M/V BAGAN Log Entry: 0200 hours

August 31, 2009
69 27’ North Latitude
135 00’ West Longitude
Tuktoyaktuk Harbor, Canadian High Arctic.

Weather: 20-25 knot North winds. The air temperature is 33 F and heavy snow showers are coming off the polar ice cap 60 miles north of our present position.

Forecast: More of the same. Heavy north to northeast winds and snow through tomorrow evening. Seas 6 to 8 feet.

We are happy to be hiding in the well-protected harbor at “Tuk”. Bagan made two hundred miles today after a 2200 departure from a snug anchorage at Summer’s Harbor. A not so interesting gray 24 hours started out with a sloppy swell slamming into the bow, and ended with 4 to 6 foot following seas and a 25-knot tailwind that stole the canvas cover to the grill. Summer is definitely over and we have been reminded that there are only two seasons here: August…  and winter.

Today’s bright side came as we left the Amundsen Gulf and entered the Beaufort Sea, thus completing our transit of the Northwest Passage. Our main goal accomplished, both owner and crew are beaming and feeling that satisfaction of achievement that only comes from succeeding after years of planning, preparation, blood, sweat, and tears. Looking back on the Passage, and what it took to get here, it was completely worth it. The sights and wildlife we have experienced will last us a lifetime and there is still so much to go We have become a tight crew, on a very well prepared boat, feeling like we can take on the world. Our twelve-mile midnight approach to this harbor down a narrow 13-foot deep unlit channel in total darkness during a snowstorm and heavy following sea attests to this. Piece of well planned and studied cake.

Next for Bagan and her crew is the 500 nautical mile run to Barrow, Alaska. It will be good to be back in the USA for while, and we are looking forward to making the turn around the northernmost point in the states and heading south for a while. This, of course, means a rendezvous with the Bering Sea and the dirty weather for which it is famous. Our confident vessel and crew are sure to be tested. Stay tuned.

Capt. Clinton M. Bolton

Posted on Monday, August 31st, 2009
Filed under: Guest Blog by Clinton
5 Comments »

Posted on Monday, August 31st, 2009
Filed under: Northwest Passage Video by Sprague
1 Comment »

At 1:35 PST this afternoon we crossed our target meridian of 130 degrees west, thus ending our transit of The Northwest Passage!  Dominique prepared us a Baked Alaska (very fitting) and we all breathed a very large sigh of relief and utter joy as we stuffed our faces!  Again I find I’ve no words to best describe my feelings but for now will simply say that none of us aboard Bagan are taking this accomplishment for granted and all feel beyond fortunate to have had such an experience.  This has so far been most assuredly the trip of a lifetime, with a crew and boat that are second to none! I’m sure there’ll be more eloquent thoughts and feelings to come but for now I want to thank everyone who stood behind us and believed in the dream!  Thank you from the bottom of our hearts. See you in Seattle!!

Posted on Sunday, August 30th, 2009
Filed under: Bagan, Leaving the Northwest Passage by Sprague
9 Comments »

Two and a half days out of Cambridge Bay and we sit snuggly in Summers Harbor on Booth Island.  We saw two small depressions forming down the road and decided to tuck in here and let them blow over us.  The top winds forecast were for 30 kts but that was out of the west and the sea state would have been sharp & steep (and if you’ve been following these blogs thank you!) you’ll know that we already have had our fill of sharp & steep in The Cabot Straights way back when. Probably more of it ahead but no point in beating up the boat or the crew. 

Summers Harbour is a perfectly horseshoe-shaped anchorage which protects us from all sides but is fairly flat and as is typical for this latitude, is extremely barren of just about anything but rock and dirt… Oh for a tall, green, tree!!  So, all’s well, we’re now 150 miles from the “Official Unofficially End of The Northwest Passage” which sits at the 130^th meridian.  If & when we cross that magical line I guarantee you you’ll hear the celebration from where you sit!!!  I’m trying to not project ahead as I’m a firm believer in jinxing things but suffice it to say that ever since we left Cambridge Bay the excitement of just what we may have accomplished has been welling up inside of me as I’m sure with the rest of the crew!

Posted on Saturday, August 29th, 2009
Filed under: Traveling the Northwest Passage by Sprague
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In the Ice Field

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

I write this from Cambridge Bay, Nunavut, Canada.  We dropped the hook here Sunday, almost immediately took on 1800 gallons of diesel and replenished some of our food stock.  We also took to the land like six crazed people.  While our stop at Gjoa Haven was a thoroughly enjoyable one it was here where we truly shook the kinks out.

Over the past year I’ve been in touch with Peter Semotiuk regarding ice and planning and one of the very first things I did was arrange to meet up with him. He came down to the boat Sunday afternoon and I immediately understood why John Bockstoce wrote the wonderful words about him that he did in his two books; Peter is an amazingly warm person whose sprit absolutely filled the boat.  Within minutes Bagan’s salon was filled with joyous and heart warming laughter, something that we most certainly weren’t doing while emailing Peter during out ice delay. Our emails back and forth to Peter while we were stuck in the ice were pretty tense and straight forward.  To have finally been face to face with the man who supplied us with information and cheered us on during those two days was a meeting I’ll never forget.

Chaunce and I took Peter out to interview him for the documentary and here too he was great fun to interview.  I’m proud to have Peter as a new friend and greatly look forward to keeping in touch with him, hearing about his adventures and how his life is unfolding.  Just after Peter left, another person I’d been in touch with over the winter, Vicki Aiatok came down to the boat to introduce herself.  Vicki is the manager of the Arctic Coast Visitor Centre here in Cambridge Bay and has been a wonderful resource for me as far as lining up some interviews for the documentary and answering all my convoluted questions about our intended stay here.  As with Peter, Vicki proved to be one of the most genuinely warm and gracious people I’ve yet to meet.  Not only had she arranged the needed interviews for me, she proved to be a wealth of knowledge regarding all things to do with Cambridge Bay and was very quickly ushering me around town in her truck.  We stopped for a quick cup of tea at her house where I met her husband Jorgen as well as a few of their children.  I think the expression is “swept off my feet” for that’s how wonderful Viki’s welcome was.  Yesterday I made my way down to the Visitor’s Centre and was bowled over by the collection of art, historic displays and cultural exhibits which the Centre proudly boasts.  Vicki has done a magnificent job with the Centre in which one can not only learn about Cambridge Bay and its history but the traditions and history of and its people and the land.

Then we met Lieutenant Colonel, Kevin Oliver and Major, Tony Lancashire of the Royal Marines.  These two guys knocked on our hull late Sunday, said they saw that we were doing The Passage and introduced themselves by saying they were doing the same trip, albeit west to east, in a 17 foot open day sailer… yes, that’s just what we thought.  After talking with them a bit we learned that they’d pulled into Cambridge Bay to catch their breath and organize themselves for the next leg to Gjoa Haven.  They knew a resident of Cambridge Bay and were staying with him for a few days.  They’d popped their small boat on a trailer and it was presently outside the house they were staying in.  Chaunce and I agreed that this was too good of an interview to pass up so we made plans to meet them on Monday and get shots of the boat as well as the discussed interview. 

When we arrived at the house there indeed was a 17 foot open day sailer on a trailer looking none the worse from the wear. Very quickly Kevin and Tony started to fill us in on their expedition to date and after learning of all the research and preparation that went into their trip and what they’d accomplished so far, my immediate feelings about theirs being a very risky and seemingly crazy trip were  replaced by the knowledge that these two commandos knew exactly what they were getting into, could easily handle a trip of this nature and if I ever had to do a long dangerous passage in an small, open boat, Kevin and Tony were the two I’d trust with my life. 

The boat has been specially modified for the trip, they can either sail or row her, she can be pulled onto the ice or land and serve as shelter. Every contingency had been well thought out and planned for.  It was sad to hear that due to the prevailing winds not being reliable this year, they may have to call and end to it at Gjoa Haven and not the intended target, Pond Inlet.  I asked them what their schedules were like once the trip ended and got back to the U.K.  It seems that within a few months they will both be rotated to Afghanistan.  The mind boggles.  Kevin and Tony are making this trip not only for the experience but for a very special cause, “Toe In The Water”. PLEASE check out their web site at www.arcticmariner.org to learn more about it.  These two guys are amazing and we all wish them the very best of luck and safety not only for the rest of their voyage but for the years to come.

We’re off tomorrow at 4:00 a.m. and will be heading straight to Barrow, Alaska.  There’s still a bit of ice left at the bottom of Victoria Island but as it has been blowing out of the SW for the past day or so we’re hoping that what remaining ice there is has moved up north out of our way, “hoping” being the operative word.  I’m very hesitant to write this next sentence as I don’t want to jinx anything, but… if all goes well, and by now we’ve learned that often things are not always as they appear to be, sometime in the next three days we may be crossing the 130^th meridian, the Official Unofficial End of The Northwest Passage for this trip. For now I don’t want to put any more emphasis on this than I need to as the potential of this holds a tremendous amount of gravity and meaning for me, so suffice it to say…. Watch This Space.

Posted on Tuesday, August 25th, 2009
Filed under: The Arctic, Traveling the Northwest Passage by Sprague
7 Comments »

Again, I write this from a secure, protected and ice-free anchorage just on the west side of Simpson Straight. We pulled into here (McClintock Bay) yesterday afternoon when we saw that the forecast wind was starting to fill in higher than predicted.  Gusting to 30 kts we all agreed that 1) We were in no rush to get to Cambridge Bay and 2) That we’d had enough “drama” for a while.  Yesterday was also Greg’s birthday and Dominique not only prepared and served hamburgers (one of his favorites) and a fresh salad (bought while in Gjoa Haven) but a blueberry birthday cake for desert!

Gjoa Haven was wonderful; the people were very friendly and a long over due chance to stretch our legs without having to stay huddled in a group carrying firearms. GH is a small community of perhaps 900 and to say that they welcome visitors is an understatement.  A few our the group ended up in the mayor’s office and left with everything from GH coffee cups to stickers.  In a few more days we hope to be in Cambridge Bay where we’ll take on fuel, do a few interviews and actually live a civilized life for the first time in over a month.  It’s been since Sisimiut since we’ve been able to walk off in six different directions (unarmed), use internet,  or just be among people who don’t live in confined quarters. 

Yesterday while doing my anchor watch, the VHF radio squawked to life with “Bagan, Bagan… Ocean Watch”.  I all but jumped out of my socks.  Total disbelief that I’d heard what I heard.  Sheepishly I answered the call (it wasn’t a practical joke by someone tucked away in the engine room) and in short order found that “Ocean Watch” the sloop that’s doing the “Around The America’s” project was sailing by outside the bay, not a mile away.  To make matters all the more surreal, aboard was old friend and renowned yachting journalist, Herb McCormick. Herb and I haven’t had a chance to chat in over 25 years, and now this.  What do you say to someone with whom who you’ve got a ton of catching up to do, when you’re seemingly thousands of miles from nowhere, and are literally two ships passing in the night?  All of us aboard Bagan wish Ocean Watch and her crew the very best of luck in their mammoth undertaking. Herb, dinner is on me!!

I’m still trying to digest the ice events of the past week.  This is going to take some time.  I’ve run out of superlatives to try and describe it and only hope that my honesty and attempt at being forthright didn’t come off as too negative.  Not being a drinking man, I’m looking forward getting into Cambridge Bay, grabbing a Diet Coke, wandering off, finding a nice place to sit alone in the sun and coming to peace with all of it.

Posted on Friday, August 21st, 2009
Filed under: Bagan, Traveling the Northwest Passage by Sprague
4 Comments »

I’m writing this from the safe, protected and ice-free harbor at Gjoa Haven.  We dropped hook here last night at 2:30 a.m., and never have I been so glad to hear the engine shut down.  Two days ago we powered into thick, impenetrable ice which just as quickly closed in around us. What was suggested would be 2/10ths coverage was actually 9/10ths coverage.  At one in the morning we completely ran out of options. We would find a lead, then force our way down to it at 1-2 kts, sometimes over and through the ice, only to find that what we thought was a lead had completely frozen over, thus forcing us to find a new lead.

Making our way through this solid ice barrier was beyond nerve-wracking in that the protestations from the ice were heard in the forms of shrieks, screeches, explosions and deep powerful shudders. If any of the ice bits found their way to our exposed stabilizers, propellor or rudder the potential damage could have bordered on the unthinkable. Time and again we’d fight for 500 yards, only to have it taken from us at the last minute, finding that the lead ahead had closed in the 10 minutes we’d been trying to get to it. Bagan had taken a complete battering all day long and when we found she was inexorably trapped. Not being able to move forward or backward we shut down the engine and anchored onto a floe, 1 ½ miles from shore.

In 17 hours we had traveled 18 miles. We tried to sleep. The ice was firm enough to walk on and the next morning we ventured out onto it by foot to inspect the damage, which to my great relief was minimal at best. A few hours later we checked our position and found that now we were only ½ a mile off the shore, the ice ever slowly pushing us toward land.  We received an email from a boat 60 miles north of us.  She was so solidly packed in and was being driven to shore. She had to call the Canadian Coast Guard to send an ice breaker to free them up.  Our trip of a lifetime had taken on the dimension of deadly earnest and we had to act. We made the hard decision to try and point Bagan West at any and all costs to push, batter and break away from the rock bound coast.  The pounding that Bagan took was indescribable; the continued and horrific protests of the ice was akin to the banshee’s screams as we forced our way though it. It was the stuff of nightmares.  We gained our 3 miles and again dropped the hook on a floe that night.

The next morning we awoke to find that we had, of all things, drifted our way south 7 miles.  With renewed energy and refreshed determination we once again set about using this good ship as an ice breaker. By three that afternoon we had broken our way clear into thinner and less dense ice packs.  Simply put, I would not have tried any of this if I had not been on a Nordhavn.  Her strength and integrity is unsurpassed and it’s no exaggeration when I say she, and she alone, got us out of a situation that was in a lifetime of boating worse than anything I’ve experienced to date.  No qualms about saying that at times I’d never been more terrified or more despondent. I think that at one point or another we all were and the amazing thing about this crew is that we pressed on regardless and did our best to keep these feelings of abject horror to ourselves.  I’m very, very thankful to be posting this as I am and in the last few days have learned more about myself than all my combined fifty-eight years have taught me. Hands down, the best crew, for the best boat on the best trip.

Posted on Wednesday, August 19th, 2009
Filed under: Bagan, Traveling the Northwest Passage by Sprague
10 Comments »

I cannot say that the past three days have been my favorite.  We finally put the “Braving” part into our trip. 

After reading ice charts and making our way fairly smoothly down Peel Sound for the past few weeks, three days ago Mother Nature decided to shake things up a bit.  Not only did we have to push, plow, and break our way through ice, we also had fog and zero breeze (which didn’t help move the ice).  Our radar was one big green blob, and we could only find leads heading the opposite direction we wanted to go!

Sprague on the helm, Clinton on top telling Sprague what direction he should go, Sefton directing Sprague through the breaks (and sometimes breaking) in the ice, Chauncey pushing ice from either side of the bow, Greg and I on the stern clearing the ice from the beam and making sure nothing went under towards the prop when we went into reverse.  We all yelled and cursed (at each other AND the ice). But we persevered. We spent the last two nights with the anchor on a piece of ice drifting with the wind. Finally this morning the ice, the clouds and the fog broke and we have a clear shot down Ross Strait to Gjoa Haven!

Menu: The last three days: Peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, Tonight: Steak!

Posted on Tuesday, August 18th, 2009
Filed under: Guest Blog, Traveling the Northwest Passage by Dominique
3 Comments »

Last night the ice charts showed us what we’ve all been waiting for; a solid lead in the ice had formed on the west side of the Sound.  This was just what we needed to make the big jump down to Gjoa Haven.  Two days before we’d dropped the hook in Pattinson Harbor, an incredibly beautiful and deep fjord-like indentation on the coast that ran east around four miles to a fresh water lake.  While here we had a chance to rest, observe caribou and even another polar bear this morning.  Even though the water was 31 degrees and the air 34, the tall, steep hills were showing more and more evidence of green undergrowth, a sure sign that we’ve been heading further south. 

Almost immediately out of the harbor we ran into what we hope is some of the last sheet ice, this rated at 3 – 4/10ths.  As the accompanying pictures show, we put Sefton and Chauncey up on the radar arch for the day from which they communicated with the pilothouse as to the best lead to take to head through this last bit of blockage.  As the 2^nd picture shows, these small openings which lead to the larger openings weren’t always obvious and several times we had to stop, push a pack of ice out of the way with a boat hook, or take advantage to the prop-wash and or bow thruster wash to clear our way out.  As I type this the larger lead is about five miles off and after that it “should” be clear for sometime to come.  Maybe Gjoa Haven in two more days, our first community of any size since we left Greenland.

Posted on Saturday, August 15th, 2009
Filed under: Traveling the Northwest Passage by Sprague
1 Comment »