Bellot Strait

Friday, August 29 What a difference a day makes. Just hours after posting yesterday about the anxious wait for ice movement, we got the latest ice chart and it showed a tiny, clear lead all the way from Bellot Strait to the top of King William Island! The three sailboats at Fort Ross sprung into immediate...

CONTINUE READING

Fort Ross

Thursday, August 28 We sailed from Port Leopold to Fort Ross overnight Monday keeping close to the west side of Prince Regent Inlet where there was supposed to be a clear lead. The ice conditions were good, with minimal ice, until we got about twelve miles out of Fort Ross where we got into a band...

CONTINUE READING

And now we are six...

Of the thirteen starters, we are now down to six yachts (and a tug/barge) trying to go east-to-west. The rest have gone back, fed up with the wait and worried about meeting the Alaska passage deadline (past Point Barrow by September 10). Four of us are together at Port Leopold, at the top of Prince...

CONTINUE READING

On the Beach

We ended up on the beach in Arctic Bay. Not a pretty picture, but, relax, it was intentional! As we've mentioned we've been having performance problems under motor and the general consensus amongst those we'd talked to was it must be the prop, or, a dirty bottom. We then met Les, Ali and Randall...

CONTINUE READING

Joining the Circus

This year, thirteen yachts (that we know of), are attempting the North West Passage east to west. There are also a couple of boats doing the west to east route. Two dropped out before getting to the Arctic, three others have decided to return to either Newfoundland or Greenland in the last couple of...

CONTINUE READING

A few pics

Internet is up in Arctic Bay, here are a few miscellaneous pics for the last few posts: A sunny day in Baffin Bay A big one! Typical view from the boat.... Our five minute glimpse of Bylot Island Gale in Dundas Harbour Two adjacent boats in gal...

CONTINUE READING

Arctic Bay

We had hoped that there would be internet access here in Arctic Bay, Nunavut so we could post some pictures, but, unfortunately it has been down since we got here very early Tuesday morning. It took forever to get here, the forecast NW winds turned to SW enroute and this impeded our progress significantly....

CONTINUE READING

Dundas Harbour Force 9

Did I really say 'As long as our anchor holds, we'll be safe and there's no better feeling than enjoying a gale in a safe anchorage.' in my last post? We arrived at Dundas Harbour Wednesday afternoon. By Thursday morning at 6 a.m. we were in the middle of a full-blown Force 9, sustained winds of 41-47...

CONTINUE READING

Dundas Harbour, Nunavut

Sailing can be a very cruel sport. Just when a long-anticipated landfall, or, anchorage, is within reach it can be wrenched from your grasp by events totally out of your control. So it was with our landfall in Canada. The last 1/2 of our passage from Greenland remained shrouded in fog, some days more...

CONTINUE READING

Baffin Bay

We are just over 1/2 way through our passage from Greenland to Canada and are currently in the middle of Baffin Bay at 71 degrees North. This is about 300 miles north of the Arctic Circle and about 300 miles from Pond Inlet on Baffin Island. We will either enter the North West Passage at Pond Inlet...

CONTINUE READING