NW Passage 2011 - Looking for Company

[drpohl]

More boats to cruise the NW Passage together or more crew members to savor the 10,000nm adventure - If you have the right stuff and want to go where few have gone before then its time to get in touch!

Captain to Sail the Northwest Passage

Everett-based sea captain Douglas Pohl has announced his intention to sail his 55-foot expedition motor vessel, the Grey Goose, through the fabled – and dangerous – arctic waterway known as the Northwest Passage this summer, and is offering “share-the-ride” berths for adventurers contributing to the expenses of the voyage. This is not a commercial venture for profit but rather a trip of a lifetime and the expenses are shared by those who join the expedition.

Captain Pohl plans to leave from his outfitting port of Mobile, Alabama in May 2011, and then sail northwards along the Atlantic coastline of the United States and Canada before crossing over to Greenland. By late summer he expects to complete an east-to-west traverse of the Northwest Passage, and by the fall reach his new home port of Astoria, Oregon.

Potential crew mates may join Captain Pohl for the entire voyage, or board the Grey Goose for just a port-to-port leg of the voyage.

The Northwest Passage, coursing along the northern coastline of Canada and Alaska, is widely considered by mariners to be one of the most difficult sea passages in the world. It has been ice-blocked throughout history, and only with the recent impact of global climate change has the waterway been free of ice long enough in the summer for a successful crossing. In August 2009, nine small vessels reportedly traversed the Northwest Passage, and the waterway is expected to again be ice-free this year. Captain Pohl estimates that the Grey Goose will be one of the first hundred vessels in history to sail the Northwest Passage.

“It’s a chance to do something that very few people have ever done,” said Pohl, adding that those who partake of the adventure will stand in an exclusive circle among nautical enthusiasts.

Additional information is online at northwestpassage2011.com

Smooth seas,

Doug