Northwest Passage - 2017

[yeloya]

Originally Posted by Rhapsody-NS27

You make it sound like more than one Vega have made it... Other than this one, what other sailboats have been known to make the crossing. I think I've only heard of one steel or aluminum sailboat go that route so I'm not sure of others. I've been interested in seeing who else has.
Thank you.

48 ft FP sailing catamaran Salina did it couple of years ago. Actually, after that, they did the Cape Horn as well

Cheers

Yeloya

[Telesail]

Originally Posted by fatherchronica

Jimmy Cornell's rally uses it as one of the routes.

Not convinced any rally (even Jimmy Cornell's) plans to go through the NW Passage. He did the West to East transit a couple of years ago having failed to get through East to West the year before.

It may become easier in future years but to date, I think fewer than 100 sail boats have made it through in recorded history.

However it remains one of my ambitions......

[DeepFrz]

Originally Posted by DeepFrz

It will probably be a piece of cake this year.

I should add that if you do get in trouble you are mostly a long way from help. Don't go unless you are prepared for the circumstances. Although the pack ice may be negligible this year there will, most certainly, be lots of drifting growlers. One of the reports I read last year was that there were more storms than usual and the boat had to seek shelter several times waiting for the weather to clear.

[topmast]

Back when there was ice I worked out of Tuktoyaktuk for 5 yrs. (42 ' wood) And know you can't fight ice .you go around ,wait for wind change or go home In the eastern passages it's all about the narrow passages blocked by wind driven multi year ice .If it clears , it's onward west. Saw a photo of Pond Inlet recently ../ A forest of sail boat masts so things are achanging . Tuk was the winter haul out for east bound ,turned about at the ice edge .Belvedere wintered beside me for a couple of years in Tuk before she finally made it to Greenland.,Williewaw was lucky and made e to w in one season. A single handed Japanese 30'? plastic (e to w) wintered there after an easy passage Just luck of wind direction back at Pond Inlet .AS the ice situation eased, over the years, I heard about a successful Hobi cat passage but thats unconfirmed. A Brent Swain vessel came through a few years ago As climate change opens up the ocean, big weather becomes more of a concern . Used to be able to hide behind ice flows but now its more confused big weather patterns coming from several directions .Sets up really nasty wave confusion verging on dangerous. Still challenging I bet, but now we got GPS so what can go wrong?

[chriscane]

A Hallberg Rassy 31 Monsun "Belzibub II" did it in 2012 with a route north of Banks Island via the McLure Strait - their website is A Passage through Ice

[KrazySailing]

http://arcticnorthwestpassage.blogspot.ca/?view=flipcard

on one of the blogs made a link to a list of all vessels which have transited the NorthWest Passage up to end of 32015

http://www.americanpolar.org/wp-cont...0/NWP-2015.pdf

[mooka2]

Temperatures in the Arctic are skyrocketing — for the third time this winter | Washington Post[/QUOTE]

More Fake News?
what's with the "thermometer" equivalencies in that image... sorry Washington Post (and the "Climate Change Institute/University of Maine"), but Farenheit "zero" and Celcius "zero" do not equate... back to the drawing board

[jdazey]

It's not showing the temperature; it's showing the difference in degrees from average. Zero means no difference.

Cheers,

[a64pilot]

Originally Posted by topmast

Back when there was ice I worked out of Tuktoyaktuk for 5 yrs. (42 ' wood)

Oilfield? I took the family to Tuk maybe ten years ago, we flew in our Maule, but it was July
Pingo's I was unprepared for, I had never heard of them and was not expecting them.

[jdazey]

Originally Posted by jdazey

It's not showing the temperature; it's showing the difference in degrees from average. Zero means no difference.

Cheers,

Wow, I just made a reply to a post that disappeared. Sorry about that.

[Suijin]

Originally Posted by Rhapsody-NS27

and the Vega is still for sale, I believe.

The picture I linked earlier is one I took while walking through a yard a month ago. Looks like it's been sitting in the back side of the yard for a while.

Talking to a rigger who did work for me, also worked on his boat. He said they called Matt's boat "the coffin" because they were saying he was going to kill himself on that trip.

He roached it pretty good during that trip. I believe someone donated the boat to CRAB for him to use for the trip.

Matt is all about utility. I helped him with a few odd and ends when he was refitting his current boat a couple of years ago, as his boat was next to another I was working on.

Yeah everyone thought he was crazy when he started on that trip. The welcome he received when he returned was partly appreciation for what he'd done, but mostly amazement that he'd survived lol.

[mooka2]

thx jdazey: missed that

[alctel]

A cruise ship managed to get through last year

[Mike OReilly]

The crazy thing about sailing the NW Passage is that it is becoming less crazy all the time.

We’re planning to get to Newfoundland this year. Our long-range plans are to make it to the PNW. My partner is saying we should take the NW Passage instead of the Panama route.

The scary thing is, she’s only 1/2 joking.

[topmast]

A 64,,, I was an indépendant operator chartering to whomever .Science research on bowhead whales.Calibrating Nimbus satellite ,sedimentation rates on dredged areas , ,age and depth of ice scouring of sea bed .side scan searches for lost buldozer that fell thru the ice way offshore, oxygen chlorophyll salinity ,' acoustic thermoclines for hiding submarines Location of mud and gravel to dredge for offshore islands General compiling of what's down there. Setting up mini loran stations for oil navigation (before widespread GPS) I was the only small vessel capable of offshore and more affordable than an ice breaker. I later went on to offer my personal services to Dome and Beaudrill and the Sequel is back here in Nanoose.