Northwest Passage Expedition – daily update 20 August 2024

Just after midnight we started rowing again.

ROWING AGAIN, ERRATIC WINDS

The moon was a beautiful red, still from the wildfires. Initially the winds were low and mostly cross and tailwinds. There was little swell. However, after 3 or 4 miles (3.4 or 4.6 statute miles, 5.5 or 7.4 km), the winds got a lot stronger and erratic and there were regular waves, at times breakers of relatively low hight coming from the Southeast and occasionally a series of a couple of dozen pretty sizeable rollers from the Southwest. The currents were equally chaotic and adverse throughout, chipping at least half a knot off our speed on average, at times much more.

GOING OFF-COURSE

In order to have any chance of keeping the boat straight, we only used the oars on one side, here and there, for a few strokes. Still there were times when we got a good 30, 35 degrees off-course for a minute.

ARRIVING AT MILES & NAUYAN ISLANDS

It was hard work and quite a shaky affair, but after about 3.5h and 9 miles (10.3 statute miles, 16.6 km) we arrived at one of the Miles and Nauyan Islands, laying anchor close to the shore.

SOME SLEEP, ROWING TO NEXT ISLAND

We all got some sleep and did some polar bear watch shifts and at 3pm we rowed the short distance to the next island where a tiny bay was going to give us much-needed protection from the changing and increasing winds.

ADJUSTMENTS TO ANCHORING SET-UP

The winds kept on changing back and forth and entirely defied any predictions. What followed was a never-ending series of minor and major adjustments to our anchoring set-up including three (intentional) beachings. On one occasion our skipper jumped onto the island with the reserve/stern anchor in hand, walked along the pebble beach then placed the anchor between two large boulders, all while the wind was working against him (even though the rope was briefly without tension). It’s true: only mad dogs and Scotsmen…

(video credit: Karts Huseonica)

PULLING ROPES, PUNTING

There were various cases where the bottom of our boat banged against submerged rocks or where the vessel came dangerously close to the big sharp-edged rocks on the shore. Each time, including throughout the night in darkness, the upside-down oars had to be used as punting sticks, ropes pulled or loosened, attached to different points on the boat, anchors lifted and laid. We certainly got our fair share of exercise. Oh… and we saw unidentified, unphotographed bioluminescent about 2.5cm (1in) long creatures in the water, presumably fish or jellyfish.

IN THE END: A GOOD RESULT

In the end the final anchoring location and set-up provided us with good protection against the winds. Not sure if the 50 knot (58mph, 93kph) gusts have happened yet, perhaps during my rest time. The polar bear watch shift didn’t give any indication to that extent. The elevated bits of the island did a great job so far in deflecting anything too ferocious. Despite us having to make do without our dagger board as the anchoring location is too shallow, the boat is relatively stable on the water.

LAND EXCURSION

Leven spent an hour on land, exploring the island (as the only other team member awake at the time, I stayed on board).

Apart from some 2m long piece of driftwood that must have travelled hundreds of miles (there are no trees here oop norf), he found some decorative lichen, an unexpected small patch of grass, a cleanly rolled up sleeping bag, presumably forgotten by passing fishermen or hunters, and caribou antlers, which must have been shed while the animals had reached the island over the sea ice in the cold season.

MISSION ACCOMPLISHED

Perhaps most importantly, I finished reading Mike’s book manuscript (Michael Harding, Oak, Ash and Thorn and Other Stories). 5 out of 5. This dude is a world-class writer with a unique style that puts a modern twist, Roald Dahl and Indiana Jones vibe to the grand writing traditions of Victorian Age of Exploration authors, while largely keeping the quirky language and narrative approach.

SUSSEX SASQUATCH, MURDEROUS MORRIS DANCERS

From man-eating sheep to the Sussex Sasquatch, from mischievous marsh folk with evil eels to murderous Morris dancers, every story is interwoven with the adventures the protagonist, Walter Franklin, the uncle (of the first person narrator, a Michael Harding), now an old man, had been involved in, in his prime, around the world. All stories are loosely connected.

A CELEBRATION OF THE MYTHOLOGY, HISTORY & PEOPLE OF SUSSEX

Knowing that the author is a direct descendant of Sir John Franklin, and given the name and background of the protagonist, of course the Northwest Passage makes a brief but important appearance. The book is a celebration of the rich mythology, history, culture, people and nature of the author’s home county, Sussex.

CROWBOROUGH, RYE

With our hiking group of choice, GO London, and on our own or with friends from Sussex, Ellie and I have widely travelled most stretches of the county. Here on this blog are several posts about Sussex, not least the one about Crowborough, one of the locations mentioned in the book. It was funny to me, that Mike, who wrote a whole book about his beloved county, hasn’t been to Ellie’s and my favourite town yet: the Cinque Port city, smugglers’ and pirates’ nest Rye.

NO LOVE FOR BEARS

I also stumbled across an interesting article about state-sanctioned ‘despatching’ (killing) of hundreds of bears by one of Canada’s regions, the Northwest Territories. I hadn’t realised until the news broke of the deadly polar bear attack in Rankin Inlet a few days ago, how prevalent the fear of bear attacks is in parts of Canada.

PLANS UNCHANGED

The plan is still to go on a very long multi-day row from tomorrow, Wednesday night, weather permitting.