We saw Russia and the U.S. at the same time and came within 900 miles of the North Pole. We visited Greenland and Alaska in the same summer & on the same boat. We saw the water temp go from 70 degrees to 30.5 We dodged icebergs in two major oceans.  We went as far north as 75N, traveled 1/3^rd of the way around the world and cruised 8,500 nautical miles through eight different time zones. Bagan sailed three oceans in one summer, traveled further west than Hawaii and last but not least, transited from the east coast to the west cost via The Northwest Passage.

In all of this we also witnessed and enjoyed one of the more amazing creations this world has to offer; The Wagner family’s world famous “Dump Cake”, an amazing concoction of almost all things sweet and edible and guaranteed to provide you with an extra pound or two!  One crew member who I’m glad I didn’t have to tell you about (but am very happy to do so now) is Dr. Phil Wagner, the expedition’s resident doctor.  I met Phil this past winter when I was battling the Little Toe From Hell.  During one of my doctor appointments with Phil we got to talking about the trip to The Passage and by the end of that day I was emailing him asking him if he’d consider being our doctor on call. He very graciously accepted the invitation, spent many, many hours assembling our ship’s medical kit and gave Dominique a very detailed, one day course on just about any emergency which could pop up.  It was a always comfort  knowing that Phil was literally a phone call away, a call that I’m very happy to say we never had to make.  Thank you Phil and family!!

I also want to take a quick moment to thank all of you who posted comments and kept cheering us on.  Even for those of you who didn’t post, knowing that you were out there with us in your thoughts, I want to thank you from the bottom of my heart.  You were every bit as responsible in helping make this trip the wonderful success that is was.

For the detractors and naysayers about out trip, all I can say is I’m sorry you felt this way. I think had you taken the time to personally reach out and communicate with me rather than simply post discouraging comments and negative words on other chat sites, it would have done wonders for all of us.  Please know that as each of the wonderfully supportive emails we received inspired us on, hearing about those who challenged my decisions to do this trip, without actually having the honesty and courage to get in touch with me, was very detrimental to the effort.  I simply can not fathom why a person would post and say derogatory things without making the effort to get in touch with me personally. There is and always will be anonymous safety behind a computer screen.

In the end, I simply could not be more proud (prouder?) of my crew, Chauncey, Dominique, Sefton and Greg.  They performed above and beyond my wildest expectations.  I truly love these people. They are modern day heroes and I will forever regard them as such.  The fact that Chaunce and Dom are my stepchildren and Sefton my son is simply icing on the cake! They fulfilled the dream. As for Bagan, we put her through her paces and she brought us home without a scratch.

I would not have done this trip on any other boat or with any other crew!

“This isn’t the end, nor is it the beginning of the end.
In fact, it’s simply the end of the beginning.”

Posted on Monday, November 9th, 2009
Filed under: Arctic Climate, Bagan, Findings from the Field, Leaving the Northwest Passage by Sprague
6 Comments »

We arrived here in Nome on the 10^th and have been exploring ever since.  This city of around 4,000 sits 102 miles below the Arctic Circle and the differences from where we’ve been are dramatic if not subtle.  To take stock of where we were in the trip and what we still have to cover, yesterday I took an aimless sort of walk. I was quickly brought to the present by a remarkably unique scent.  I stopped to try and figure out what this powerful combination of sweet and acrid was when it dawned on me that I was smelling the simple scent of shrubbery and damp earth.  We’d been above the Artic Circle for so long that my nose had seem to have forgotten the seemingly everyday scent of vegetation.  It’s the little discoveries about where we’ve been and where we are that keep me heading around the next corner.

You don’t have to be here very long to realize that Nome has a rich and very strong history with gold. It was first discovered here in 1898 and the search for it today is as strong as ever.  The inner basin of its harbor is filled with just about every conceivable size and design of dredging craft as people still search for gold on a daily basis.  Talking to a local who is still on the hunt we were told that on a “good” day a person could dredge up around $8000 worth of the precious metal.  I imagine the bad days speak for themselves.

But perhaps what Nome is most known for is the fact that it serves as the end of the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race. On the first Sunday of March a growing number of “mushers” and dog teams start what is known around the world as “The Last Great Race” from Anchorage and, 1049 miles later, end the race here in Nome. The race isn’t without its detractors but once you’ve seen how a pack of sled dogs react when they see their sled and harnesses you know that this marathon holds quite a wonderful and powerful emotional investment on every level.

And then there’s the Bathtub Races. Occurring every Labor Day, bathtubs are outfitted with wheels and raced down Front Street. Some very stringent rules govern the race in that 1) Every tub must be full of water, 2) The “bather” must have a towel, bar of soap and a bath mat and 3) Tubs must have at least 10 gallons of water left in time by the end of the race.  Always wanting to improve things, I think that if they could combine the Iditarod with the Bathtub Races (dogs in the tubs being bathed) that the world would beat a path to Nome.

As always we’re keeping an eye on a weather window which we may try and take advantage of tomorrow, Sunday.  Our next big event will be exiting the Bering Sea and entering the Pacific where we’ll head up to the east and eventually work our way down The Inside Passage, something I did years ago and am greatly looking forward to.

Posted on Monday, September 14th, 2009
Filed under: Findings from the Field by Sprague
5 Comments »

We arrived here in Barrow, AK September 4^th and have spent the past few days catching up on email, picking up a part that was shipped to us (and again, a very special thanks to Judge Karen Hegyi for allowing us to have it shipped to her office), restocking the fridge and walking around town learning as much about it as we could.  With its dirt streets, Barrow is an amazingly self-contained town which at first glance seems rough and tumble but on further investigation offers up just about everything towns twice its size would.  A fully stocked supermarket is just up the road from a well known commercial bank, The Barrow Arctic Science Consortium can be found on the edge of town, and yes, the even world renowned “Pepe’s North of The Border” Mexican restaurant is here as well.

Yesterday Chaunce, Sefton and I went out to film Point Barrow which was quite an eye opener to say the least. I’m sure I’ll get some facts wrong as well as inadvertently offend someone but will tell you what we came across nonetheless. From August 15 to October 31, Alaskan Natives still engage in what’s referred to as “subsistence whaling” here in the Beaufort Sea. In fact when we were about thirty miles north of Barrow, we were warned-out of the area over the VHF radio.  It seems there was a possibility of our interfering with the hunting of the Bowhead whales; it was felt that our engine noise would scare the whales off. 

The hunting of the whales is not only a time-honored but a culturally honored event which, when we got out to Point Barrow, were reminded of all too readily.  We had been told that the Point was a bit of a whale burying-ground as that is where the whales, once killed, are brought ashore with small boats.  It’s here that they are cut up and dispersed.  I have to say I didn’t know what to expect until I got there and once there was stopped in my tracks by what I saw.  As promised the area was strewn with an incredible amount of whale bone in every shape and form, yet not the clean, antiseptic, bleached-out bone that I semi-expected, but the relatively, freshly-stripped carcasses which, by this time, were going through the long processes of becoming that which I did expect. 

To be perfectly blunt, it was not a pleasant sight nor smell.  The bones, many still with sinew and fat on them, were dark with decay. I have to admit that for the first ten or fifteen minutes I was pretty much taken aback at what lay in front of me and in the air around me, equating it with that of nothing more than left-to-rot, road kill.  Slowly though, this dismay started to turn and I soon began to realize how foolish if not culturally chauvinistic I was being.  All around me was not the litter of rot but in fact was one of the more tangible examples of a cultural act which has been time-honored and rightly respected for untold years.  Granted, from my vantage point it was not a pretty sight, but from the vantage point of a person whose ancestors have been hunting and feeding themselves in this manner since time immemorial it is a way of life which rightly should know no judgment.  As with just about all the meat taken from the whale, the bones too get put to hundreds of uses; whalebone sod houses, whalebone art, baleen baskets, even a baleen Palm Tree.

Barrow is a remarkable place, lessons and treasures lay just around every corner, perhaps even below the surface.  Make the effort; come here and experience it. Weather depending, either tonight or tomorrow morning we leave for Nome where we may actually tie up to a dock… at a marina… something we haven’t done in almost three months.

Posted on Tuesday, September 8th, 2009
Filed under: Findings from the Field by Sprague
4 Comments »

Posted on Friday, August 28th, 2009
Filed under: Findings from the Field, Traveling the Northwest Passage by Sprague
6 Comments »

Posted on Monday, July 27th, 2009
Filed under: Findings from the Field, Greenland, Iceberg Sitings by Sprague
No Comments »

Posted on Sunday, July 26th, 2009
Filed under: Findings from the Field, Iceberg Sitings, Northwest Passage Video by Sprague
2 Comments »

 

Left Nuk this morning at 4:00 a.m. and will be dropping the hook in Sondre Stromfjord around 10:30 tonight.  We’ll remain here for the next few days exploring this 100 mile long fjord and hopefully upload some pictures and/or video.  In the meantime… we just passed one of the larger free standing bergs we’ve yet to encounter on the trip.  I’ll let some of the pics describe what I couldn’t possibly.

Posted on Wednesday, July 15th, 2009
Filed under: Findings from the Field, Iceberg Sitings by Sprague
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Still in Halifax, which was more or less expected.  When we left Newport we knew that there were still some jobs that needed to be attended to but also knew life would be a bit easier if not less expensive up here.  We’ve been sitting under a very persistent low pressure system which started off as a n’or easter so that gives us more motivation to stay at the dock.  As with Newport it’s rained most everyday since our arrival. What we didn’t expect was that our new computer which we had sent “over night” has taken five days to get here and that another package which we had sent has also been stuck in Customs Turn-Around, not really gaining any traction on getting to us. The silver lining in these clouds are that the folks here at The Royal Nova Scotia Yacht Squadron have been beyond welcoming and incredibly supportive in helping us cut through the bureaucratic Red Tape. 

To add to this, despite my calling Master Card and American Express two weeks prior to departure to advise them of my travels out of the country, due to security reasons, both cards have been shut down, mid purchase… Master Card twice. In the meantime Ullie has been able to shoot the much needed “controlled” crew interviews for the documentary,  Sefton has been working as his audio engineer and Dominique has been using this extra time to spend most of her days on the road getting needed provisions. Clinton’s been keeping his eye on the weather system and by all accounts the wind will swing into the north this morning which should help flatten the seas out and allow us to perhaps leave this evening… yet that would all depend on whether the computer gets here or not.  Ironic situation; finding Mother Nature more dependable than an “Absolutely, Positively Has To Be There Over Night” shipping service.

Posted on Tuesday, June 23rd, 2009
Filed under: Findings from the Field, Newport to Halifax by Sprague
1 Comment »

 

Still in Halifax and most probably will be here for the next few days.  We’ve been watching a system develop off-shore and last night it came ashore as a pretty fair n’or easter; driving rain, gusts 35 – 40 kts and all in all a good time to be out of harm’s way.  Thursday night Ulli and Sefton flew in on two separate carriers and both airlines managed to lose their bags.  The bags arrived just yesterday and none were more relived than Ulli (and me) as his was the bag that held all the audio gear.  From what Clinton’s been pulling up on the weather charts it seems this low will be lurking for the next few days with the strongest part of the system coming in this afternoon. We’re going to move Bagan to an inside wall here at the marina, button up and hunker down. This will give me a good and uninterrupted chance to final organize and assemble my edit gear, something I haven’t been able to get to for the last month.  Or… seeing as it’s Father’s Day I just may head back to my bunk, hang a sign on the door that reads “Gone Fishin’” and settle in with a good book.

OK, so no one paid any attention to the sign on my cabin door which read “Gone Fishin’ ”.  In fact, Dominique, Sefton and Clinton cooked me an amazing steak dinner and then then took me out to see “The Taking of Pelham 123”. Far better than fishin’ any day!  Hands down one of the best Father’s Day I’ve ever had!

Posted on Sunday, June 21st, 2009
Filed under: Findings from the Field, Newport to Halifax, The Arctic by Sprague
3 Comments »

Four hours outside of Halifax and the weather holds; long, fat swells from the SSE, winds light & variable and not a cloud in the sky. Yesterday, as we made our way past the Bay of Fundy, we felt the influence of its legendary tides. We were approximately 80 miles to the south of the bay and found that the set was so strong it knocked us about five degrees off course. This leg to Halifax was basically a shake-down leg to, as Gerry Driscol used to say on “Intrepid”, “See what we can break.”

Nothing truly broke but we did have two problems. The first being the computer… again. It’s a Dell tower, a few years old and just doesn’t seem to be up to the task of running several high demand programs simultaneously. We have the electronic Nobeltec charts, an Airmar program which via an outside sensor gives us not only wind speed and direction but temp, a barometer, wind chill, apparent wind and satellite availability (Airmar is one of the more amazing marine innovations of the last five years). We’re also running two engine room cameras off of the computer as well as the three internet (land based, wireless card and satellite) access programs. Last night the computer showed us the Blue Screen of Death twice and had to be shut down and rebooted. After the total temper tantrum it threw the day before departure and last’s night TT, we’ve lost all confidence in it. Ted Croy is aboard and has been building computers since he was 12. Alas, the spending isn’t quite over as when we get in Ted is going computer shopping. Personally I’d like to give this Dell the float test but have been talked into keeping it as a backup for the Nobeltec program only.

The other small problem occurred at 5:00 this morning and was operator error. In the three years I’ve owned Bagan I never quite realized that the fuel pickup lines are a few inches off the bottom of the tanks, which only makes sense. These pickup lines think that the tank is empty when there’s actually about 15 gallons showing in the sight gauge. You can guess the outcome. Our immediate fear was that we picked up something in the prop (water temps were 45 degrees at this point and going over the side a real possibility) but quickly realized how we’d miscalculated and simply sucked the tank dry. We’ve three other fuel tanks aboard and 20 minutes later we were underway having been soberly being reminded that complacency is always lurking.

Posted on Thursday, June 18th, 2009
Filed under: Bagan, Findings from the Field, Newport to Halifax by Sprague
2 Comments »