Cambridge Bay and onwards
August 14 in Canada ⋅ ⛅ 11 °C
The intentions are to procure fresh vegetable, fruit and dairy, spend a good night at the wharf, and get going the next day to jump on an easterly wind that is passing through. As always, the plan sets the rough direction; adjustments follow as conditions unfold.
The wharf is already quite busy when we arrive. The Norwegian Alma, a close replica of one of Amundsen’s ship Maud, Harmattan, a small French sail boat and Aglaia are already tied up. Vanuily is to join in a matter of a few hours. We accept Alma’s offer to tie up alongside.
We do our grocery run, and visit the Canadian High Arctic Research Center, a rather fancy building. It is open to the public and some of us enjoy their luxurious showers.
Given that Alma will order a diesel truck and that from Tuktoyaktuk on diesel will be more expensive as we leave the zone of subsidized arctic diesel, we decide to take on some diesel, too. We split the fee for the truck with Alma. Fuel-wise we are now set to go all the way to Nome - unless unforeseen multi-week delays should strike.
Terje Pedersen, the owner and skipper of Alma is retracing Amundsen’s journey on the Maud and his Maud-style wooden ship is attracting interest of the locals. The Maud sank in Cambridge Bay in 1930, by then in service for the Hudson’s Bay Company. Terje is interested to recover parts of Maud’s rigging and learn as much as possible regarding the fait of Maud’s artifacts. A group of locals visit Alma for a cultural exchange: the sailors are keen on learning more about passed-on stories of the Maud and the locals are curious to learn more about the Norwegian visitors of the past. A musical shaman-like performance by the Inuit is the culmination of the visit.
We feel the wind building and decide to leave. Quite soon though, it becomes obvious that the wind is not the wind we asked for. Rain cells disturb it and generally it is not settled yet. We go a bit off the planned course, not anticipating any problems. The wind dies in the vicinity of some islands and we furl the genoa, start one engine and center the main to push through. The charts seem accurate.
To our surprise Richard suddenly calls out for attention, the sea floor is closing in on us contrary to what the chart shows. Just a few meters under the keel left. The main is still up. We run outside, I take the helm, start the second engine for improved maneuverability. Fortunately the water is super clear and with only 2 meter under the keel we can see each and every ice-ground pebel. We retrace a bit and find a path through the passage - curiously the best path crossed the location that is marked a most shallow in the charts. Lesson learned: the ice massaging the sea floor in the yearly rhythm is to be taken seriously - especially as we continue to the shallows off the coast ahead.
The wind doesn’t build as expected, we re-route to an anchorage for the night for some proper sleep.Read more