Northwest Passage Expedition – daily update 21 August 2024

Missed yesterday’s post? Click here.

Now planning to start rowing from tomorrow, Thursday, late afternoon or evening. In our sheltered anchoring place the winds have died down over the course of the day, but we can still see plenty of white horses (breakers) out there.

MUCH COLDER, FIRST SNOW

It got a lot colder. And we had our first few snowflakes since we set off to sea almost three weeks ago. The nights now last for 4.5h and are no longer grey but pitch-black dark for 2/3 of the time. The pictures do not do it justice, because my Galaxy automatically enhances the light multi-fold.  In reality you can barely make out the outline of the bay.

SOMETHING TO LOOK FORWARD TO

The multi-day row ahead of us bears on everyone’s mind. We are all super-keen go get some proper rowing done and some mileage in for more than just a day. On the other hand we are not idiots. It will be very hard, physically and mentally. We are not a team of eight where four of us can sleep at any given moment. We will be on duty non-stop for roughly 8 to 12h, then rotating with a little chance of catching sleep, but still working at least 50 to 75% of the time, then non-stop again, and so on.

NOT SLEEPING THAT WELL

I know I’m not the only one who hasn’t slept particularly well lately. It’s probably a combination of factors. I had noticed my sleeping mat having gradually deflated only when it had become almost entirely useless at keeping the increasingly unpleasant cold away. Similarly, I only noticed late that the side zips of my two (one inside the other) sleeping bags had opened widely inside the bivvy bag inside of which they are placed to fight condensation. This left one side of my body with little protection. I’m usually so tired when I start my rest period that I lack the energy to pay attention to detail.

COLD, DAMP, DARK

We air our wet clothes inside the unheated, cold cabin. It rained quite a lot recently, while previously it had been almost entirely dry. This means we don’t fully close the two latches in order to let the draught take some of the moisture away. It sounds silly and embarrassing, but even the suddenly so much longer and darker nights might have played a role, so did the heavy winds until recently. Cold, Damp, Darkness and strong winds multiply the effort needed for every task. Luckily, the chafing sores and burst blisters on my heels (mainly the right heel) have improved since I gave them a sea water bath and new dressings. Not rowing much and covering the blister pads with duct tape for when we did/do, helped a lot, too.

IAIN

Received an email from Iain from Manchester, who had stumbled across Ellie’s and my blog. The good chap will pass by us on Hurtigruten’s ice class ‘expedition’ cruise ship MS Roald Amundsen next week and says he’ll watch out for us. Well, we’ll sure watch out for the Amundsen.

ROCK’N’ROW

Nothing changes the fact that we all can’t wait to get the mileage in. We didn’t come up here to the High Arctic to rest. We came here to rock’n’row, baby, yayy haha…

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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2 Comments

  1. This is a fascinating blog, and I look out for each new post.. wish you fair winds and good weather, and a safe return of the Hermione crew.

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