Into the ice on the Alaskan north shore
August 26 in the United States ⋅ 🌧 2 °C
As planned, we leave Herschel Island at 1600 , UTC-8, August 26th. The mission is to get to the anchorage of Demarcation Bay. Incidentally the other 3 boats do exactly the same. Aegir and Aglaia are relatively deeper draft boats and chose the northern, outer passage of Herschel Island, whereas Vanuily and us chose the “Workboat Passage”, which is shallow but guaranteed ice and wave free. The track that we took from the tug that passed 2 days before works fine. Only at one point we come to 0.1 m under the keel but end up managing the shoal.
As we enter open water we find ourselves immediately in 1/10 ice. No problem to navigate in 1/10 as long as there is neither fog nor waves nor total darkness. Full moon for the entire night should help and the wind has died to <10 knots. The sea is glassy. One positive side effect of the ice is that it dampens the waves, so that the sea is smooth very soon after the wind died. With both engines on we maneuver through the ice, mostly hand steered. We do 2-hour shifts: first Richard, then Yann, then me starting at 2300.
As I take over the wind already has picked up to 10 knots, temperature is around 4°C and a snowy rain sets in. Dressed as warm as possible, I take the helm. At first there still is some leftover light from the setting sun but the cloud cover consumes all light soon: the full moon that we should enjoy doesn’t make much of a difference. At 0100 Richard takes over the helm and Yann and me are at the bows with search lights scanning the sea for ice. At least the rain and wind have stopped. The entire operation goes well, we bump into ice here and there but definitely to consuming to be safely sustainable. I am amazed by how well the other boats manage.
Around 0200 we arrive at Demarcation Bay. The other boats are already there or in the process of arriving. But nobody is inside the lagoon: the entrance as indicated on the charts doesn’t exist. Ice and weather have formed new spits and closed the opening. So we anchor outside in 6 meters of water.
In retrospect we could’ve anchored 4 hours earlier at any point on the shore before darkness set in. It was just too dangerous to work in the night, cold, rainy night in the ice. It just takes one unfortunate mistake to disable the boat, break a rudder or a propeller. We took that risk and energy expense for no gain at all. Next morning I also see that had we stayed closer to shore during the navigation, we’ve had less ice. For some reason the radar lured us offshore with supposedly less ice density.
The two learnings that I take away from this experience are: First, don’t sail at night with ice in these waters, fog is too likely to set in and ruin visibility. Second, you can anchor almost all along the shoreline in good mud as long as no extended wind, swell, ice shelter is required.Read more