Monday 17 November 2014

Monday, November 17, 2014.

We're overwintering in Cambridge Bay because we wanted to find out what it's really like to live here in temperatures and conditions that many would find uninhabitable. So far, not surprisingly, the dominant theme is that the weather controls everything.

During our first month living aboard TP (tug Tandberg Polar), weather has  been dominating our thoughts. Last week's blizzard has come and gone. That was the fourth blizzard already and it's only
the middle of November! We've also had many days of "ice fog" which we hadn't seen much of before. It coats everything with a thick layer of hoarfrost, very pretty to look at. Weather forecasts are also issued for "ice crystals", presumably this is just colder ice fog. On the day of the eclipse, we also saw the best display of sundogs we've ever seen. Wish we'd had the camera with us so we could have shared the incredible image with you.

-30C (-47C if you count windchill), a few days ago, was the lowest temperature we've experienced here so far.  When we lived in the backwoods of Ontario, -40C wasn't that unusual, so, we know what's coming. Temperatures that low can create a sense of unease and foreboding knowing how close to the edge of a survival situation you are. At least in Ontario, there was always the woodstove and copious amounts of firewood to fall back on, guaranteeing some warmth and a way to cook. Here in the Arctic, there's no wood, no coal, only diesel-driven heat and electricity. The only electrical/plumbing business in town is working flat-out to keep up with no-heat calls. If your boiler goes out, you're only a few short hours away from disaster. This whole town lives and dies on its diesel supply and mechanical equipment. It all seems rather temporary and unsustainable. The town's electricity is generated locally using 47 year old diesel generators. A few days ago, there was a breakdown and the whole town was put on rotating, 45 minute blackouts which lasted a day and a half. A repair crew had to be flown in from Gjoa Haven. On Friday, it happened again although the blackouts only lasted for about half a day. We had no interruptions because we're still running on our own generator power aboard TP. If the town uses 47 year old generators, hopefully our one year old generator will continue to run and keep us warm and toasty like it has been doing.

The buildings here all sit on stilts embedded in the permafrost. The houses are stick-frame construction and don't seem to be built with any special regard, other than mudroom entries, for the extreme conditions. Every house has tanks for diesel, water and waste. All day, every day, large trucks drive around town on regular routes to top-up the water and diesel and take away the sewage. Sewage is driven to a lagoon outside town. People pay $250 monthly for just the trucked water supply. If they run out of water on a weekend, it's an extra $150 callout fee to top up.

Being a fly-in community also creates many issues around affordability, sustainability and quality of life. An airline ticket to Edmonton is about $2,500 return. All food, except 'country' food hunted by locals, has to be flown, or, barged in. Nutrition North does provide freight subsidies for people who fly in food. We availed ourselves of this and flew in a large order from M&M meats in Yellowknife. It seemed a ridiculous, wasteful thing to do, but, Yellowknife prices are 'southern' prices and with the freight subsidy (for things like boxed meats, not desserts or prepared foods) the end price was cheaper than buying food in the local store. A neighbour also gave us some caribou and muskox steaks. It all helps to try and keep our food costs down. We're also still using supplies purchased in the UK and Greenland last summer.

The airport, like everything else here, works on 'Northern' time although, unlike other, warm weather locales where 'x' time (replace 'x' with the location) means a general relaxed attitude of the workers, here it's more a fact that weather drives everything. Some days planes arrive, but, can't land and they turn around. When you have a ticket it usually means going to the airport every day and waiting to see first, whether the plane arrives, then if it lands and then whether there is a seat available. Seat availability depends on how many days the planes have been prevented from arriving and how many passengers are thus backed up. You can never count on getting in or out on a schedule.

The only other method of transport, barges, have their own set of problems. Barges arrive, arrive late, or especially this year, don't arrive at all due to factors such as ice, water levels in the Mackenzie River, unforecasted storms etc. That last barge of the season I previously wrote about never did arrive. It was left in the ice a few miles away. The plan is to unload it with a cat train over the ice in March. All orders that included anything damaged by freezing will be useless. Maybe you also heard about the Canadian 'barge at large' which broke away from its tug during an unforecasted storm outside Tuktoyaktuk and is now locked in the ice about fifty miles northwest of Prudhoe Bay in Alaska.

There has already been lots of print written about the social problems in northern communities and Cam Bay has its share. There are lots of inequities in housing/jobs and incomes here and nobody seems to have any solutions. One peculiar antisocial activity for the local kids is their penchant for rock-throwing at boats. I've read about this in other sailor's blogs and we've experienced it also, not just here, but, in all the Arctic communities we've visited so far. There doesn't seem to be any malice involved, it's more of an attention-getter, but, if you don't respond they can ramp it up.

Although not without problems, it has been very interesting to step into a world so unlike anything we've experienced before. We've been told that the runup to Christmas over the next few weeks is an exciting time for the whole community. Next week it's the Christmas bazaar at the community centre followed the next week by an outdoor parade, hope the weather cooperates for that! We'll have lost the sun by then, so, it will be a twilight parade.
Sunrise, 10:30 a.m. November 16
Sunset, 15;00 p.m.



 photo arrow.pngCONTINUE READING

Friday 7 November 2014

Friday, November 7, 2014.

Today's weather forecast for Cambridge Bay:


Blizzard ending late in the afternoon then clearing. Blowing snow with near zero visibility at times in the morning and afternoon. Wind north 70 km/h gusting to 90 diminishing to 40 gusting to 60 late in the afternoon. Temperature falling to minus 28 in the afternoon. Wind chill minus 48.


Wind speeds in km/h sound so much worse. The forecasted 70-90 km/h is about 38-50 knots, not insignificant, but, no worse than we experienced in August at Dundas Harbour. The difference this time is a lot of snow blowing around pushed by very cold winds. At least dragging anchor won't be an issue! We're solidly ensconced in the ice now. During the first few weeks of freeze-up we were still experiencing significant movement up and down with the tide. Large cracks and upwellings of water were appearing in the ice beside the boat. Now, the movement is almost imperceptible, but, we can still feel and hear it. There are occasional loud reports of crunching, cracking ice along the hull. G. has been busy at work cutting snow blocks to use as insulation around the outside of the hull. This, along with snow on the decks, seems to have made a significant difference to warmth aboard and we are still very comfortable. The snow is so dry and compact it can be cut with a saw almost like polystyrene.

At the end of November, the Polar Night will arrive. The sun will disappear below the horizon and not rise again until January 11. The shorter days we are now experiencing are conducive for catching up on various classics on the reading list, like Moby Dick. It's amazing how, almost 200 years later, life aboard can be much the same. Melville writes how '"...the carpenter of the Pequod was singularly efficient in those thousand nameless mechanical emergencies continually recurring in a large ship, upon a three or four years' voyage, in uncivilized and far-distant seas."  Although we've not had to repair any "sprung spars", manufacture any whale bone artificial legs, or, install "new tree-nails in the side planks", we've had our share of mechanical problems.

We knew we weren't going to be able to support running water throughout the winter, but, we'd been hopeful to at least maintain it through October. The first blizzard, in mid-October, brought temperatures of -24C and quickly put an end to our hopes. The water pipes run along the underside of the deck and although the deck was insulated above and below, the pipes flash-froze overnight. A few days later when they thawed, there were a couple of significant leaks. No point in trying to fix them now, we'll wait until spring. The only issue is that we need water pressure to top up the heating boiler. Without appropriate shut-off valves available in the system, we quickly have to come up with a solution to pressurize part of the system to ensure we don't lose our radiator heating. We're also hopeful we'll be able to rig up some kind of pump to get water out of the tanks. We have over 6,000 litres onboard, but, right now we can't access it and are lugging water jugs from the town supply.

Our other issue is electrical. As I have mentioned previously, the project's plan was to have shore power as the primary power and heat source for TP (Tandberg Polar) with the three onboard generators as backup. We've been unable to get shore power hooked up due to a combination of problems. Basically, the boat expects 3phase, 50Hz. The supply is 1phase, 60Hz. The 50/60 Hz problem (and 110v/230v) is the basic European vs. North American electrical issue and there are units available that will do the conversion. The 3phase/1 phase difference is the bigger issue. There are also units available for that, but, they are very pricey, very large and very heavy. Even if we order one, it would probably take months to get here and have to be air-freighted in at great expense. Nobody's sure it would even do the job. There isn't a lot of specialized electrical expertise in town. This week we're hoping to get a better assessment of the requirements and options. In the meantime, we're running on the air-cooled generator installed on deck. It has shut itself down twice already. Once, before we'd set up a regular filter change schedule, due to a clogged fuel filter and the other due to some unknown issue with the plug/power cord resolved by switching cords. The two backup generators are water-cooled. For the moment, they are ok, but, when the ice reaches two metres thick in March, water-cooling will no longer be an option. If no solution is found, we will then be relying 100% on one generator. Not a good scenario at all...





 photo arrow.pngCONTINUE READING