Missed yesterday’s post? Click here.
Despite the slightly warmer weather and the lack of rain, it was still a cold night. Ellie sent some nice pictures from Dorset and Cornwall, where she is currently hiking with an organised group until Monday night. I hadn’t realised, but she had initially looked into joining the GO London Shropshire hiking trip that Nick and Miikka ended up on. Small world.
SOMETIMES YOU WIN…
During my first proper day shift this Sunday, I decided, while getting dressed in the bow cabin, to go for another swim, clean myself, wash my clothes, hang the wet clothes and put on nice new dry clothes (all with nice fresh un-sweat-related salt stains, as we wash our clothes in the sea). And of course for the first time in a week the water was dirty. Not a bit. It was outrageously dirty. Slimy, greasy, real ugly dirt, interspersed with insect corpses, jellyfish, bird feathers, and other debris. So that’s my swimming plans gone.
FAST MOTOR BOAT PASSING
At around 2:30pm a very fast out boarder motorboat passed us in the far distance, maybe 1 mile (1 statute mile, 1.5km) away without even as much as acknowledging our existence.
FRANCOIS AND HIS CRUISE SHIP
Francois, the chap from Montreal we had met at a tavern in Cambridge Bay, 4 weeks ago, contacted Leven and Mike earlier, to let them know that he would pass by on the cruise ship he had mentioned, later today. As it happens, I can see the giant cruise ship coming straight towards us as I’m writing these lines.
THE WHOLE CREW ON BEST BEHAVIOUR
As expected, there was no way the ship could come close to Douglas Island and the shallows surrounding it. The details of Hurtigruten’s 528-passenger MS Fridtjoff Nansen were easy to spot in the far distance, though. Safe to say that plenty of the good people on board would have high-quality binoculars pointed our way, so we made a conscious effort to not use the bucket and to wave at them for a bit.
“FOUR CRUSOE TYPES TO YOUR LEFT”
Leven and the Nansen’s captain had been in touch via email, which is how we know that the passengers on board had been informed about the presence of four unwashed men with wild hair portside, 2 miles away, over the tannoy. Apparently, some of them have now started following us on social media, which is marvellous. (Should any of them have a look at this blog, then it would be lovely to hear from them via a comment.)
CRUISE SHIPS IN THE NORTHWEST PASSAGE
For a bit over ten years now, several cruise ship companies have been offering cruises in the Northwest Passage. It is my understanding, that apart from one year, when a whole 23 ships passed through the entire passage during an exceptionally warm summer, the number of ships successfully doing so is usually a dozen or less. The weather window even for those sturdy ice-class ‘expedition’-type ships (and only those are permitted to go) is even narrower than for us. Much narrower. Luckily for them, they can go much faster than we can, so often manage to time their trips just right for success. Some cruise ships fail, of course, and they are forced to do a U-turn and/or choose an alternative route to keep the paying customers (often £30,000+ for the most basic tickets) happy’ish. Because the Passage, at least along vast stretches, is quite wide and the horizon at sea level very close (a few miles), it is quite possible, that the Nansen will have been the only passenger ship we will see during our expedition. Last year, on the first leg, Leven, Mike, and the others didn’t spot a single one.
FINALLY SOME EASY ROWING
At 6pm we were rowing again. The 17 miles (19 statute miles, 31km) from Douglas Island to Lambert Island, which took us 4.5 hours, were the easiest and fastest miles so far. We were never under 3 knots (3.5mph, 5.5kph) unless intentionally so, when approaching shallows, or unintentionally so, when rotating positions. In the latter case, this process would involve the helm starting rowing and someone else taking over the helm. Sometimes 3 men would be moving positions at the same time, because some seats are only good for some people. For example, I can only use the middle seat position, because it has the most legroom.
5 KNOTS, OH YEAH
For long periods of time we were going way faster. For at least an hour we were averaging 3.75 knots (4.25mph, 6.75kph). For a brief moment we reached 5.1 knots (5.5mph, 9kph), putting in maximum effort, just to see how fast we could go.
SHALLOWS, REEFS, AND USELESS CHARTS
As usual, the charts turned out to be rather useless. Plenty of reefs and shallows were unaccounted for. And there were plenty of both. Despite us making a serious effort of avoiding shallows, the depth still went down to as little as 4.5m in the middle of the Passage, less next to Douglas and Lambert Islands.
A PUNGENT SMELL GREETING US
When we arrived at our destination, a strong and rather unpleasant smell of rotting seaweed greeted us. The marine plants must have been ripped out and washed ashore during the recent strong winds with gusts up to 50 knots (58mph, 93kph).
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
