6:00pm Update
Sunday, August 3rd, 200863°05’N, 62°28’W—Fog has lifted. Expect light winds from the west tomorrow! Some GIANT (city block or bigger) bergs; some normal office building size. These must be seen in person to comprehend the grandeur.
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Crew update
Friday, August 1st, 2008Iqaluit: We fought the ice all night and the southeasterly winds kept bringing more ice to confront us. I was on with Skip and said I felt like it looked like the storm troopers coming against us. At 7:00 on an ebbing tide, we went into the town dock, got fuel while the water receded until we were resting on the bottom. People from town came from every direction to see the boat and several people said we are the talk of the town, “that American boat that needs help.” So while aground, we came up to the hotel for lunch and Walt and I had Arctic Char which was absolutely delicious! Pat had it again he enjoyed it so much before and Shane had a Musk Ox burger and he liked his too. Nice to let someone else do the cooking.
We had a change in crew today. Skip decided to head for home so when we came ashore he got a ride to the airport and made connections to leave here at 1:45 pm. He knew that he would not have such good connections again as are available here in the capital city. We will miss him and his expertise greatly. He has a deadline of being home for a wedding in late August and knew we would be delayed due to all our problems and time spent fixing things. So the Lake Winnipesaukee Yacht Club burgee was taken down and went home with him. All of us are sad about this decision but Skip was clear it was the best thing to do.
We have complete ice reports to study to understand our best choices on what to do next. Please keep us in your prayers. The only option north is the traditional route.
Here are photos of the crew from the past few weeks:
Taking stock in Iqaluit
Wednesday, July 30th, 2008Editor’s Note: We got an email from Mom and later, an email from Dad giving the latest news. Below are their respective thoughts as they take stock in Iqaluit. Be sure to check back to previous posts as they are now replete with photos of bears and burgs!
Walt:
The weather has been the pits; wind out of the SE, rain, cold to the bone AND ice floating all around the boat. We have been fending off the ice for the most part and get bumped occasionally. They are mostly growlers mixed with some bergy bits. They move with the wind right into the harbor and also affected by tidal currents. Locals say that it hasn’t been this bad for 10 years. So much for global warming!
Things are expensive here. For example w/o the watermaker we’ll need water soon. Many of the houses are served municipal water by truck. Great! Except the minimum charge is $200. We need about 130 gallons. It’s not Perrier either. So Pat went to the store where you can buy 7 gallons in a container for $27. Our new friend Joe is loaning us containers and we hope to get 30 or 40 gallons tomorrow.
Parts will arrive Friday so we are stuck for a while. We have been working on cleaning up the mess created by the salt water dousing in the engine room when the water maker broke. Much is fixed, but the main engine still hasn’t run. We think the problem is the starter motor itself, but it could be batteries also. I hope nothing else is wrong.
PS. Parts are arriving tonight. Hurrah!
Kip:
We got a hotel room to get internet access and shower as our water is low and the only way to get water on board is to carry out gerry cans which cost $27.00 each empty. We are managing pretty well though the stress has been high. Walt and Shane worked analysis work on the motor, solenoid, and alternator problems all day yesterday while Pat and Skip fended off the ice. The ice bergs go in and out with the tide which is second only to the Bay of Fundy. If they surround us they can crush us and the under pieces can destroy the instruments on the bottom of the boat. So we do shifts day and night as they pass us by.
Walt just called me at the hotel sounding excited. Yesterday a man named Luc was sent to us by the Lord. He is a mechanic at the airport and works on their snow blowers which use the same diesel engines as we have. (This airport has 8000 feet of run way and is an alternate Nasa Shuttle landing site. Movie stars stop here in their private jets to refuel all the time). With Luc’s help, they hope to resolve the engine troubles. Walt and Shane were going back to the boat in the Olive to get started.
We will be looking at the state of the boat and the ice reports this weekend and making the decision about turning back. All of us were scared as we passed through the “water” that was 90% covered with ice on our way into Frobisher Bay on the get home engine. Pat was in the crows nest on the intercom directing Walt right and left as we went because from the main salon we couldn’t see a way to go. We have been afraid to use up minutes on the sat phone because it is our main means of communication with the locals. We looked into getting a local cell for a week and it was $250 so we are using the sat phone. This rented hotel room gives us a way to communicate more easily. We are all fine and in good spirits; seeing God provide and see us through in very tangible ways. But, we are asking if He is telling us to stop as we face SO many obstacles. The team will decide. All of us have voiced the thoughts of turning back.
About that map
Sunday, July 27th, 2008I was talking to Scott the other day about the map. Specifically how much longer the distances traveled appear recently compared to earlier segments, and yet, how it doesn’t seem possible that Geraldine will finish the trip on time when looking at the map.
The answer to all these questions is that the map on the website is Mercator Projection of the world. It is often used because it accurately shows land shapes, and also shows compass headings as straight lines. On other types of maps, following a northwest course results in a curved line. Anyhow, the disadvantage of the Mercator Projection, is that it distorts the scale of land near the poles — the farther north and south you go, the more the map shows features larger than it should be compared to features at the equator.
To put that in context of the Northwest Passage, Greenland is not really as big as all of North America, it is only slightly larger than Mexico. So the farther north our adventurers travel, the more distance they will cover on the map each day (assuming they don’t slow down!). This will allow them to finish the trip on time!
For more on the Mercator Projection visit wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mercator_projection