After 2½ days sheltering behind Point Hope Mark and Dave spied a weather window. The goal was to sail northwest, clear Point Hope and gain sea room for a 200 mile run south across the Chuckchi Sea to the Bering Straight. A solid plan. But as we cleared the point it...
Rounding Point Barrow we headed south into the Chuckchi Sea. We were now in the lee of the land. The swells dropped. The winds fell below 20 knots. The tone of the boat and the mood of her crew eased. Sleeping resumed. In the morning, we passed the past villages of...
We left Tuktoyaktuk on Saturday, Sept. 10, and didn’t drop the anchor for the next five days. Polar Sun pushed west into the Beaufort Sea, an expanse of ocean off the northern coast of western Canada and Alaska. The Beaufort Sea is named for Sir Francis Beaufort, a...
I got a call from my old friend Mark Synnott in late August. Mark was in the middle of sailing the Arctic Northwest Passage from Maine through to Nome. Could I join him in Tuktoyaktuk, Northwest Territories in a week? He needed crew for the last leg of his voyage –...