Missed yesterday’s post? Click here.
I had been up since 9pm for my polar bear watch shift. At 00:15am it was decided that the winds had calmed down sufficiently already and that we should try to start rowing as soon as possible, ideally well before 1am. Leven, who was on my bear watch shift at the time, and I woke up Mike and Art, and everyone got ready in a bit of a hurry.
PULLING UP THE ANCHORS
We pulled up the anchors. As previously mentioned, we use three to four of them, three at the time, all attached to the same/only anchor chain, to avoid anchor slippage, which had been a huge problem last year. Back then, Hermione went on little random journeys at almost every anchoring location, putting the dagger board, rudder, and potentially the whole boat and her crew at peril.
FIRST TIME NIGHT-ROWING
It was our first time rowing in proper night conditions. There is a certain beauty to it. The wind conditions and currents varied dramatically along the 12-mile (12 Nautical miles are roughly 21km) distance. At times steering felt almost impossible, because winds and currents were pushing our boat around at will. You could steer starboard, she would go port, or you could steer hard port and nothing happened at all for a whole five minutes.
SOME EASIER LAST FEW MILES
On the last few miles the ever-changing winds (and through a turning point on our route) varied from sidewind to sideways tailwind (the angle always being mainly from the side).
UP TO FIVE KNOTS
During a phase when the winds gave us a bit of a push and the currents ceased to play havoc with us for a short while, we briefly managed 5 knots, but most of the journey was between 2 and 3.24 knots.
LAYING ANCHOR
When we arrived at our unnamed, relatively unprotected, anchoring spot, still on the South Coast of Victoria Island (just like Cambridge Bay, Starvation Bay, Wellington Bay) after about 6 hours of rowing, the winds had just picked up again, more than just a notch, and they had turned slightly against us. It had started to rain.
DAGGERBOARD UP MEANS SHAKY
The waters are very shallow in these parts, so we had to anchor a good 300 yards/250m from shore. It took well over 20 minutes to find a good spot. When we had laid the anchor and the boat started moving on her chain around the anchor, we discovered that there were a few shallower sections within the perimeter. After Leven did the maths, taking into account current tide levels, he decided that the daggerboard should remain up (a daggerboard is a removable vertical keel). This meant an extremely shaky day and half a night ahead of us. It’s mainly the dagger board that keeps the boat stable in the water.
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
