Missed yesterday’s post? Click here.
Felt great when I woke up at 7am this morning. Great, considering I hadn’t slept for more than 3 or 4 hours and it had been cold and wet. In other words, my mood wasn’t sterling, but I somewhat surprised myself by not being extremely grumpy.
YAY.. IT’S A WIN
Mike and I discussed the fact that so far the cabin hadn’t flooded again, and how this was probably a win.
“Yeah… I’m not so worried about the floods anymore, it’s really the plague, the locusts, and the famine we’re expecting any day now, that keep me on my toes.”
We checked the compartment under the generator in detail, and it wasn’t dry dry, but most certainly almost dry’ish.
GETTING ONTO THE BEACH
Gradually, the waves, which hadn’t ever calmed down entirely, started to grow more violent with every minute. By the time we had stowed our sleeping bags away and gotten out all the gear we needed on shore, like cup, bottle, eating utensils, additional warm and waterproof clothes, etc., and we were in the process of stepping out of the cabin, we were in full washing machine mode again. You had to time every step well, if you wanted to avoid the door slamming into your face, your head being banged against the cabin wall, your whole self being catapulted overboard or worse.
SOME PORRIDGE NEXT TO THE FIRE
We didn’t speak much, while we were heating up some water on the Coleman gas cooker for some toasted banana/sweet apple porridge and getting the log fire started again. At least it got warmer, when the fire was burning.
KARTS JOINING
Shortly after, Karts was walking over from his tent and also heated up some water for his obligatory coffee.
THE SKIPPER IS UP
When the WiFi went on, an hour later, we knew that our skipper had woken up, too. It would have been him, who switched it on. The switch is in the stern cabin, where he sleeps (and where Karts would usually sleep), even though the cool Starlink antenna, which regularly readjusts to the satellite position, is on top of our, the bow cabin.
MORE HOT DRINKS
The three of us made some more hot drinks and played around on the internet, made brief calls to loved ones.
MORNING BRIEFING
When Leven made his appearance, he gave us a quick update about the situation. He had looked into the possibility of getting someone to drop off repair material and gear, but no luck so far. It now looks like the strong winds will calm down day after tomorrow, Tuesday morning. When the low tide arrives at 3pm we will be ready to do a temporary fix, mainly stuffing squeezable stuff like old spare towels into the crack, then putting some kind of plastic or metal plate (TBC) on top, then using other objects and some duct tape to wedge the plate into its location on top of the crack.
PAULATUK
When the high tide arrives we will launch Hermione back from the beach into the sea, trying hard to avoid at least two very large, nasty boulders. We will then motor directly to Paulatuk (after a 30-minute wait period inside the bay, to check how much water comes into the cabin and if bailing will be possible/sufficient to keep the water at bay), not stop after 10 miles at the anchoring point near the radar station.
SOME MORE SIGHT-SEEING, WILDLIFE
Mike and Leven did some more wandering about. I spotted a slightly confused, super-skinny Arctic fox, while collecting firewood. The little fox was clearly unsure what to do, when it spotted me from 100m (325ft) away. It stared at me, frozen, for half a minute, while I was very slowly getting closer, then jumped into the air, did a 180 degree backward turn mid-air, then shot off like a rocket, not to be seen again.
Other than that, just some geese, ducks, seagulls, terns, and, for the first time some tiny birds that looked like sparrows to me. I also – quite to my despair – found a maggot-like, thick, twisting, turning creature, about half a centimetre (0.25in) long, in my thermos soup container. No idea how it got there or of what nature precisely its business was. I was in a rush and didn’t care to ask. I just snipped the little bug into the landscape and filled the container with some soup.
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
