN

Thereafter, I went for a gentle 7k run in very strong winds. The 3.5km towards town were slow and hard. On the plus side, the 3.5km back to the cabin were superfast and easy.

DINNER

The pasta with bolognese sauce for dinner went down well. We even had some grated parmesan and jalapeño slices.

MORE BANTER & STORIES, SHAWN STOPS BY

After dinner, everyone shared some stories of adventures past and we laughed a lot. Later that night, Shaun stopped by to pick up the air-cured char from the frame next to the water where the strips were hanging. He had one of his daughters and a friend of hers with him.

For tomorrow’s post click here.

 

HIGHLIGHTS OF THE NORTHWEST PASSAGE EXPEDITION

 

22 July – LHR to YCB

2 August 2024 (Cambridge Bay to Starvation Bay)

4 August 2024 (Starvation Bay to Wellington Bay)

12 August 2024 (From Wellington Bay 6h further Westward)

15 August 2024 (53mi/96km from Botany Island to Richardson Islands)

18 August 2024 (from Richardson Islands past Marker Islands)

22 August 2024 (23mi/37km Westward from Miles and Nauyan Islands past Lady Franklin Point – extremely tough conditions – ‘MISSION IMPOSSIBLE’)

23 August 2024 (Dreadful 10 miles – 12mi/19km – that felt like 100 miles to Douglas Island; welcome committee of two dozen seals)

25 August 2024 (An easy 19mi/31km from Douglas Island to Lambert Island; MS Fridtjoff Nansen passing)

27 August 2024 (An easy 7mi/9km along Lambert Island; yacht Night Owl passing by us)

28 August 2024 (STARTING OUR 64MI/104KM PUSH EARLY; passing Hanseatic Spirit, MS Roald Amundsen, yacht Honshu)

29 August 2024 (Arriving at Cape Hope after 64mi/104km – new team best)

30 August 2024 (EMERGENCY BEACHING at a bay next to Cape Hope)

31 August 2024 (CABIN FLOODED; LEAK FOUND)

Mike’s Poem about our Northwest Passage Expedition

3 September 2024 (REPAIRING HERMIONE)

DETAILS OF LEVEN’S MASTERPIECE: THE PRELIMINARY REPAIR and preparation of the re-launch of Hermione

4 September 2024 (A LOT OF DIGGING and another unsuccessful attempt to refloat the boat)

5 September 2024 (REFLOATING HERMIONE, MOTORING TOWARDS PAULATUK; MILITARY PLANE PASSING)

6 September 2024  (BACK TO ROWING AFTER EMERGENCY MOTOR BREAKS)

8 September 2024 (my 50th birthday; ALMOST CRASHING THE BOAT into rocks; Skynet; a pod of whales)

12 September 2024 (starting our last big push before Paulatuk; RUNNING AGROUND 3X; BIOLUMINESCENCE; Northern lights)

13 September 2024 (ALL HELL BREAKING LOOSE – ALMOST CRASHING INTO CLIFFS)

NORTHERN LIGHTS, 15 September, near Paulatuk

15 September 2024 (REACHING PAULATUK)

16 September 2024 (eating proper food; shower; the good life)

19 September 2024 (flying back home; 5 flights; Breakfast Club at Inuvik Airport)

Stefan will be rowing the Northwest Passage this summer – A little Q&A

Northwest Passage Expedition – Kit List

Trevor’s Travel Trivia IX – The Northwest Passage

My home town’s newspaper, Burghauser Anzeiger, has published an article about the Expedition

Post-expedition Q&As – Coming back from the Arctic after two months

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