Made it to Resolute

August 13th, 2008 by Randy Jones

Editor’s Note: I just got off the phone with Charlotte (parts shipper extraordinaire) who had heard from the crew via satellite phone. They arrived at Resolute, population 300, while snowing and cold at 7:00pm after a day of rough weather. Headwinds and choppy seas made for taxing driving which fell mostly to Pat and Shane. They were in bed at the time of the call! They did say they managed to see more polar bears today. They are anchored in a sheltered spot and will be sleeping on the boat with the heater cranking. They are comfortable but tired.

Laying low for a bit

The watermaker parts have not arrived as scheduled in Resolute. Charlotte said she would track them down as soon as the shipping office opened at 6am (3am for her!). I told her if there’s any justice there will be a pound of Peet’s left for her. Though the parts are delayed, the crew will likely be in Resolute for the next day or two as they wait for the weather to improve. This is good news on the sleep front, but also will allow for the parts to arrive. There are still two other boats waiting to traverse the heart of the Northwest Passage. One is going East to West along with the Geraldine, The other is waiting in Cambridge Bay to go West to East.

Next steps

The ice forecast continues to improve. Since the crew left Pond Inlet, the changes have been dramatic. From Resolute, the Geraldine will head almost due south before turning west again. The area ahead once choked with ice are breaking up and The Passage is opening up right on schedule. The next “major” stop for Geraldine is Cambridge Bay, which is on the other side of the current ice bottleneck (and after the turn West). They expect to be there in about a week if the melting trends continue. Once to Cambridge Bay, the ice should become less of a concern. That is the big picture, tomorrow calls for doing laundry (nobody wants to be O-U-T, haha!)

The crew is currently only 300 miles from the magnetic north pole! Amazing! Thank you very much Charlotte for the update and for your diligence in shipping and tracking parts.

3 Responses to “Made it to Resolute”

  1. Rebekah Says:

    If there’s any justice, there will NOT be any Peet’s coffee left for Charlotte (she’s not too fond of coffee)….but perhaps she might enjoy some exotic Arctic jewelry or some stylish Alaskan mukluk boots. –Rebekah, PGA (Personal Gift Advisor to Charlotte)

  2. bob basche Says:

    Greetings fm warm and sunny CT. I am the proud owner of a 30 yr old Wilbur 34 Downeaster…Wild Duck, which was up at Wilbur over winter of 07 for a hard top install to replace leaky canvas…perhaps you saw her. In any case spoke w Dave larson recently and he gave me your web site. really cool ! However I was looking for photos of Geraldine and couldn’t find any except interiors and crew shots. Do you have any overall photos of her…sure you do. Good luck and smooth sailing. Best regards, bob

  3. Randy Jones Says:

    Hi Bob—there are shots of the boat from the early days of the trip. See the May and June archives in the right hand sidebar. These days the crew is too busy driving to get in the dink for photos… I’ll add a gallery of shots the The Boat page. Oh, and check your email. — Randy

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