Skipper Mark Schrader, First Mate Dave
Logan, Pollywog Jennifer Price, Cruising
World Editor Herb McCormick, and
Photographer David Thoreson catching up
on Northwest news with their 48° Norths.
Photo: Rick Fleichman.
the previous two years. In fact, with
a significant chokehold of ice in the
Beaufort Sea, directly east of Barrow,
their progress came to a halt for two
weeks before the leads opened up and
they could resume the voyage. They’d
play the same waiting game a couple
of more times before the summer was
over.
But eventually, the ice always
receded enough to keep moving, and
though miles sometimes came in fits
and starts, Ocean Watch managed to
make steady progress eastward. It was
village of Barrow, the northernmost In terms of sea-ice loss, the years a journey no one on the crew will ever
town in the United States. Off 2007 and 2008 were catastrophic forget, under pastel skies where the
Barrow, on a harrowing night that events in the Arctic; with regards to sun shone all day and night for weeks
offered a chilling glimpse of coming lost ice, they ranked first and second, on end, and through cold, harsh, ice-
attractions, the crew encountered their respectively, in recorded history. But strewn waters that held a strange
first expanse of pack ice, which they from the very beginning of their assault beauty all their own.
ultimately managed to negotiate after on the Passage, it was clear to the Ocean Finally, after coursing through
a challenging and nerve-wracking Watch crew that the 2009 season, after a waters once traversed by Arctic
episode. It wouldn’t be the last such longer, colder winter, was going to be whalers and fateful adventurers—with
incident. both icier and more challenging than stops in strange Inuit villages like
Tuktoyaktuk, Cambridge Bay and Gjoa
Haven—Ocean Watch sailed through
Fisheries is proud to stock one more icy obstacle, the historically
many quality products
difficult waters of Peel Sound, then cut
through a narrow inlet called Bellot
from Vetus including...
Strait and into the ice-free waters of
Prince Regent Inlet. The worst of the
Northwest Passage was behind them.
They were out of the pack, and into
open seas.
Climate change, of course, is a
controversial topic these days, though
the people the crew met who live in the
Arctic, whose families have survived
and thrived there through countless
generations, are universally convinced
Strainers
that things are changing, and not for the
better. For this discussion, we’ll leave
Ventilators
the science aside. As sailors, however,
there is at least one aspect we learned
about the Northwest Passage that is
indisputable and inarguable: For three
years in a row now, including 2009,
when a record 11 small boats made it
Stern Thrusters
through the once impassable waters,
every sailor who’s made an attempt
has been successful. Why? There is less
ice. Something is clearly going on.
fisheriessupply.com (206) 632-4462
...and many more!
From Prince Regent, Ocean Watch
1900 N. Northlake Way Seattle, WA 98103
sailed on through the glaciers near
48° No r t h , Ja N u a r y 2010 Pa g e 50
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