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Polar bears and tough navigation for Vagabonds On Ice
17:09 p.m. EDT Aug 31, 2003
The Vagabond Expedition sailing the Northwest Territories reports in from Cambridge Bay. They have sailed from Tuktoyaktuk across Liverpool Bay and around Cape Bathurst. When they got to the Amundsen Gulf they ran into pack ice and were forced to go around further south.
They still ended up surrounded by heavy pack ice and decided to go back up north following the ice edge. The fog was heavy and with bated breath the crew finally managed to find a tiny passage and made it through.
A moment the crew had been waiting for came when they spotted the silhouette of a bear. The timing was far from perfect though. "We had been dreaming about it for a long time, we were really expecting such a moment, but not with Catherine, Jacques and Pierre on the ice! It was a big female, she was slowly getting used to our strange boat, and we left her with a beautiful sunset."
Next, the Vagabond will resupply some fresh food before sailing off again. But the difficult ice conditions described ahead, north of King William Island, are unsettling.
On 31st August 2002, Vagabond crossed Bering Strait and became the first yacht to sail the North-East Passage without wintering, and without ice breaker. The Vagabond is currently sailing the North-West Passage, the sea route going from Bering Strait to Greenland, via Alaska and Canada.
Image of Vagabond courtesy of http://vagabond.piem.org
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