Northwest Passage Expedition – daily update 15 September 2024

Missed yesterday’s post? Click here.

At around 1:30am on the morning of Sunday, 15 September, I got up and hopped out from the cabin onto the deck, as I couldn’t sleep. I couldn’t believe my eyes.

BEST NORTHERN LIGHTS SO FAR

During the previous nights, we had seen some Northern Lights, and they had been fun to watch, even though rather dim and subtle. I hadn’t taken any pictures. This night, they were everywhere towards the South, with a few patterns also towards the other three cardinal directions. And the Northern Lights were so much brighter and more brilliant. You could easily and very clearly see all the main patterns. For complete transparency: they still weren’t anywhere near as intense as the pictures make them look. My Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra’s automatic filtering really worked wonders here. I didn’t actively do anything at all; the pictures were shot in my phone’s default factory mode with zero editing.

 

RISE AND SHINE

Luckily I had slept a lot during the previous 48 hours, because from yesterday evening to today, I didn’t catch much sleep. I got back to bed at around 1:45am, then Mike’s and my phone alarms went off again at 3am. I managed to squeeze in a quick hot porridge with dried banana, cranberries, raisins, and honey, and half a litre of hot tea to drink. Then it was already time to lift the anchor.

 

STARTING ROWING AT 4AM

By 4am, the four of us were on our way towards Paul Steen’s Harbour, 15 miles (17 statute miles, 27km) away, where Paulatuk residents Kenny Rubens and Connie Green were going to pick us up with their small outboarder fishing boat. The plan was that we’d tie Hermione to the back of their boat with a long rope. Then our boat, with us on board, would be pulled another 20 miles (23 statute miles, 37km) all the way to Paulatuk.

 

WHY DID WE ARRANGE FOR A PICK-UP AND NOT ROW ALL THE WAY TO PAULATUK?

Having made it so close to Paulatuk by rowing hard whenever possible over the last few days, one might ask, why would we seek the help of locals and a motorboat for the last few miles. There are a whole number of reasons, including the expectation that the weather window will close again soon for several days. The hard rowing and constant bailing had taken their toll. We were all very tired and not in top shape. But perhaps most of all, there were serious concerns that the leak might crack open further over time and make it impossible to bail sufficient amounts of water, or – in a worst case – that the whole hull might disintegrate. As a compliance officer (in my day job), integrity is obviously a very serious concern for me.

   

PLENTY OF REASONS

I remember vividly, asking our skipper about the latter risk soon after we had re-floated Hermione. Back then, a few days ago, Leven had dryly responded: “Well, if she’ll break into pieces, then it will most likely happen in shallow waters near the start or finish of a row, because the boat hits a submerged rock or boulder. And hopefully not when we’re rowing along a ten-mile long rock cliff with no chance of getting on land.” By the time we would reach Paul Steen’s Harbour, we would have left all the lengthy rock cliffs behind us already. However, the point still stands, that we wanted to get to safety before the boat became impossible to row.

   

OTHER CONSIDERATIONS

We had considered the fact that our boat was more likely to break apart at higher than at lower speeds. So in a way it was counterintuitive to have her pulled behind a motorboat at up to 5 knots (6mph, 9kph), rather than gently and slowly rowing at less than half that speed. Again, it didn’t change our thinking that the sooner we reach safety the better. And we would always be able to reduce the motoring speed, as soon as the bailing became too difficult. This should normally lead to a reduction in the amount of water entering the inside of the boat.

As usual, the above video was taken in calm seas. Whenever the sea is rough, I usually don’t find time to take pics.

ROWING BEFORE SUNRISE

The first couple of hours, before sunrise, were very difficult. The swell didn’t look like much, most of the time, but the waves were coming from two different angles and regularly formed bigger bumps, whenever they hit each other at the right moment. You had to point the tip of the boat 25 degrees starboard of your intended direction and make constant corrections. We used only our left hand for steering, unless we needed both our hands on the left steering handle. Until around 6am none of us touched the right steering handle during our respective times at the helm. With every change in current, our speed switched rapidly between a super-slow 1.2 knots (1.4 mph, 2.2kph) and a slightly more acceptable, but hard-won 2 knots (2.3mph, 3.7kph).

   

SINGING SEA SHANTIES

We made a few half-hearted attempts at singing sea shanties. Somehow we all felt the (for us) enormity of the situation: after six weeks at sea we would finally, for the first time, see other humans. After a series of very close calls that could have ended up very badly for us, safety now seemed so close.

   

ULTRA-RUNNING

Most of us also felt more chatty than usual. On other days, there were often hours when hardly a word was spoken. Today was different. For example, I learned that Mike had run a 50-miler a few years ago, but had never bothered to talk about it. My longest racing distance as an ultra-runner was officially 55km (60km+ if you include several unintentional detours on the unmarked route). Privately, I would have run 65km, but never more than 80km (50 miles). While I have done 100k runs, they have so far always been split over two days, a whole weekend, with rest time in-between. Unsurprisingly, Mike is also much faster than I am. I regularly am among the last few runners who reach the finish line before the cut-off time.

13 VALLEYS

I’m registered for my first 100-miler later this month: the 13 Valleys Ultra. The route goes along all 13 main valleys of the Lake District. Still a huge question mark over this event, though. Good chance, I’ll bail out, considering I haven’t even walked much for six weeks, certainly not done any proper running.

   

   

A FEW FASTER ROWING MILES, FOLLOWED BY MORE ADVERSE CONDITIONS

From 7am onwards, the currents and winds were more favourable for a little while. We managed to make almost 3 knots (3.5mph, 5.5kph). However, from 9:30am our luck turned again, and there were times when we struggled to make 1.4 knots (1.6mph, 2.6kph).

   

TIME PRESSURE BUILDING

We started to get slightly panicky that we might miss our pick-up deadline at 12 noon. It was hard to tell how Kenny and Conny would react, if we were to be running late.

   

OUR MYSTERY ROWER

The only person who had dealt with our ‘rescue team’ had been our mystery rower, Gavin. Leven’s 60-year old cousin from Scotland had arrived in Paulatuk more than a week earlier with the intention of joining our expedition from there, as soon as we would have fixed Hermione. He had done a sterling job, arranging for someone to pick us up. Moreover, he had done a lot of other work in the background, such as booking us rooms in the only hotel in town, liaising with the local authorities, and – initially – looking into other options of getting us out of the danger zone. We only learned later, that Gavin had paid for a lot of the expenses, such as for Kenny’s and Conny’s assistance, out of his own pocket, very generously refusing to let us refund him.

   

NOT A MINUTE TO SPARE (BUT A WHOLE HOUR)

We arrived at Paul Steen’s Harbour a few minutes past noon. For the previous hour we had anxiously screened the horizon for any fishing boats, flares at the ready. We weren’t going to risk that our helpers failed to spot us. Once we arrived, Leven called his cousin and we learned that there had been a slight misunderstanding. 12 noon was the time when the boat was going to leave Paulatuk, not when it was going to arrive at Paul Steen’s Harbour.

CLEANING THE BOAT FOR OUR VISITORS

Fair enough. This gave us time to clean the boat a little bit. It was mainly Mike and Art who used buckets of sea water, brushes, a stick, and wipes, to get rid of all the debris that had accumulated on deck while we had been beached and that had never been properly removed in full. So much seaweed, quite a bit of sand and mud, pebbles, and so on.

FINALLY SAFE

Just before 1pm we spotted Kenny’s and Conny’s boat on the horizon with our binoculars. Mike climbed on top of the front cabin to wave at them. There was a third person on board. Gavin had told Leven that he’d stay in Paulatuk, but he had clearly changed his mind. The boat came closer quickly. It was rather nice to see other humans after such a long time. Kenny and Conny are absolutely fabulous people. Conny had even made sandwiches for us and brought some cheese, cut-up sausages, crisps, salad. There was a lot of banter and various jokes were cracked.

AND HERE YOU ARE: TWO PLASTIC BAGS FILLED WITH WHITE POWDER

Funnily, after enthusiastic greetings and thank-yous had been exchanged, we were also handed two plastic bags willed with white powder. Conny assured us that it was salt and sugar. We all still found it immensely amusing that hours before our vessel was going to be boarded by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (a routine check, we had been given the heads-up), two bags with white powder would be stored in our groceries box near the front cabin.

   

EVERYTHING SET UP

There was no time to waste. The plan was to head back to Paulatuk as soon as possible and to avoid any risk of getting into darkness. The many shallows and sandbanks would have been much more difficult to spot without daylight. We tied Hermione to the back of the fishing boat with a roughly 30m (100ft) long rope. This should hopefully be a sufficient distance to allow us to use our oars to slow down Hermione in case of a braking maneuver, when our boat would otherwise continue to move forward at an almost undiminished speed due to its streamlined hull shape and Newton’s First Law.

GOOD TO GO

It felt good, when we could feel the gentle pull of the rope and then the gradual acceleration of our boat. I had been tasked with doing the first shift bailing.

TOO MUCH WATER TO BAIL

1 knot was not an issue. 2 knots were still fine. 3 knots doodle-dandy. However, as soon as we reached 4 knots, giant amounts of water started pushing through the main crack in the hull and through the additional leak that we had only discovered later on (both in the front cabin, a mere 1.5 metres apart from each other). I shouted from the front cabin to Leven “Let’s slow down to 3 knots, it is impossible to bail this thing at 4 knots, too much water.”

LET’S SLOW DOWN

Gavin on the fishing boat always kept an eye on Hermione and her crew. So as soon as Leven used his hands to sign “Slow down”, the fishing boat slowed down. Leven then came up with a number of different ideas.

TRYING DIFFERENT OPTIONS

At first he suggested ways in which we could stem the flow of water into the compartment under the generator in the front cabin by stuffing old towels into it. Or we could use the recently fixed manual water pump. For one reason or another, the first few suggestions were dismissed. Among others, due to the many pipes and construction elements in the compartment, it would have been almost impossible to snugly fit any objects into the compartment. Also, the water pump was simply hopeless and had nowhere near enough capacity.

   

DRILLING HOLES

Then our skipper came up with a brilliant idea. Why not use our electric drill to drill several holes into the outside of the compartment under the generator, the one that had the leak, on that side that emptied into the big empty space just under the latch door to the front cabin. This space would normally have been used to store the life raft. However, for weight distribution and also to make it easier spot the accumulation of water, we had moved the life raft closer to the rear cabin.

MUCH EASIER TO BAIL

Mike got the electric drill from its storage location under deck and drilled six little holes at the lower end of the separating wall between the compartment with the leak and the empty life raft compartment. Immediately, the small compartment with all the pipes and construction elements started draining into the huge, empty compartment. Now we cut the bottom off a 5l, sealed (with lid screwed on tightly) plastic bottle in order to get a large container. Mike and I then used this large container with the big hole on one side as a kind of ‘water-shovel’ to get the water out.

EMPTYING THE WATER ONTO THE DECK

This meant that we were able to move much larger amounts of water out of the boat much quicker. We also stopped emptying the modified 5l water bottle into the sea and instead simply dropped everything into the lower section of the deck under the moveable rowing seats, which saved time. This section of the deck emptied into the sea via the hole in which the daggerboard was positioned. So no water accumulated.

INCREASE SPEED, BAILING 25 LITRES PER MINUTE

Leven signalled to Gavin that we could increase the speed again. We went back to 4 knots and then gradually, with minimal acceleration, to 5 knots. For the rest of the journey, Mike and I were taking shifts doing the bailing and boy oh boy, hard work. I’m guessing that at the absolute maximum, when we were going through rough seas, we shifted well over 25 litres per minute.

   

BEAUTIFUL LANDSCAPE

Due to the crooked shape of the coastline, it seemed to take forever until Paulatuk came into sight. Then, once we spotted it, we spent another 40 minutes or more motoring along a sandbank, that prevented us from heading directly towards the frontier settlement. It is ironic, that the landscape around Paulatuk is by far the most beautiful one we have encountered on this leg (the second of two legs) of the expedition. Rocky hills, several hundred metres high, lagoons, bays, jagged coastline, sandbanks, peninsulas, islands, a sizeable river, all rather impressive.

REACHING OUR DESTINATION

It was past 6:30pm when we finally reached our destination. Kenny and Conny had other business to attend to, so simply dropped us off on the beach next to the settlement, said their goodbyes and good lucks, then headed off with their fishing boat. As advised, officers Josh and Scott (I’m terrible with names and can’t remember their surnames at the moment) from the Royal Canadian Mounted Police in Paulatuk greeted us and did a few quick checks. They then very kindly used their police 4WD to pull Hermione higher up the embankment, to make sure that she wouldn’t be heading off to sea at high tide. In addition we tied her to a lamp post at the nearby road.

WELCOME COMMITTEE, VISITORS CENTER

A few dozen of the 298 local residents had gathered to watch us. A dozen of them came all the way to the boat to say hello and to ask questions about our emergency beaching and the hole in the hull. The “Visitors Center” above the local Northern supermarket had our rooms ready for us. Just as we had done in Yellowknife, at Chez Shaun, and on the boat, Mike and I shared one room. We considered ourselves lucky, because split 50/50, the price of roughly £210 (CAD 380, USD 280) per night for a double room for two is somewhat more affordable than the £180 per night for a room for one. In the hotel owners’ defence, the rooms were really good quality, very spacious, super-clean, nice amenities, a landline to make outside calls, WiFi, no complaints on that side. I guess it isn’t cheap to provide high quality accommodation in the middle of nowhere.

   

SOME PROPER HOME-COOKING

While the kitchen is not very well-equipped, with only 4 large plates, 6 small plates, 3 bowls, a couple of pots and pans and some cutlery, cups, glasses, Gavin managed to cook us an absolutely fabulous meal while we stayed there. Delicious chicken thighs with thick sauce, pasta and green peas.

ART GUARDING THE BOAT

Art stayed onboard for the first night and didn’t join us for dinner. Until we had moved all the expensive equipment and our gear from the boat to the hotel rooms, we wanted to play it safe, just in case. And Art, very good of him, said that he didn’t mind.

HOW DID IT FEEL TO ARRIVE AT SAFETY?

I had been expecting the arrival in Paulatuk to be a somewhat emotional moment. So it was quite to my surprise that all I had energy for was a somewhat dull, blunt, woozy feeling of happiness and content. I really just wanted to have a good meal, a shower, and a good sleep in a proper bed, that was all.

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