Northwest Passage Expedition – daily update 20 August 2024

Missed yesterday’s post? Click here.

Just after midnight we started rowing again.

ROWING AGAIN, ERRATIC WINDS

The moon was a beautiful red, still from the wildfires. Initially the winds were low and mostly cross and tailwinds. There was little swell. However, after 3 or 4 miles (3.4 or 4.6 statute miles, 5.5 or 7.4 km), the winds got a lot stronger and erratic and there were regular waves, at times breakers of relatively low hight coming from the Southeast and occasionally a series of a couple of dozen pretty sizeable rollers from the Southwest. The currents were equally chaotic and adverse throughout, chipping at least half a knot off our speed on average, at times much more.

GOING OFF-COURSE

In order to have any chance of keeping the boat straight, we only used the oars on one side, here and there, for a few strokes. Still there were times when we got a good 30, 35 degrees off-course for a minute.

ARRIVING AT MILES & NAUYAN ISLANDS

It was hard work and quite a shaky affair, but after about 3.5h and 9 miles (10.3 statute miles, 16.6 km) we arrived at one of the Miles and Nauyan Islands, laying anchor close to the shore.

SOME SLEEP, ROWING TO NEXT ISLAND

We all got some sleep and did some polar bear watch shifts and at 3pm we rowed the short distance to the next island where a tiny bay was going to give us much-needed protection from the changing and increasing winds.

ADJUSTMENTS TO ANCHORING SET-UP

The winds kept on changing back and forth and entirely defied any predictions. What followed was a never-ending series of minor and major adjustments to our anchoring set-up including three (intentional) beachings. On one occasion our skipper jumped onto the island with the reserve/stern anchor in hand, walked along the pebble beach then placed the anchor between two large boulders, all while the wind was working against him (even though the rope was briefly without tension). It’s true: only mad dogs and Scotsmen…

(video credit: Karts Huseonica)

PULLING ROPES, PUNTING

There were various cases where the bottom of our boat banged against submerged rocks or where the vessel came dangerously close to the big sharp-edged rocks on the shore. Each time, including throughout the night in darkness, the upside-down oars had to be used as punting sticks, ropes pulled or loosened, attached to different points on the boat, anchors lifted and laid. We certainly got our fair share of exercise. Oh… and we saw unidentified, unphotographed bioluminescent about 2.5cm (1in) long creatures in the water, presumably fish or jellyfish.

IN THE END: A GOOD RESULT

In the end the final anchoring location and set-up provided us with good protection against the winds. Not sure if the 50 knot (58mph, 93kph) gusts have happened yet, perhaps during my rest time. The polar bear watch shift didn’t give any indication to that extent. The elevated bits of the island did a great job so far in deflecting anything too ferocious. Despite us having to make do without our dagger board as the anchoring location is too shallow, the boat is relatively stable on the water.

LAND EXCURSION

Leven spent an hour on land, exploring the island (as the only other team member awake at the time, I stayed on board).

Apart from some 2m long piece of driftwood that must have travelled hundreds of miles (there are no trees here oop norf), he found some decorative lichen, an unexpected small patch of grass, a cleanly rolled up sleeping bag, presumably forgotten by passing fishermen or hunters, and caribou antlers, which must have been shed while the animals had reached the island over the sea ice in the cold season.

MISSION ACCOMPLISHED

Perhaps most importantly, I finished reading Mike’s book manuscript (Michael Harding, Oak, Ash and Thorn and Other Stories). 5 out of 5. This dude is a world-class writer with a unique style that puts a modern twist, Roald Dahl and Indiana Jones vibe to the grand writing traditions of Victorian Age of Exploration authors, while largely keeping the quirky language and narrative approach.

SUSSEX SASQUATCH, MURDEROUS MORRIS DANCERS

From man-eating sheep to the Sussex Sasquatch, from mischievous marsh folk with evil eels to murderous Morris dancers, every story is interwoven with the adventures the protagonist, Walter Franklin, the uncle (of the first person narrator, a Michael Harding), now an old man, had been involved in, in his prime, around the world. All stories are loosely connected.

A CELEBRATION OF THE MYTHOLOGY, HISTORY & PEOPLE OF SUSSEX

Knowing that the author is a direct descendant of Sir John Franklin, and given the name and background of the protagonist, of course the Northwest Passage makes a brief but important appearance. The book is a celebration of the rich mythology, history, culture, people and nature of the author’s home county, Sussex.

CROWBOROUGH, RYE

With our hiking group of choice, GO London, and on our own or with friends from Sussex, Ellie and I have widely travelled most stretches of the county. Here on this blog are several posts about Sussex, not least the one about Crowborough, one of the locations mentioned in the book. It was funny to me, that Mike, who wrote a whole book about his beloved county, hasn’t been to Ellie’s and my favourite town yet: the Cinque Port city, smugglers’ and pirates’ nest Rye.

NO LOVE FOR BEARS

I also stumbled across an interesting article about state-sanctioned ‘despatching’ (killing) of hundreds of bears by one of Canada’s regions, the Northwest Territories. I hadn’t realised until the news broke of the deadly polar bear attack in Rankin Inlet a few days ago, how prevalent the fear of bear attacks is in parts of Canada.

PLANS UNCHANGED

The plan is still to go on a very long multi-day row from tomorrow, Wednesday night, weather permitting.

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