Thoughts from Pat

If you have been following the www.mvgeraldine.com web site you know we have had lots of problems with our machine that manufactures safe water out of salt water. It has broken down three times and is untrustworthy. We went 280 miles out of our path to Iqaluit because the safe water unit split an end cap for the second time drenching the engine compartment again with salt water, especially on the number 2 main engine alternator and many of the electronics parts. This led to cascading electrical problems with failed charging circuits, drained batteries and the failure of the main engine starter when it stuck and got burned up when trying to start with low batteries. We repaired the safe water unit with parts that Charlotte got sent up to us. While we were on our way back out to sea from Iqaluit the unit broke again! We were now again through the ice field and headed north through Baffin Bay and didn’t want to turn back and determined to go ahead to Pond Inlet and have parts sent there. In the mean time we had about 90 gallons for 4 people for a week until we could get more water. So we went on water rationing for the second time. We decided we could only use one gallon per person per day including cooking and washing dishes and personal hygiene. We all went 5 days without a real shower, Shane took a shower on the back deck with ice cold salt water, burr! Walt, Kip and I took sponge baths with left-over dish water with bleach in it. We all were very careful with water consumption. In the six days at sea running 24 hours a day in rotating shifts we used about 40 gallons of water. We had trillions of gallons of water all around us and we couldn’t drink it. We were very careful and we used 1.6 gallons a day per person and that was with little or no fresh water showering!

This made me think deeply about the Safe Water devices that CityTeam is doing field trials with in Sierra Leone and in Ethiopia. You may not know but consuming unsafe water is the greatest cause of death around the world. Over 5000 children a day die of consuming the only water that is available to them. There is water available in most of those places but often it is contaminated water and makes those who drink it sick and the young and elderly often die from water borne diseases. This is a problem that is solvable with the availability of safe water and training in the basics of community sanitation practices. CityTeam is working with a scientist and inventor who designed an extraordinary Safe Water device which kills 99.9999% of pathogens in water using only a truck battery which can be recharged using solar panels. It is very simple and effective. The two safe water units cost about the same price, only the one on the boat because it is reverse osmosis requires a lot of power and has expensive consumables. The one on the boat provides in theory enough water for a small boat. The units CityTeam is installing provide enough safe water for 2000 people a day, a small village and have no consumables. They purify 2000 liters per hour which is 526 gallons an hour. The unit on the boat is 16 gallons per hour. CityTeam has purchased the first 10 units for the initial field trials and is testing them in real life situations in rural villages in Africa. I have been to all of those villages and have listened to the people and they know the water makes them sick and they know the water is killing their children. Our calculations are to provide 1-2 gallons per person per day. I must admit I really didn’t know what that really meant as I lived in such abundance I never had to ration myself to one gallon per day. When I flushed the toilet I used more safe water in one minute than 3-4 billion people had available to them in a day! Friends let me tell you one gallon a day is not very much water! I could not do it! Yet to hundreds of millions of people they have no other viable option except to drink bad water and watch their children die before their very eyes! I spoke to one woman a very articulate intelligent and passionate woman, she said, “Of course we know that this water from the river is bad for us and causes our children to die, but we drink it because we have no other alternative!” I have now experienced only in an extremely small way what billions of people must suffer through and most of them have NO safe water. We can and we should do something about that! To find out more go to www.cityteam.org/safewater and see how you can help save the lives of thousands even millions of children in Africa and Asia.

Pond Inlet: We had an appointment with the Co-op for fuel at noon. We were to meet the truck at the beach at high noon; sounds like a show down, doesn’t it. Well that was exactly what happened. The driver was waiting for us, while we waited for him. We went to beach Geraldine at 12:30 PM. Shane jumped off the bow expecting shallow water and landed waist deep – so cold. The truck then soon arrived. We passed the fuel hose over the water with a rope. Pat and Shane held the boat while I fueled. The whole process took about an hour. We started to back out and went hard agroud! Getting free took another hour and a half! We got local help and we keep making things worse. We are back at anchor and all seems O.K. The entire town was aware of our predicament.

Looks like the watermaker parts won’t be here until Tuesday at the earliest. We are strongly considering moving to Resolute and asking that the shipment be diverted there. Stand by for the news.

PS. The SSB is working much better. I hooked up all the aluminum plate in the engine room to the ground. I was able to communicate with Peter Semotiuk in Cambridge Bay again tonight.
PSS. Expecting another excellent Arctic Char dinner tonight. I am smelling the love now.

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Editor’s Note: I’ve only receive the pictures which I uploaded, but no update yet from the crew. But they had enough internet access to send photos. This tells me they’ve made it to Pond Inlet. An update should arrive soon. In the mean time here are photos from today. — Received a message from Charlotte that she spoke with the crew on the phone and they have indeed arrived safely in Pond Inlet. 

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Nearing Pond Inlet (72 deg 46′ N, 075 deg 01′ W): After motoring straight for the last six days we see land ahead and will be in Pond Inlet in five hours. We heard from the ice service that tomorrow will bring 30 knot winds and rain in Baffin Bay and Lancaster Sound so our timing is perfect; just ahead of bad weather. The sunrise was at 2:30am and was glorious, lasting about one hour as the fog drifted across and passed on. The pictures are amazing and we hope to get caught up soon. We have seen the sun looping around us through the day. It rises at about 2:00 on the horizon, comes around us and then sets at 11:00. It never gets dark, only dusk for about four hours. We have been grateful for this especially when crossing the sea ice fields in the fog last evening; probably the scariest thing we have been through on the trip so far.

The day was again smooth seas and calm winds with frequent ice bergs. In the early morning just after midnight Pat and Shane had to again make their way through sea ice which you’ll see in the pictures.

The mountains on Baffin Island are covered in glaciers and snow and are magnificent. The ice forecast shows that we can’t get through right now and must wait for the ice to open. There are two boats in Pond Inlet awaiting the ice to open as well. Please pray for an opening for us to move on through safely. We have been very careful with our water and have about 70 gallons left, using 30 over the last six days. Time for showers!

Editor’s Note: Our adventurers have officially crossed the Arctic Circle (actually it happened without fanfare before they saw the walrus). But it’s worth noting, they’ve made it to the Arctic!

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