8th Sept
All wake by 06:30 and we decide to go. As it it turns out would have been better waiting for a few hours. Piling into wind and waves, is again, the order of the day. Nothing exciting today, a good Spaghetti bolognaise for supper though............mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm........ooooohhhhhhh and we've found the Parmesan !!!
23:00, really weird sensation when you've seen the North star all your life, you look for it up here (in th'Arctic), wonder where the darn thing is, then realise it's directly above your head. We are so close to the pole, the compass has been bonkers at times.
It actually says on the paper charts.......... "Magnetic Compass erratic or anomalies".....................blooming handy that.......good job we have the GPS !!!! How on earth did Franklin, Ross and Admundsen.......... etc etc............. find their way ???..........really amazing people, staggering.
23:00, my watch....saw a fishing boat on the AIS about 16 miles away.....................first boat we've seen at night apart from other yachts or cruise liners (expedition of course !!!).
9th Sept
Steve put the sails up on his watch at about 02:30, i heard the winches grinding away..........it appears we have a bit of wind from the south west...........only 6 or 7 knots, but it's there ..............yyehhhhaaaa...........so motor sailing for the next few hours, at least it reduces the fuel consumption.
Mid morning the weather picked up a bit ........25 knot winds and a head on sea...AGAIN !!!!!
Trysails hausted....welcome to the Beaufort Sea !!!!!!!!!
Eventually, in late afternoon, the sea eased and the winds slowly started to drop a little. Thre forecast for tomorrow, from Les, lighter winds to start from thr east, building later. That's not too bad, a following sea is far more comfortable............we'll see what happens !!!!
At last we've past Cape Lyon and escaped the Dolphin & Union Strait........what a sod !!!!
Into Admundsen Gulf then we pass Cape Bathurst and we're on our way to Barrow Point, the last pinch point for ice. Wind shifted into the north over night, very slight 4 to 5 knots, but there is again a reasonable rolling sea. Cape Parry passes with no major incident. Hopefullt the forecast easterlies will be with us tomorrow.
10th Sept.
Lie in today..........09:30.....wow ...........still no sign of the easterlies, so still on engine.
At last, the wind picks up enough for us to put all sail up........a run to boot. It's only about 8 or 9 knots , but we are dong a staedy 6.5 knots boat speed...........lovely jubbly !!!
We arrive off Bathurst point in snow showers and sunshine mixed. We have plotted a great arc course to Barrow Point of about 550 nm. If the winds maintain or increase we should be there for weekend. A quick call to Fred our weather and ice guru back in the UK to check our route is ok. He comes back with some good ...............some bad (well surprising) news.
Good news is the winds are set to easterly for the next 4 days.......................yyehaaaaaaaaaaaa
Bad news, the old Arctic ice sheet has a finger extending south at 136' to 137' W down to somewhere about 70' 30' N.............darn it ............not so good, when you think you are free of the ice.................think again chum !!!!!!!!!!!!!.
We will have to divert south from our great arc route. Plotting it all out on the chart plotter we reckon it will take us an extra 25 to 30 nm ...........no problem.................that' s no problem at all at this stage. Good job we chaecked with Fred, we would have gone storming into the ice (7/10) on the original route and then had a big diversion south to go around it.
The only other good news is that the ice at Barrow point is still a fair distance to the north..................about 100 nm apparently.
Strange thing, we've all noticed the lack of wildlife since we left Cambridge Bay.............between us, all we have seen is 4 seagulls !!!
11th Sept
Wind dropped about 06:00, so motoring again.
Snow flurries all day today, then after 18:00 we started to get wind and better weather, quite sunny in fact.
Sails up, not massive wind , around 7 knots from the north on a starboard beam reach.............engine still on, but reduced revs, so less fuel and more speed, now doing 7 knots over the ground............noice !!!
We have realised if we don't get a good couple of days of reasonable wind we will have to stop at Barrow to refuel. It looks as though we will be at least 50 gallons light to get to Nome....darn it....and there's no fuel tanker......that means filling plastic drums and carrying it......................gggggreatttttttttttttttttttttt !!!!
Chicken & spaghetti in a white sauce for supper..................mmmmmmmmmmm bloomin lovely.........nice one Steve !!!
Sailed all night, but winds still light & very variable............all over the place in fact.
12th Sept.
I'm on watch at 08:00, sails and wind all over the place, we get it sorted and we're on a run with about 7 to 8 knots of wind, doing 5.5 to 6 knots..........not bad..........at least in the right direction.
Demarcation point is on the horizon. This is the border between the USA & Canada, it's at 141' W.
Change the courtesy flag, we are officially out of Canadian waters at 09:50....and back into US waters, although we will not be able to check in until Nome. Apparently, there is no border control at Barrow, so we cant' check in there. Nah worries.......we'll just be illegal immigrants for a while !!!!!!!!! LOL ;-)
Fred has texted us to say there are some 30 + knot winds on the way, so we may well get the trysails up before we leave the Beaufort Sea.
13th Sept
Well how right i was, the wind started to increase, only slowly mind you, seas picked up and by the afternoon we had a full blown storm on our hands. I have to say, i was'nt too sure about these trysails to start with, but blimey, they are brilliant. We aredoing virtually the same speed with the trysails as we were with the main reefed down.........amazing and alot for settled in our motion. Though we did get a few bashs.
However, on the whole the rig is holding up very well. During setting the trysail we noticed the shackle connecting the main sheet to the foremast had nearly worn through.....gawd !!! good job we spotted it. We soon had it changed for a new one.......only concern now is the aft mast ................we'll have to let the weather ease before we can take a closer look at that one.............hopefully before Nome.
We should ease past Barrow point around 08:00 tomorrow morning...................if we maintain our current speed !!! I think we'll all feel a bit of relief when we pass Barrow......it's the last point to get caught by ice !!!!!!!!
Then it's south all the way to Homer............well some east and west too !!!!!!!!! LOL
14th Sept
Yeeehhhaaa, that's Point Barrow passed at 09:00 this morning, we are flying along with a good 30 to 35 knot breeze. We get in close to shore to try to get out of the high seas from the Beaufort Sea. It soon subsides as we are on a beam reach down towards Barrow, the most northerly town in the USA. Weather is a bit grim, rain and very low cloud.....welcome to the Chukchi Sea !!!!! ha ha ha ha !!!!!
Great, we ahve a 1.0 knot of tide running down the Alaskan coast with us. This is partly due to the Arctic current running into the Nothern Pacific. Only 300 nm to go to 66' 33' N and we have done the transit from the Arctic Circle in the Atlantic to the Arctic circle in the Pacific................yyyyyyyyeeehhhhhhhhhhhhhhaaaaaaaaaaaaa......via the North west passage, of course.
Winds drop off over night, so we slow down to around 5.5 to 6 knots.
A survey vessel, "Westward Wind" appears on the AIS, we have a chat with him just to let him we are here, as he is tracking back and forth on our track line. No problem, he appreaciates the call, asks if we have AIS & we explain it is receiving but not transmitting. No major problem as he can see us on radar.
A while later we came across a tug towing a barge, we try to call him to no avail & assume there is no one home !!! A bit naughty that not responding, however, he maybe having problems with his VHF............or fast asleep !!!!....the lile tiners.
A tug in tow, has, to put it in laymans terms, priority at sea as he he has "restricted manoueverability".....same as large tankers etc etc. So basically it is up to us to avoid him. We made the call merely as a coutesy to let him know our intentions, namely we would turn 30' to his stern to let him pass. Anyway, all went well, no problems, we were soon back on course. Then my favourite..........FOG !!!!!
Sphericals........I HATE FOG !!!
Radar on...........all clear........carry on regardless !!!!
They do say that the camera never lies, however, it does flatten seas for some reason. The 3 shots below are of Arctic Tern as we passed her in the Dolphin & Union Strait................the last one highlights my point nicely i think
Sunsets in the Beaufort
Tried to get the moon, but the flag popped into view
So tried again later that night
Canadian northern coast
with snow
and moon
Trysail up as we get some 30 to 35 knot winds...........
approaching Barrow Point........... Chukchi next !!!!
All wake by 06:30 and we decide to go. As it it turns out would have been better waiting for a few hours. Piling into wind and waves, is again, the order of the day. Nothing exciting today, a good Spaghetti bolognaise for supper though............mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm........ooooohhhhhhh and we've found the Parmesan !!!
23:00, really weird sensation when you've seen the North star all your life, you look for it up here (in th'Arctic), wonder where the darn thing is, then realise it's directly above your head. We are so close to the pole, the compass has been bonkers at times.
It actually says on the paper charts.......... "Magnetic Compass erratic or anomalies".....................blooming handy that.......good job we have the GPS !!!! How on earth did Franklin, Ross and Admundsen.......... etc etc............. find their way ???..........really amazing people, staggering.
23:00, my watch....saw a fishing boat on the AIS about 16 miles away.....................first boat we've seen at night apart from other yachts or cruise liners (expedition of course !!!).
9th Sept
Steve put the sails up on his watch at about 02:30, i heard the winches grinding away..........it appears we have a bit of wind from the south west...........only 6 or 7 knots, but it's there ..............yyehhhhaaaa...........so motor sailing for the next few hours, at least it reduces the fuel consumption.
Mid morning the weather picked up a bit ........25 knot winds and a head on sea...AGAIN !!!!!
Trysails hausted....welcome to the Beaufort Sea !!!!!!!!!
Eventually, in late afternoon, the sea eased and the winds slowly started to drop a little. Thre forecast for tomorrow, from Les, lighter winds to start from thr east, building later. That's not too bad, a following sea is far more comfortable............we'll see what happens !!!!
At last we've past Cape Lyon and escaped the Dolphin & Union Strait........what a sod !!!!
Into Admundsen Gulf then we pass Cape Bathurst and we're on our way to Barrow Point, the last pinch point for ice. Wind shifted into the north over night, very slight 4 to 5 knots, but there is again a reasonable rolling sea. Cape Parry passes with no major incident. Hopefullt the forecast easterlies will be with us tomorrow.
10th Sept.
Lie in today..........09:30.....wow ...........still no sign of the easterlies, so still on engine.
At last, the wind picks up enough for us to put all sail up........a run to boot. It's only about 8 or 9 knots , but we are dong a staedy 6.5 knots boat speed...........lovely jubbly !!!
We arrive off Bathurst point in snow showers and sunshine mixed. We have plotted a great arc course to Barrow Point of about 550 nm. If the winds maintain or increase we should be there for weekend. A quick call to Fred our weather and ice guru back in the UK to check our route is ok. He comes back with some good ...............some bad (well surprising) news.
Good news is the winds are set to easterly for the next 4 days.......................yyehaaaaaaaaaaaa
Bad news, the old Arctic ice sheet has a finger extending south at 136' to 137' W down to somewhere about 70' 30' N.............darn it ............not so good, when you think you are free of the ice.................think again chum !!!!!!!!!!!!!.
We will have to divert south from our great arc route. Plotting it all out on the chart plotter we reckon it will take us an extra 25 to 30 nm ...........no problem.................that' s no problem at all at this stage. Good job we chaecked with Fred, we would have gone storming into the ice (7/10) on the original route and then had a big diversion south to go around it.
The only other good news is that the ice at Barrow point is still a fair distance to the north..................about 100 nm apparently.
Strange thing, we've all noticed the lack of wildlife since we left Cambridge Bay.............between us, all we have seen is 4 seagulls !!!
11th Sept
Wind dropped about 06:00, so motoring again.
Snow flurries all day today, then after 18:00 we started to get wind and better weather, quite sunny in fact.
Sails up, not massive wind , around 7 knots from the north on a starboard beam reach.............engine still on, but reduced revs, so less fuel and more speed, now doing 7 knots over the ground............noice !!!
We have realised if we don't get a good couple of days of reasonable wind we will have to stop at Barrow to refuel. It looks as though we will be at least 50 gallons light to get to Nome....darn it....and there's no fuel tanker......that means filling plastic drums and carrying it......................gggggreatttttttttttttttttttttt !!!!
Chicken & spaghetti in a white sauce for supper..................mmmmmmmmmmm bloomin lovely.........nice one Steve !!!
Sailed all night, but winds still light & very variable............all over the place in fact.
12th Sept.
I'm on watch at 08:00, sails and wind all over the place, we get it sorted and we're on a run with about 7 to 8 knots of wind, doing 5.5 to 6 knots..........not bad..........at least in the right direction.
Demarcation point is on the horizon. This is the border between the USA & Canada, it's at 141' W.
Change the courtesy flag, we are officially out of Canadian waters at 09:50....and back into US waters, although we will not be able to check in until Nome. Apparently, there is no border control at Barrow, so we cant' check in there. Nah worries.......we'll just be illegal immigrants for a while !!!!!!!!! LOL ;-)
Fred has texted us to say there are some 30 + knot winds on the way, so we may well get the trysails up before we leave the Beaufort Sea.
13th Sept
Well how right i was, the wind started to increase, only slowly mind you, seas picked up and by the afternoon we had a full blown storm on our hands. I have to say, i was'nt too sure about these trysails to start with, but blimey, they are brilliant. We aredoing virtually the same speed with the trysails as we were with the main reefed down.........amazing and alot for settled in our motion. Though we did get a few bashs.
However, on the whole the rig is holding up very well. During setting the trysail we noticed the shackle connecting the main sheet to the foremast had nearly worn through.....gawd !!! good job we spotted it. We soon had it changed for a new one.......only concern now is the aft mast ................we'll have to let the weather ease before we can take a closer look at that one.............hopefully before Nome.
We should ease past Barrow point around 08:00 tomorrow morning...................if we maintain our current speed !!! I think we'll all feel a bit of relief when we pass Barrow......it's the last point to get caught by ice !!!!!!!!
Then it's south all the way to Homer............well some east and west too !!!!!!!!! LOL
14th Sept
Yeeehhhaaa, that's Point Barrow passed at 09:00 this morning, we are flying along with a good 30 to 35 knot breeze. We get in close to shore to try to get out of the high seas from the Beaufort Sea. It soon subsides as we are on a beam reach down towards Barrow, the most northerly town in the USA. Weather is a bit grim, rain and very low cloud.....welcome to the Chukchi Sea !!!!! ha ha ha ha !!!!!
Great, we ahve a 1.0 knot of tide running down the Alaskan coast with us. This is partly due to the Arctic current running into the Nothern Pacific. Only 300 nm to go to 66' 33' N and we have done the transit from the Arctic Circle in the Atlantic to the Arctic circle in the Pacific................yyyyyyyyeeehhhhhhhhhhhhhhaaaaaaaaaaaaa......via the North west passage, of course.
Winds drop off over night, so we slow down to around 5.5 to 6 knots.
A survey vessel, "Westward Wind" appears on the AIS, we have a chat with him just to let him we are here, as he is tracking back and forth on our track line. No problem, he appreaciates the call, asks if we have AIS & we explain it is receiving but not transmitting. No major problem as he can see us on radar.
A while later we came across a tug towing a barge, we try to call him to no avail & assume there is no one home !!! A bit naughty that not responding, however, he maybe having problems with his VHF............or fast asleep !!!!....the lile tiners.
A tug in tow, has, to put it in laymans terms, priority at sea as he he has "restricted manoueverability".....same as large tankers etc etc. So basically it is up to us to avoid him. We made the call merely as a coutesy to let him know our intentions, namely we would turn 30' to his stern to let him pass. Anyway, all went well, no problems, we were soon back on course. Then my favourite..........FOG !!!!!
Sphericals........I HATE FOG !!!
Radar on...........all clear........carry on regardless !!!!
They do say that the camera never lies, however, it does flatten seas for some reason. The 3 shots below are of Arctic Tern as we passed her in the Dolphin & Union Strait................the last one highlights my point nicely i think
Sunsets in the Beaufort
Tried to get the moon, but the flag popped into view
So tried again later that night
Canadian northern coast
with snow
and moon
Trysail up as we get some 30 to 35 knot winds...........
approaching Barrow Point........... Chukchi next !!!!
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