27th Aug
Cor, lazy Herbert, i did'nt get up until 10:30.
"all yachts in Depot Bay, this is Tandberg Polar.................you are all invited to our cooks speciality "Arctic Stew" aboard the tug tonight at 19:00............dress code, informal / scruffy please"!!!!
Ha ha ha....we all fall about laughing.........Arctic Tern replies yes please, as do we....then Gjoa, yes please, but can we have a lift, it's very difficult to put our dingy out..................yeah so is ours !!! Oh well, i'm sure we can get back for them. GAWD...............this could get really messy.
That's 11 of us (4 on Novara, 5 on Arctic Tern, 2 on Gjoa)plus the 6 on the tug........that's 17 for dinner then !!!!
Steve and i made a large bowl of salad......thanks Bremen
Eric the 1st mate, who we later found out was Fridtjof Nansen's (the great Norwegian Arctic explorer) Great Grandson and Heimann (skipper) came over in the zodiak to collect us for the evening. They decided to split it into 2 trips with 5 in one and 6 in the other, it was fairly rough and we all got a good soaking.
When we got to the tug, Bjorn (nickname Santa) and Terje (from Lofoten Isles) were there to meet us and take the lines. We trooped in and took over the skippers berth with all our wet gear etc etc .
Stig (honestly, from Lofoten, now living in Oslo) was in the saloon waiting for us. Eiric was cook for the evening..............Arctic Stew.....yep, you guessed it....seal......and it was fantastic.........really tender and very tasty in a rich gravy...blooming ace !!!
28th Aug
After a good sleep we discussed the situation. It looks as though the wind is going to decrease on Friday night early Saturday. The ice hopefully should be a bit clearer down the east of Franklin Strait. We will have another look at the ice charts tonight.
Steve and Tel go ashore with the crew from Arctic Tern to have a look at the Bellot again. While they are away, the tugs zodiak ran out of diesel and Ding ran over in our dinghy to help pick up tools from the tug and drop Stig off to bleed the system.
I stayed on the boat and cooked 2 loaves, a dessicated coconut cake and a pecan & almond cookie thing......all surprisingly yummy as it turned out.
The ice charts are in..................all looking amazingly good. Winds are easing overnight and it gives the tide chance to shift the blockage in Bellot. It looks as though we will have a go tomorrow on the early low tide around 06:00.
29th Aug
Anchors away at 05:45, Artic Tern and Gjoa are away just ahead of us, we wave goodbye to Tandberg Polar as we pass them, not sure if anyone was on the bridge or not. The wind was still about 15 knots in the north east, we're in into the strait. We progress quickly......is'nt nature amazing the tide is taking us through at about 11 knots......it's just like the Menai Straits !!!!!! LOL :-)
Now you see it.....now you don't...it's just amazing to see how quickly the ice has disappeared AGAIN. We have been in Fort Ross & surrounding areas for the last 5 days waiting for the ice to release it's grip on the West coast of Boothia peninsula............and after 3 days or so of 15 to 25 knot winds.............khazam............it's all gone...........where the heck does it all go ? 9/10 ice solid one minute....millions of tons of ice.............it disappears into oblivion........weird !!!!
However, there is ice all the way through the strait, but all easy to avoid. We pass "Mango" coming the other way from Franklin Strait (a French boat that over wintered in Cambridge Bay last year), we exchange pleasantry's and carry on. The west end of the strait is fairly well choked up with about 4 to 6/10 of ice, though moving quickly with the tide, it was a bit of a manoeuvre to get through. We had to push a few pieces out of the way heading to the north. We soon were through and headed south with sails flying.
Arctic Tern also followed us to the north and came through just after us. Gjoa however, goodness knows why, but they went straight for the centre of the strait and were soon beset by ice, they hsd run up onto a floe and got caught on a shelf under water. The main problem was a polar bear was meandering towards them...................not good !!!!. A Russian cruise liner (Akademik S. Vavilov) was about 6 miles behind us at this point , so Gjoa asked for assisstance, which they agreed to. It turned out the Radisson was only 25 miles away so the liner asked them for help (for Gjoa, not the liner). In the end the Akademik got close enough to Gjoa to give her a tow clear of the ice.............. i bet Ann & Glenn were pleased about that !!!!
Towards the Tasmanian Islands we meet Lady Dana, we exchange ice info and carry on to the Tasmanian Islands.
We met a few ribbons and sections of ice on the way down, nothing too bad and easily circled around.
We sailed over night......................i was on until 24:00 and Tel took over from me, the weather had taken a turn for the worse a few hours earlier, with grey skies, rain / drizzle and a very dull light. By the time of the watch change, it was really not pleasant at all. I went to bed and could'nt sleep, i was up about 00:20, got dresssed and went back into the saloon with my binoculars.............i'm sure that's a bank of ice (ice gives of a whitish glow, sometimes a double almost mirage type effect. You can always tell if it's a "lead" of clear water, as that is blue or dark / black)....as we hurtled towards it at 7 knots.
I dashed into the cockpit and told Tel, just slow down a minute i think we might have a problem..........sure enough it was a huge band of ice miles wide. Steve came on deck as soon as we slowed the engine..................what's up..........over there i said................blimey, that ice is nearly invisible. So, to cut a long story short we averted a disaster..........crashing into a large section of ice at speed is not recommended !!!.
I went to bed around 01:15.......nicely asleep...............crash bang wallop.....gawd i thought the mast had come down.......what a thud..............Steve & Tel had hit a large area of water ice(a nightmare to see as it's water coloured ), chopped in half and the central section had lifted the centreboard on it's pivot and crashed it back down on it's stops..............what a whallop !!!!!!!!
30th Aug
Woke to a lovely morning...........great sunrise and eventually the sun came out ....and it's WARM !!!!...........yeehhhaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa !!!!
After the dramas of last night today was beautiful, we had to motor though.....shame , but never mind the weather is great the sea is flat.......all is good and it's TROPICAL !!!
Somehow the dingy got damaged in Fort Ross and the starboard spondon was leaking. Steve and i set about fixing it, we find 6 holes on top of the spondon, i soon have it rubbed down and a few patches glued onto them. The sun is warm, so we hope it will set before we need it in Gjoa Haven tomorrow morning. We should be in around 22:00, possibly a bit earlier, depends on the tides. All the famous place names are passing us by ..............King William Island, James Ross Strait, Matty island.......next into Rasmussen Basin and into Gjoa Haven.
As we pass Gibson Peninsula.........i thought i saw a whale, what on earth is it...............it can't be a whale it's above the water line for too long. I get the binoculars, aha it's one of the local fishing boats with oars out........they may have run out of fuel. I alter to course to investigate, they may need help. I could'nt have been more wrong.....................it's a French guy rowing ...........yes rowing !!!!! through the NW passage.
His name is Charles Heidrich.......we stop near him , ask if he needs anything.......he says he's fine, just provisioned in Gjoa.........he asks about the Bellot Strait........we tell him there is a band of ice at the west end and the tide runs very swiftly, he appeared surprised!!!!
HOW could he not now that ???
After a few more pleasantry's he is of ...........row row row my boat..................and you lot thought we were nutters !!!!!!!!!! GAWD, it's hard enough in a good yacht........stuff rowing !!!!!!!!!!!!!
We arrive in Gjoa to a splendid sunset and are anchored by 21:30..........and bed !!!!
31st Aug
The dingy seems to be holding up ok..........cool as........Steve and i go into the local hotel and find the crew from Arctic Tern..............the manageress is very stroppy and needs us out by 11:30 to prepare lunch for 13:00...........certainly the worst reception we have had in the last 2 months or so........very disappointing. The local people are brilliant though..as usual. The manageress i might add was European................i'll not say where from.....but i'd say they drink alot of beer there in October..............miserable c#w !!!!!!
What a fantastic day though.......the sun was out..............light winds...............Tropical.............i very nearly got my swimmers out...............water temperature 4C........well, so Les said from Arctic Tern. Tel and i had a walk up to the Roald Admundson cairn and took a few photos...... a day to remember..............................
It turned out that the guys on Arctic Tern saw the Northern lights on the way in last night ....they were about 2 or 3 hours after us.................darn, blast, #############, that's something i've been wanting to see since i was a kid. My dad always used to talk about them when i was young. He saw them alot when he was stationed in Iceland during the war. Si i decided to stay up and see them for myself.......22:00 arrives...................ooooooooo GREAT...........thick fog......typical !!!!!.LOL :-) Ahhh well maybe tomorrow or at Cambridge Bay. In this part of the Arctic the best time to the "lights" are in August & September...............strange i always thought it was better in winter.......hey ho.
Sunset over Gjoa haven
Gjoa Haven memorial to Amundsen
Arctic Tern
Locals
Gjoa haven dogs
Cor, lazy Herbert, i did'nt get up until 10:30.
"all yachts in Depot Bay, this is Tandberg Polar.................you are all invited to our cooks speciality "Arctic Stew" aboard the tug tonight at 19:00............dress code, informal / scruffy please"!!!!
Ha ha ha....we all fall about laughing.........Arctic Tern replies yes please, as do we....then Gjoa, yes please, but can we have a lift, it's very difficult to put our dingy out..................yeah so is ours !!! Oh well, i'm sure we can get back for them. GAWD...............this could get really messy.
That's 11 of us (4 on Novara, 5 on Arctic Tern, 2 on Gjoa)plus the 6 on the tug........that's 17 for dinner then !!!!
Steve and i made a large bowl of salad......thanks Bremen
Eric the 1st mate, who we later found out was Fridtjof Nansen's (the great Norwegian Arctic explorer) Great Grandson and Heimann (skipper) came over in the zodiak to collect us for the evening. They decided to split it into 2 trips with 5 in one and 6 in the other, it was fairly rough and we all got a good soaking.
When we got to the tug, Bjorn (nickname Santa) and Terje (from Lofoten Isles) were there to meet us and take the lines. We trooped in and took over the skippers berth with all our wet gear etc etc .
Stig (honestly, from Lofoten, now living in Oslo) was in the saloon waiting for us. Eiric was cook for the evening..............Arctic Stew.....yep, you guessed it....seal......and it was fantastic.........really tender and very tasty in a rich gravy...blooming ace !!!
28th Aug
After a good sleep we discussed the situation. It looks as though the wind is going to decrease on Friday night early Saturday. The ice hopefully should be a bit clearer down the east of Franklin Strait. We will have another look at the ice charts tonight.
Steve and Tel go ashore with the crew from Arctic Tern to have a look at the Bellot again. While they are away, the tugs zodiak ran out of diesel and Ding ran over in our dinghy to help pick up tools from the tug and drop Stig off to bleed the system.
I stayed on the boat and cooked 2 loaves, a dessicated coconut cake and a pecan & almond cookie thing......all surprisingly yummy as it turned out.
The ice charts are in..................all looking amazingly good. Winds are easing overnight and it gives the tide chance to shift the blockage in Bellot. It looks as though we will have a go tomorrow on the early low tide around 06:00.
29th Aug
Anchors away at 05:45, Artic Tern and Gjoa are away just ahead of us, we wave goodbye to Tandberg Polar as we pass them, not sure if anyone was on the bridge or not. The wind was still about 15 knots in the north east, we're in into the strait. We progress quickly......is'nt nature amazing the tide is taking us through at about 11 knots......it's just like the Menai Straits !!!!!! LOL :-)
Now you see it.....now you don't...it's just amazing to see how quickly the ice has disappeared AGAIN. We have been in Fort Ross & surrounding areas for the last 5 days waiting for the ice to release it's grip on the West coast of Boothia peninsula............and after 3 days or so of 15 to 25 knot winds.............khazam............it's all gone...........where the heck does it all go ? 9/10 ice solid one minute....millions of tons of ice.............it disappears into oblivion........weird !!!!
However, there is ice all the way through the strait, but all easy to avoid. We pass "Mango" coming the other way from Franklin Strait (a French boat that over wintered in Cambridge Bay last year), we exchange pleasantry's and carry on. The west end of the strait is fairly well choked up with about 4 to 6/10 of ice, though moving quickly with the tide, it was a bit of a manoeuvre to get through. We had to push a few pieces out of the way heading to the north. We soon were through and headed south with sails flying.
Arctic Tern also followed us to the north and came through just after us. Gjoa however, goodness knows why, but they went straight for the centre of the strait and were soon beset by ice, they hsd run up onto a floe and got caught on a shelf under water. The main problem was a polar bear was meandering towards them...................not good !!!!. A Russian cruise liner (Akademik S. Vavilov) was about 6 miles behind us at this point , so Gjoa asked for assisstance, which they agreed to. It turned out the Radisson was only 25 miles away so the liner asked them for help (for Gjoa, not the liner). In the end the Akademik got close enough to Gjoa to give her a tow clear of the ice.............. i bet Ann & Glenn were pleased about that !!!!
Towards the Tasmanian Islands we meet Lady Dana, we exchange ice info and carry on to the Tasmanian Islands.
We met a few ribbons and sections of ice on the way down, nothing too bad and easily circled around.
We sailed over night......................i was on until 24:00 and Tel took over from me, the weather had taken a turn for the worse a few hours earlier, with grey skies, rain / drizzle and a very dull light. By the time of the watch change, it was really not pleasant at all. I went to bed and could'nt sleep, i was up about 00:20, got dresssed and went back into the saloon with my binoculars.............i'm sure that's a bank of ice (ice gives of a whitish glow, sometimes a double almost mirage type effect. You can always tell if it's a "lead" of clear water, as that is blue or dark / black)....as we hurtled towards it at 7 knots.
I dashed into the cockpit and told Tel, just slow down a minute i think we might have a problem..........sure enough it was a huge band of ice miles wide. Steve came on deck as soon as we slowed the engine..................what's up..........over there i said................blimey, that ice is nearly invisible. So, to cut a long story short we averted a disaster..........crashing into a large section of ice at speed is not recommended !!!.
I went to bed around 01:15.......nicely asleep...............crash bang wallop.....gawd i thought the mast had come down.......what a thud..............Steve & Tel had hit a large area of water ice(a nightmare to see as it's water coloured ), chopped in half and the central section had lifted the centreboard on it's pivot and crashed it back down on it's stops..............what a whallop !!!!!!!!
30th Aug
Woke to a lovely morning...........great sunrise and eventually the sun came out ....and it's WARM !!!!...........yeehhhaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa !!!!
After the dramas of last night today was beautiful, we had to motor though.....shame , but never mind the weather is great the sea is flat.......all is good and it's TROPICAL !!!
Somehow the dingy got damaged in Fort Ross and the starboard spondon was leaking. Steve and i set about fixing it, we find 6 holes on top of the spondon, i soon have it rubbed down and a few patches glued onto them. The sun is warm, so we hope it will set before we need it in Gjoa Haven tomorrow morning. We should be in around 22:00, possibly a bit earlier, depends on the tides. All the famous place names are passing us by ..............King William Island, James Ross Strait, Matty island.......next into Rasmussen Basin and into Gjoa Haven.
As we pass Gibson Peninsula.........i thought i saw a whale, what on earth is it...............it can't be a whale it's above the water line for too long. I get the binoculars, aha it's one of the local fishing boats with oars out........they may have run out of fuel. I alter to course to investigate, they may need help. I could'nt have been more wrong.....................it's a French guy rowing ...........yes rowing !!!!! through the NW passage.
His name is Charles Heidrich.......we stop near him , ask if he needs anything.......he says he's fine, just provisioned in Gjoa.........he asks about the Bellot Strait........we tell him there is a band of ice at the west end and the tide runs very swiftly, he appeared surprised!!!!
HOW could he not now that ???
After a few more pleasantry's he is of ...........row row row my boat..................and you lot thought we were nutters !!!!!!!!!! GAWD, it's hard enough in a good yacht........stuff rowing !!!!!!!!!!!!!
We arrive in Gjoa to a splendid sunset and are anchored by 21:30..........and bed !!!!
31st Aug
The dingy seems to be holding up ok..........cool as........Steve and i go into the local hotel and find the crew from Arctic Tern..............the manageress is very stroppy and needs us out by 11:30 to prepare lunch for 13:00...........certainly the worst reception we have had in the last 2 months or so........very disappointing. The local people are brilliant though..as usual. The manageress i might add was European................i'll not say where from.....but i'd say they drink alot of beer there in October..............miserable c#w !!!!!!
What a fantastic day though.......the sun was out..............light winds...............Tropical.............i very nearly got my swimmers out...............water temperature 4C........well, so Les said from Arctic Tern. Tel and i had a walk up to the Roald Admundson cairn and took a few photos...... a day to remember..............................
It turned out that the guys on Arctic Tern saw the Northern lights on the way in last night ....they were about 2 or 3 hours after us.................darn, blast, #############, that's something i've been wanting to see since i was a kid. My dad always used to talk about them when i was young. He saw them alot when he was stationed in Iceland during the war. Si i decided to stay up and see them for myself.......22:00 arrives...................ooooooooo GREAT...........thick fog......typical !!!!!.LOL :-) Ahhh well maybe tomorrow or at Cambridge Bay. In this part of the Arctic the best time to the "lights" are in August & September...............strange i always thought it was better in winter.......hey ho.
First time i've seen a jet for a while !!!!
Gjoa Haven memorial to Amundsen
Arctic Tern
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