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August 15th, 2009 – At Sea 68 46N 108 17W
by Mark Scrader
(August 15):During the course of Ocean Watch’s ongoing voyage Around the Americas, skipper Mark Schrader keeps a personal log with piloting and navigation notes and other observations. Today, he once again takes command of the Crew Log, with this onboard report as the OW crew enters the final miles of an extremely eventful leg to the Canadian port of Cambridge Bay:
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| We may be ice free. |
At 1200 hrs local time, Ocean Watch and crew are motor-sailing at 8-knots through a completely ice-free Dease Strait, approximately 90 miles from Cambridge Bay. Just because it feels so good to say it and in case you missed it in the first sentence: We’re ice free, sailing and heading in the right direction.
Astern of us, Dolphin and Union Strait – which opens into Coronation Gulf, and then into Dease – is still jammed with 2/10 to 7/10 ice. The “official” entry landmark from Dolphin to Coronation Gulf is a small bit of land named Lady Franklin Point. This is where late yesterday evening – after a long day with our stress meters pegged at the high end – we entered the cautious log entry, “We may be ice free.”
Forget the entire group of famous and named explorers who are synonymous with the Arctic; it was without doubt Lady Jane Franklin who
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| Yesterday was about “reading” the ice and finding open leads to take us to open water. |
was largely responsible for the exploration and discovery of the Northwest Passage. When her husband and crew failed to return from the infamous and ill-fated Franklin Expedition in the mid-1800s, she encouraged (some say forced), organized and even financed the most extensive multi-year search ever attempted in the Arctic. In so doing, she must have irritated the wrong bureaucrat. The Arctic Sailing Directions describe Lady Franklin Point as: “a low and featureless long, narrow spit.” According to our sources, Lady Franklin was anything but featureless, and rounding “her” point was a definite relief and milestone for us.
So, from the crew of Ocean Watch: Thank you, Lady Franklin.
Yesterday was all about “reading” the ice, figuring out the right way to go, finding open leads to take us to more open water – and then doing it all again as the open water disappeared and ice repeatedly blocked our way. The goal was always to move forward, away from shallow water, away from the floes that could potentially trap us and stop our progress and to not hit any ice.
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| Dave Thoreson spent nearly 24 hours looking for leads and directing the movement of the ship. |
Veteran passage-maker David Thoreson has done all of this before. He spent most of the past 24 hours hoisted half-way up the mast, calmly sitting in the bosun’s chair, looking for leads and directing our movements. He can spy a lead and track it in moving ice better than a Blue Tic hound can spot and follow the scent of bear – and that’s a compliment. Thanks to his guidance, and great work from the crew, we made it through some very dense concentrations and left Lady Franklin Point, and the pack ice, behind us…at least for a while.
If the current weather holds as predicted our ETA for Cambridge is close to midnight Saturday. Once there, Bryan Reeves will leave OW and head back to Seattle where he will continue his duties as the AtA Port Coordinator. We have all thoroughly enjoyed Bryan’s presence onboard and will continue to appreciate his significant contributions to the project. Harry Stern of the University of Washington’s Applied Physics Lab will come aboard to take over the science duties. We’ll take on fuel and some provisions as quickly as we can and be ready to head for Gjoa Haven on King William Island as soon as ice and weather conditions permit.
Happy to report, all are okay onboard Ocean Watch.
– Mark Schrader with photographs by David Thoreson
This crew log submitted by Iridium OpenPort and Stratos
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