The initial plan had been to rest for at least 24h after our long push yesterday.
ZIGZAGGING THROUGH THE RICHARDSON ARCHIPELAGO
However, at 10am the forecasts changed and the decision was made that we would start rowing again from 11am. He also decided that we should zigzag through the Richardson Islands towards Edinburgh Island. This has never been attempted by a rowing boat, because the area is badly charted and there are strong currents and many shallows.
STUNNING VIEWS
The views on our route through the archipelago were stunning and easily the best we’ve had so far. Unfortunately, the pictures and videos do them no justice. Different from a Norwegian fjord, the cliffs are dozens, not hundreds of metres high, at best, and most of the time you keep a distance from them, for obvious reasons. So most pictures show a lot of water and a lot of sky, but very little of the beautiful islands. When you pass through the archipelago, you feel very close to the islands left, right, and centre along your way.
COLD WAR REMNANTS
Mike was able to spot the DEW Line Station in the far distance, using Karts’ binoculars. We had also seen light from there last night. DEW Line stands for Distant Early Warning Line. The series of stations are now all decommissioned. But during the cold war they were considered an important asset, enabling the U.S. and their allies to spot a Soviet bomber attack or land invasion of America early on.
EASY START – TOUGH FINISH
The rowing started out relatively easy and we were making well over two knots. Then headwinds and currents gradually became more of a problem. After 7.5 miles we had to put in maximum effort just to average 1.8 knots. Then the situation deteriorated quickly from there. At times we fell below 1 knot while absolutely giving it everything.
ASSISTANCE PROVIDED, COURTESY OF A ROCK CLIFF
Our motivation was greatly facilitated by the fact that we were now rowing alongside a jagged cliff with no more than 30m (100ft) of safety margin. We all strongly felt that it would be inopportune for the whole team to die a mere two weeks into a ten-week expedition.
“EXTREME HEAT” TO PROPER COLD WITHIN HOURS
By the time we reached our anchoring spot, around 5pm, the weather was still very warm. During the day it had been incredibly hot for a summer’s day in the High Arctic, at around 18C (64.4F). It was shocking how cold it got at night. Possibly exhaustion from the 25h row a day ago and lack of sleep had to do with it, but I was still feeling slightly cold while wearing the DryRobe over the Gore-Tex hardshell over the thick, padded quilt jacket over two synthetic down vests over mid- and baselayer.
MORE POLAR BEARS IN THE NEWS
Nunatsiaq News had an interesting report about a polar bear in the far-away Rankin Inlet, which lies within ‘our’ Nunavut region about a polar bear. The animal had ventured too close to the settlement on several occasions and exhibited no fear of humans. So it was decided to have it put down. The speaker of the local Inuit Hunters and Trappers Organisation is being quoted as saying that polar bears have lately become more dangerous due to their increasing lack of fear of humans. The comments below the article also make for interesting reading.
WILDFIRES
Nunavut has now imposed wildfire smog warnings for several areas. All areas are far away from where we are. That said, the air has visibly become a lot thicker and there is a strong smell of burnt pine wood in the air. I know reasonably well how burning pine wood smells, because I used to live in the Piney Woods area near Dallas, Texas, for a little while, and folk burnt wood there all the time. It kind of smells exactly how you’d expect it to smell, to be frank, haha…
