For those of you really worried - despite -0.8 degrees sea temp the hat is OK and resting ;-)))
Monday 16th September
Having reconnoitred Arctic Bay on the previous day, we were up smartly to get the various replenishments done early. Bob who is inevitably the early riser had itchy feet and headed off to the shore with empty jerry cans for fuel, he then returned and dis the same with the water cans, by which time David had joined him to be left marooned on the beach between return trips. Eventually we all were ashore: I purposely having washed the few items of worn clothing (my Slam thermals mainly) on board in warm salt water and bagged them for rinsing ashore. We ascended on Jacques at the hotel where we based ourselves for the next few hours; some of us internet'ing, reading, enjoying coffee on a level footing and using the shower. He kindly also allowed us to fill our water cans.
Having done a small food 'stock up' on Sunday (which created some onboard tension as we should be eating the cupboards bare from now on so Dodo's Delight is left to winter with an empty larder) there was little else to do other than enjoy the time ashore.
During a previous visit to Arctic Bay, Bob had met the regions curator of the heritage centre, whose main job is to promote the area for commercial gain; whatever that may be from tourism to industry. A Canadian Government employee, I met Clare on visiting the Heritage Centre at the top of the town to the east. He was most welcoming, I bought some locally crafted items. He is clearly a talented photographer and his large Apple desk top screen had a stunning photo, taken a night before of Dodo's Delight anchored in the bay with the towns streetlights illuminating the water. So that explains the bright flashes I had noticed the previous night from the boat!
Clare had asked Bob to call a "local" journalist for the main NW Territories newspaper for an interview, this was left to me to do, using the Heritage Centre's telephone to call her in Quebec and giving her a five minute overview of the trip so far. ~Jane was clearly knowledgable of the NW Passage and it transpired that she had completed part of it in the Canadian Coastguard ice breaker. The news interest perhaps more-so than normal as the Canadian Coastguard, which has been out helping a number of adventurers in danger in the past few weeks had just lost three crew in a helicopter crash here in the Arctic, though not during one of the rescues that we had heard about.
Tuesday 17th September
Whilst the residents of Arctic Bay slept, the crew of Dodo's Delight were up for an early start. A quick cup of tea and in a flat calm I had manually pulled in the fifty metres of chain as Bob came on deck, started the engine as I lifted the anchor off the bottom, heaved the last ten metres of chain and we were away. There is actually little point in everyone getting togged up in deck gear for a simple activity which lasts a few minutes after which they have to descend below again to strip off their layers. Karen took on the first watch and we were off.
The day was spent making our way north out of Admiralty Inlet before turning East around the top of Borden Peninsula of Baffin Island. The weather wind wise was not the executed North-westerlies but north-easterlies. By evening the plan, as always was flexible as to route, we had Navy Board Inlet to go to should we need to seek shelter. I had a cracking sail for an hour of my watch, reaching then close hauling and reeling in the miles with a knot of favourable tide under us.
By nightfall the sea conditions were confused, a 20 knot headwind against a 2 knot tide was creating short choppy seas. Motor-sailing into it I was doing long and short tacks and closing in on the top of Navy Board Inlet. After I went below Bob decided to heave to.
Wednesday 18th September
When my watch came back at 0300 hrs he was happy for me to make sail and I brought Dodo's Delight back onto course and we headed NE towards Navy Board Inlet, which runs between Baffin Island and Bylot Island. The weather forecast was anticipating a strong northerly and as the barometer started to fall it was decided to take shelter at the North end of the inlet at Tay Bay, a small inlet (or to me a loch!). I was awoken as the others dropped anchor, behind a small glacial spit at the NE side of Tay Bay. This small glacial loch (my phrase!) is stunning for its diverse geology, a gravel (moraine) spit, a steep mountain with tundra to the NE, a snow covered mountain to the SW, a rock outcrop at the entrance and a beach at the foot of the glacier. The morning sunlight was making the spectacular setting all the mores as we were anchored in a small area of pancake (newly formed) ice.
As the breeze filled in from the NW the pancake ice dissipated. We let some additional anchor chain out and as did so I replaced the midpoint shackle which was looking suspect with a bent pin. Before nightfall as a precaution we laid the second anchor.
Thursday 19th September
The classic day in the North West passage seafarer… weather watching… will it? won't it? The weather forecasts in the Arctic are always variable in accuracy. The wind increased and the swell increased as it forced its way up Tay Bay from Navy Board Inlet and Lancaster Sound to the North. In equally quick measure the sea's calmed and the boat wallowed on her anchors.
We spent the day reading, eating, sleeping and waiting. We did here from the Swedes aboard 'Anna'. They were 200 miles off Greenland fighting some tough conditions and clearly were looking forward to a safe anchorage. David and Jane aboard 'Polar Bound' are anchored in Clyde Inlet, which is approximately 230 miles SE of Pond Inlet awaiting an improvement in the conditions before heading to the southern tip of Greenland. A lone Arctic Fox, resplendent in it's winter coat of white fur, with just one small patch of summer brown strode over the adjacent mountainside preying for it's dinner. It zig-zagged up the hillside, occasionally stopping to investigate a hollow, before checking over it's shoulder and moving on.
From Tay Bay to Greenland there are two route options. Out of Navy Board Inlet, turn right (starboard) and along the remaining part of Lancaster Sound and into Baffin Bay, or south then East along NB Inlet before entering Baffin Bay. The differences in distance are negligible, but the later option has the town of Pond Inlet at the far end and the potential for a brief stop… there really wasn't an option in the minds of the crew!
Friday 20th September
Navy Board Inlet has provided some of the most dramatic and beautiful scenery to date. It has also provided some a couple f days of truly breathtaking sunrises and sunsets. Friday morning was no different. We lifted the anchors and motored into the incoming swell, hoisted the mainsail and turned down Navy Board Inlet. Having had the unscheduled stop we aimed to collect some water at Pond Inlet before the 500 mile crossing of Baffin Bay. The wind astern, and with a favourable tide we shot along. With the first watch I was coaxing the boat to catch following waves and managed to get 7.6 knots out of Dodo's Delight… and thats before the tidal benefit.
Soon after my watch commenced, with Bob, Steph and David still on deck enjoying the views disaster struck. As I was poling out the genoa to starboard so that we could goose-wing the sails (in order to sail directly downwind) the genoa sheet clipped my hat and we had a genuine HOB emergency (Hat over board!). Now, I have sailed on many boats where I have experienced this calamity. The seas are filled with caps and hats of all sizes, colours and types that have come to this hasty and tragic end. With sea temperatures at or below freezing, no hat, however healthy could survive these temperatures for long. A fit human being would have only a few minutes to survive before succumbing to the cold. With the proliferation of corporate identities and logos adorning many hats and often given away as 'freebies' most sailors simply adjourn to their hat drawer and pick another to wear.
MY HAT, however is something rather special. Firstly I have had it for 24 years. Secondly it has been with me through thick and thin including a circumnavigation and there was no way my old friend was going to be lost without a fight.
David was quickly spotting my hat as it fought the waves and we careered onwards. Steph started to untie the boat hook. Bob started the engine and turned the boat back on her track. I eased the sheet to enable this to happen whilst also keeping my eyes on the fateful spot where 'the hat' had fallen. After what felt like hours I was forlorn and feared the worse; a blue hat in a blue sea is well disguised. Then, just as the bow crashed off a wave I caught sight of it, we bore off and with the boat hook I managed to retrieve my old friend. I am pleased to say that as we had actually completed the manoeuvre in a total of just under three minutes, after a quick wringing out and a rest my hat appears to have made a full recovery.
As night fell the winds dropped. We motored east towards Pond Inlet, a full moon on the bow guiding us and illuminating the seas ahead. In the early hours, whilst I was off watch, we motored into the bay below the hamlet of Pond Inlet and anchored.
Saturday 21st September
The significance of Pond Inlet to those aboard Dodo's Delight is that whomever has an opinion on where the North West Passage starts and ends, we are most definitely beyond the Eastern end and therefore have completed the passage.
As I wrote during my last blog posting in Arctic Bay - where we had intended to make straight for Greenland, "if all goes well…" we should depart Pond Inlet later today, into a 20 knot Southerly wind which is forecast to decrease over the coming 24 hours. We have a number of alternative destinations in Greenland and these will be decided on as time progresses.
Richard
©. Richard Nicolson 2013
Monday 16th September
Having reconnoitred Arctic Bay on the previous day, we were up smartly to get the various replenishments done early. Bob who is inevitably the early riser had itchy feet and headed off to the shore with empty jerry cans for fuel, he then returned and dis the same with the water cans, by which time David had joined him to be left marooned on the beach between return trips. Eventually we all were ashore: I purposely having washed the few items of worn clothing (my Slam thermals mainly) on board in warm salt water and bagged them for rinsing ashore. We ascended on Jacques at the hotel where we based ourselves for the next few hours; some of us internet'ing, reading, enjoying coffee on a level footing and using the shower. He kindly also allowed us to fill our water cans.
Having done a small food 'stock up' on Sunday (which created some onboard tension as we should be eating the cupboards bare from now on so Dodo's Delight is left to winter with an empty larder) there was little else to do other than enjoy the time ashore.
During a previous visit to Arctic Bay, Bob had met the regions curator of the heritage centre, whose main job is to promote the area for commercial gain; whatever that may be from tourism to industry. A Canadian Government employee, I met Clare on visiting the Heritage Centre at the top of the town to the east. He was most welcoming, I bought some locally crafted items. He is clearly a talented photographer and his large Apple desk top screen had a stunning photo, taken a night before of Dodo's Delight anchored in the bay with the towns streetlights illuminating the water. So that explains the bright flashes I had noticed the previous night from the boat!
Clare had asked Bob to call a "local" journalist for the main NW Territories newspaper for an interview, this was left to me to do, using the Heritage Centre's telephone to call her in Quebec and giving her a five minute overview of the trip so far. ~Jane was clearly knowledgable of the NW Passage and it transpired that she had completed part of it in the Canadian Coastguard ice breaker. The news interest perhaps more-so than normal as the Canadian Coastguard, which has been out helping a number of adventurers in danger in the past few weeks had just lost three crew in a helicopter crash here in the Arctic, though not during one of the rescues that we had heard about.
Tuesday 17th September
Whilst the residents of Arctic Bay slept, the crew of Dodo's Delight were up for an early start. A quick cup of tea and in a flat calm I had manually pulled in the fifty metres of chain as Bob came on deck, started the engine as I lifted the anchor off the bottom, heaved the last ten metres of chain and we were away. There is actually little point in everyone getting togged up in deck gear for a simple activity which lasts a few minutes after which they have to descend below again to strip off their layers. Karen took on the first watch and we were off.
The day was spent making our way north out of Admiralty Inlet before turning East around the top of Borden Peninsula of Baffin Island. The weather wind wise was not the executed North-westerlies but north-easterlies. By evening the plan, as always was flexible as to route, we had Navy Board Inlet to go to should we need to seek shelter. I had a cracking sail for an hour of my watch, reaching then close hauling and reeling in the miles with a knot of favourable tide under us.
By nightfall the sea conditions were confused, a 20 knot headwind against a 2 knot tide was creating short choppy seas. Motor-sailing into it I was doing long and short tacks and closing in on the top of Navy Board Inlet. After I went below Bob decided to heave to.
Wednesday 18th September
When my watch came back at 0300 hrs he was happy for me to make sail and I brought Dodo's Delight back onto course and we headed NE towards Navy Board Inlet, which runs between Baffin Island and Bylot Island. The weather forecast was anticipating a strong northerly and as the barometer started to fall it was decided to take shelter at the North end of the inlet at Tay Bay, a small inlet (or to me a loch!). I was awoken as the others dropped anchor, behind a small glacial spit at the NE side of Tay Bay. This small glacial loch (my phrase!) is stunning for its diverse geology, a gravel (moraine) spit, a steep mountain with tundra to the NE, a snow covered mountain to the SW, a rock outcrop at the entrance and a beach at the foot of the glacier. The morning sunlight was making the spectacular setting all the mores as we were anchored in a small area of pancake (newly formed) ice.
As the breeze filled in from the NW the pancake ice dissipated. We let some additional anchor chain out and as did so I replaced the midpoint shackle which was looking suspect with a bent pin. Before nightfall as a precaution we laid the second anchor.
Thursday 19th September
The classic day in the North West passage seafarer… weather watching… will it? won't it? The weather forecasts in the Arctic are always variable in accuracy. The wind increased and the swell increased as it forced its way up Tay Bay from Navy Board Inlet and Lancaster Sound to the North. In equally quick measure the sea's calmed and the boat wallowed on her anchors.
We spent the day reading, eating, sleeping and waiting. We did here from the Swedes aboard 'Anna'. They were 200 miles off Greenland fighting some tough conditions and clearly were looking forward to a safe anchorage. David and Jane aboard 'Polar Bound' are anchored in Clyde Inlet, which is approximately 230 miles SE of Pond Inlet awaiting an improvement in the conditions before heading to the southern tip of Greenland. A lone Arctic Fox, resplendent in it's winter coat of white fur, with just one small patch of summer brown strode over the adjacent mountainside preying for it's dinner. It zig-zagged up the hillside, occasionally stopping to investigate a hollow, before checking over it's shoulder and moving on.
From Tay Bay to Greenland there are two route options. Out of Navy Board Inlet, turn right (starboard) and along the remaining part of Lancaster Sound and into Baffin Bay, or south then East along NB Inlet before entering Baffin Bay. The differences in distance are negligible, but the later option has the town of Pond Inlet at the far end and the potential for a brief stop… there really wasn't an option in the minds of the crew!
Friday 20th September
Navy Board Inlet has provided some of the most dramatic and beautiful scenery to date. It has also provided some a couple f days of truly breathtaking sunrises and sunsets. Friday morning was no different. We lifted the anchors and motored into the incoming swell, hoisted the mainsail and turned down Navy Board Inlet. Having had the unscheduled stop we aimed to collect some water at Pond Inlet before the 500 mile crossing of Baffin Bay. The wind astern, and with a favourable tide we shot along. With the first watch I was coaxing the boat to catch following waves and managed to get 7.6 knots out of Dodo's Delight… and thats before the tidal benefit.
Soon after my watch commenced, with Bob, Steph and David still on deck enjoying the views disaster struck. As I was poling out the genoa to starboard so that we could goose-wing the sails (in order to sail directly downwind) the genoa sheet clipped my hat and we had a genuine HOB emergency (Hat over board!). Now, I have sailed on many boats where I have experienced this calamity. The seas are filled with caps and hats of all sizes, colours and types that have come to this hasty and tragic end. With sea temperatures at or below freezing, no hat, however healthy could survive these temperatures for long. A fit human being would have only a few minutes to survive before succumbing to the cold. With the proliferation of corporate identities and logos adorning many hats and often given away as 'freebies' most sailors simply adjourn to their hat drawer and pick another to wear.
MY HAT, however is something rather special. Firstly I have had it for 24 years. Secondly it has been with me through thick and thin including a circumnavigation and there was no way my old friend was going to be lost without a fight.
David was quickly spotting my hat as it fought the waves and we careered onwards. Steph started to untie the boat hook. Bob started the engine and turned the boat back on her track. I eased the sheet to enable this to happen whilst also keeping my eyes on the fateful spot where 'the hat' had fallen. After what felt like hours I was forlorn and feared the worse; a blue hat in a blue sea is well disguised. Then, just as the bow crashed off a wave I caught sight of it, we bore off and with the boat hook I managed to retrieve my old friend. I am pleased to say that as we had actually completed the manoeuvre in a total of just under three minutes, after a quick wringing out and a rest my hat appears to have made a full recovery.
As night fell the winds dropped. We motored east towards Pond Inlet, a full moon on the bow guiding us and illuminating the seas ahead. In the early hours, whilst I was off watch, we motored into the bay below the hamlet of Pond Inlet and anchored.
Saturday 21st September
The significance of Pond Inlet to those aboard Dodo's Delight is that whomever has an opinion on where the North West Passage starts and ends, we are most definitely beyond the Eastern end and therefore have completed the passage.
As I wrote during my last blog posting in Arctic Bay - where we had intended to make straight for Greenland, "if all goes well…" we should depart Pond Inlet later today, into a 20 knot Southerly wind which is forecast to decrease over the coming 24 hours. We have a number of alternative destinations in Greenland and these will be decided on as time progresses.
Richard
©. Richard Nicolson 2013
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