First Iceberg

10AM:  This morning it is 40F with the sea temperature at 52F.  1st visual (non-radar) iceberg sighted just before noon.  After a course change to the north it will pass off the port side.

10PM: we set sail and shut the engine down for the first time since leaving Nuuk.  Now close hauled on the port tack.  Wx CAVU ["Weather:  Ceiling and Visibility Unlimited"].  No fog.  Temperature outside is now 36F and not too much warmer inside.  Without the engine running the little diesel furnace doesn't quite keep up.  Damp and cold!

-This entry from Russ Roberts' journal

Leaving Nuuk

Fiona is watered and underway at 2PM local (GMT-2). Before departure, a fiasco at the water dock. A big red, commercial fishing boat decided we were in his place and almost literally pushed us out of the way after we were tied up. Rather than risk being hit, we moved and cast off lines as he continued to motor in, at one point getting as close as ten feet from our stern.

The temperature was 70F leaving Nuuk. It is 42F now @ 5:53PM at Kooken Islands light. We turned to a 304 [degree] heading. We are proceeding out to 55 30 W Long. We see the M/V Irena Arctica on the AIS at 1750 Lcl. Turned 40 deg starboard to pass. At 6:15 Lcl (2115GMT) turned to the waypoint (WPT) we have set at 65N55/30W. Present position (PPOS) is 64:04.7N 52:22.7W. 98nm miles to go to WPT.

My first watch on Fiona: 8-10PM. PPOS 64:09.675N 52:28.473W. OAT 40F. Sea temp 55F. ¼ sm in fog. Motoring. Eric wants to save the 20 year old radar's bearings. He only wants to sweep for icebergs every 15 minutes. At 5 knots and with the fog, we "outrun" our visibility in 3 minutes. The eyes on deck, peering into fog, become very important.

-entry from Russ Roberts' journal

Welcome to Nuuk

About an hour after boarding Fiona, Eric and Joey having gone to shore, I was in the aft cabin stowing my gear; Mustang suit, clothes, peanuts, jerky, books and whatever I thought I'd need and found room for in my sea bag. It takes a while to learn the boat and, suffering from "new environment tunnel vision," I kept hitting my head on the passages.

Ed (who left the boat to return home a day or so later) called down, "Hey, Russ, you'd better get up here!" Hitting my head again on the way to the deck I saw that Fiona was adrift. The big, red, steel Inuit school boat of about 80 feet which we had been rafted was getting underway. An inflatable boat with a tiny outboard was nosing around us. It took me a minute to figure out what was going on.

The red boat (pictured above tucked in behind the blue tug against the quay in the left of the photo) crew had cast us off and, after figuring the one line attached to us they had been holding wasn't doing any good, threw that on our deck. I think their intention had been to "tug boat" us, holding us in position until the "mother ship" had gotten clear. Their plan having failed, I think they just said, "Screw it. Let's do nothing."

"Jesus," I said. "You'd better start the engine."

"Eric isn't here," said Ed.

"Well ... so?"

"I don't want these guys to think that anyone but Eric can start the engine."

I don't think it made any difference to them whether the skipper was on board or not. After all, they had already cast us adrift in a crowded harbor. I would have started the engine, but I didn't yet know where anything was on the boat much less the key.

So, with hand signals and a lot of pointing, we eventually got the Inuit boat crew to grab a line and keep our stern pointed in a direction that would avoid bumping into other boats. With the tide we drifted back into a position where we could raft up with another set of boats.

Meanwhile, the Inuits cut another boat loose, this one I believe was Perithia we would see over the next few weeks on the Passage. Swinging on a single line, it took some doing to bring her back into some degree of control and get her safely tied and rafted up again.

Tonight we visited the Internet cafe, Barrista, downloaded some ice charts and returned to Fiona to watch Roger Swanson's video of his unsuccessful 2005 attempt of the Northwest Passage aboard Cloud 9.

The ice charts show a lot of ice on the Canadian coast but a clear route along the coast of Greenland to about 75 degrees north latitude and, from there, an open route to Lancaster Sound. In fact, it looks too good. We think we must be missing something ...

Fiona in Greenland, Russ Roberts in Iceland

Fiona made very good time completeting the passage from St. Johns to Nuuk in just under nine and a half days. I, meanwhile, am in the middle of my trip to join Fiona, spending several hours overnight in the Keflavik, Iceland airport. KEF is the international airport serving Reykjavik. The flight to Nuuk is scheduled for the morning.

There have been no SPOT positions recorded thus far. It hasn´t been for lack of trying. But it seems each time I make an attempt I am surrounded by metal, either in terminals or airplanes. I will try a couple more times tonight to find a clear view of the sky away from beams and rafters of steel.

RR

Fiona Closing In

Capt. Forsyth reports tonight S/V Fiona 250 southwest of Nuuk. He says he may arrive after the customs office closes, but should be clear by the time I arrive at noon Friday.

Here is a link to my SPOT Satellite Tracking device:

http://share.findmespot.com/shared/faces/viewspots.jsp?glId=0DjUAlZJFegMqAtQZ9PN7Ibet1q0yYuMM

Click on the link to go to my Google Maps page that will show at least a daily position of Fiona once I am on board.

I found this link on TrawlerNet. The page below will take you the websites of the six other small boats (news to me ... I'd heard there were fifteen) attempting the Passage this summer.

http://trawlercrawler.net/viewtopic.php?f=33&t=103&p=266&hilit=northwest+passage#p266

Fiona 3 Days From Greenland

This morning Capt. Eric reported that Fiona was 350 miles southwest of Nuuk, Greenland in the Labrador Sea. The weather is fine but the winds are light. He e-mails via single side band radio, "All well on board."

Fiona averages 100 miles per day over the course of a trip, typical for a sailboat of her size. Using that reckoning she should arrive in Nuuk (formerly Godthab) on Thursday PM. All going well, I will arrive Friday around noon and go down the quay to greet her.

Today I'm wrapping up my packing operation. Like another northern traveler, "I'm making a list and checking it twice."

-RR

Packing & Thinking About Ham Radio Net

Preparations continue for my departure this week to join Fiona and crew in Nuuk. Gear must be kept to a minimum. I'm keeping it down to one sea bag and a collapsable carry-on.

These bags have to hold a Mustang survival suit, boots, an extra pair of shoes, foul weather gear, a sleeping bag, a satellite beacon, a few books (including Roald Amundsen's two volume Northwest Passage: Being the Record of Exploration of the Ship "Gjoa") a bunch of camera gear, a laptop and extra hard drive and, finally, with what room is left, clothes for two months. With no washer I'm afraid the few articles I'll be taking won't be fit for salvage when I return.

Thank goodness the liquor is already onboard the boat.

Once I am underway next week, I invite my ham radio friends to listen on the daily Maritime Mobile Ham Network on 14.3 MHz (operates 1900-0300 UTC). I'll be joining on at least some evenings during the two month trip. My callsign is KJ4ITA.

-RR

Fiona Heads for Greenland

S/V Fiona departed St. Johns, Newfoundland yesterday morning. After breaking a steering chain the vessel returned to port for quick repairs. She departed once again and was well underway yesterday evening.

The captain estimates a ten day trip to Nuuk, Greenland where the fourth and final member of the crew, Russ Roberts, will join the vessel.

Meanwhile, the National Snow and Ice Data Center at the Univ. of Colorado, Boulder, reports that the rate of sea ice melt in the Arctic is increasing and is ahead of the historic average. The rate is, however, slightly below that of 2007.

Latest Satellite Photo

In this satellite photo received this afternoon from Environment Canada, the Meteorological Service of Canada, we see that the sea ice continues to retreat. It looks as if the waters are navigable all the way to Resolute. To the west, the north coast of Alaska, the Yukon and Northwest Territories has an apparent passage east to the Nunavut border.

To help you interpret the image, clouds are the swirling, lighter colored features. The ice tends to look more uniform in texture and gray in the photo. Ice free water shows up darkest. Click here for a larger version of this photo.

Fiona Arrives in St. Johns

Fiona arrived in St. John's, Newfoundland yesterday. She will be in port for about a week before proceeding to Greenland.

Meanwhile, the ice melt in the Arctic continues at a pace above the average. The National Snow & Ice Date Center shows that the ice melt is, however, slower than the rate in 2007, as seen in the accompanying graphic.

Fiona Departs Lunenberg

S/V Fiona departed Lunenberg, Nova Scotia this afternoon at 3 o'clock bound for St. Johns, Newfoundland.

Extent of June 21st Sea Ice

The graphic above is from data collected June 21, 2009 from the National Snow & Ice Data Center at the University of Colorado at Boulder. For our purposes, sailing Fiona to Alaska this summer, it is good to see the ice opening up on the Greenland west coast and north of Baffin Island in the Lancaster Sound. The Center reports today that "the pace of ice melt is accelerating."

For comparison, the graphic below shows the ice situation at the end of May.




















The National Snow and Ice Data Center reported on June 3, 2009, "After a slow start to the melt season, ice extent declined quickly in May. Scientists are monitoring the ice pack for signs of what will come this summer. The thinness of the ice pack makes it likely that the minimum ice extent will again fall below normal, but how far below normal will depend on atmospheric conditions through the summer."

Fiona Progress Report

Capt. Forsyth writes via e-mail today that Fiona bypassed Provincetown, Mass and had a good sail all the way to Cape Sable.

But north of there she encountered heavy weather and tore the jib (the foremost sail). With Fiona now in port, the sail is being repaired by North Sails, a loft in Lunenburg, Nova Scotia.

The forecast for Tuesday and Wednesday this week is for winds up to 40 kt from the northeast which, he writes, "is no good for us." Forsyth hopes to leave Thursday (6/25/09) for St Johns, Newfoundland. He tells me, "I will meet you at Nuuk, on sched, all being well." [Photo by Eric Forsyth of Finoa in Antarctica]

Russ Meets Captain, Crew and Ship

On May 24th I traveled to Long Island to meet Capt. Eric Forsyth and Ed Hopkins, the second member of the crew. I wasn't able to meet Joey, the fourth and youngest member of our group. But I did meet the little ship Fiona.

The occasion was the official Bon Voyage party for Eric's planned circumnavigation of North America, which will include my portion; the attempt on the Northwest Passage. After looking at each other for a few minutes and sharing a beer, we decided we could indeed all live with each other for two months on a 42 feet long sailboat.

Fiona left Long Island on Monday, June 15th at 10:30AM. Sailing to Block Island, she is bound for Provincetown for any needed repairs before heading for the Canadian Maritimes.

I plan on joining the vessel about July 14th in Nuuk, Greenland. From there we are bound for Baffin Island in the 103 year old wake of Capt. Roald Amundsen. The Norwegian explorer completed the first successful transit of the Northwest Passage aboard the 70 feet long sloop Gjoa in 1906.

The past week I've busied myself with collecting the clothes and equipment I'll need for my summer in the arctic. Putting my new ham radio license to work, I'm collecting the names and call signs of people who may interested in, or able to be of help to me during, the trip.

-RR

[The photo is of Fiona "on the hard" just a few days before launch for the Northwest Passage attempt.]

Map of Russ' Planned Route Aboard Fiona

View Fiona on the Northwest Passage in a larger map