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Northabout!

Sep 13, 2004 12: 43 EST
Remember Northabout, the other ship attempting the North East passage this summer? Henk De Velde mentioned the boat in several of his updates. Here she is! Below the Irish crews latest dispatch and more about their previous amazing journeys. Visit also their website for some remarkable tales of polar adventures.

Latest dispatch: Towing Campina

On Tuesday night we towed the disabled Dutch yacht Campina over to the freighter 'Orucheniski'- a demanding operation for Jarlath at the helm, in fresh wind, in open sea, ice-floes moving and all in the dark. Probably the most high-risk part of it for us was the retrieval by Rory of our grapnel ice-anchors mooring us to the grounded floe where we were tied. The footing was very slippery on the icy floe. Even with ice-axe protection to get a bite to hold on to, we all were glad to have our anchors, and men, back aboard.

Over the previous one and a half days, under the radio direction of the nuclear icebreaker 'Vaygach', we had gone in through ice, pulled Campina off the floe to which she was tied, towed her about 30 miles to the location where her rescue sea-lift would take place; all of this through grease ice and young ice. The grease ice is a mush about two inches thick when the sea first starts to freeze. Young ice is the next development , when this turns into a harder skin, still soft , but slowing boat movement and particularly manoeuverability.

Our options - time to get out

Kevin and Micheal went aboard Campina to help during the tow. The speed was generally only 2 knots when moving well. Because Campinas rudder was bent sideways she wouldn't tow straight and veered off to one side. We countered this as best possible by adjusting our towing bridle and backing a headsail on Campina.

During all of this we considered our own options. The polar pack to the north had got heavier, the sea was freezing around us, definitely time to get out. We decided not to pursue the 'sealift' option onwards. None of us were enthusiastic about the concept, not to mind the probable cost. We had always said that this was a two year project, plus or minus. Of course we had hoped that by going hard at it ( and with luck ) that we would do the Passage in one year.

Not to be!

Incidentally, we hear that the North West Passage never opened this year either. Franklin Strait remained clogged. Four east-going boats, two of whom had already overwintered in Cambridge Bay, had to return there, and two west-going boats had had to retreat.

Now we all are enthusiastic about coming back next year, and in more normal ice-conditions finishing the Passage. Thursday, mid-afternoon, we are in the Khatanga River. Big River. We weren't charted for this, and you really need to be. It's full of shallows and sandbanks.

By radio, Slava made local contact, and a 'pilot' boat passed charts to us, putting a fine dent in our hull as she did so with some inelegant maneuvering. It's about 90 miles to go now. We'll be there sometime tomorrow morning.

We hear that Khatanga is an old and interesting place and we're looking forward to stretching our legs.
The big thing of course is to get the boat safely laid- up and then to get a flight to the 'outside'. We'll do a last Report before we leave, probably middle of next week."

The Voyages:

In 1990 we had a memorable voyage in the traditionally built, gaff rigged,Galway Hooker St Patrick. We sailed north to Spitzbergen and returned to Ireland via Murmansk, Norway and the Shetland Islands.

In 1993 we again sailed north, this time to Northwest Greenland, through the frozen seas of Baffin Bay, until stopped by the ice in Melville Bay, West Greenland.

In 1997, our South Aris expedition re-enacted Irishman Earnest Shackleton's amazing survival in Antarctic waters. Following the loss of his ship the endurance in 1916, Shackleton with five of his crew sailed 800 miles to South Georgia in a 23-foot open boat named James Caird. Our replica vessel, Tom Crean, was named in honor of the "unsung hero" of the Endurance expedition. The Russian vessel Kapitan Molchonov provided support in delivering our boat to Antarctica.

In 2001 we sailed our specially designed, ice-strengthened yacht, Northabout through the Northwest Passage from Ireland to the Pacific by way of Greenland, Arctic Canada and Alaska..

The Expedition Team

Paddy Barry
Expedition leader Paddy made a famous first crossing of the Atlantic in his Galway Hooker St Patrick. His voyages to Spitzbergen at the edge of the Polar Ice Pack and to Greenland resulted in the award to him of coveted Blue Water Medal of the Cruising Club of America.

Jarlath Cunnane
The Skipper. A construction manager from County Mayo, Jarlath has sailed extensively throughout the North Atlantic and Mediterranean Sea with a lifetime's sailing experience off the West Coast of Ireland. He built and sailed Tom Crean, the replica of Shackletons' James Caird lifeboat used in the South Arís expedition.

Kevin Cronin
Finance. Kevin has extensive sailing experience and has sailed to the Arctic and Antarctica. He sailed on the Galway Hooker St Patrick on its historic voyages to America (1986) and Greenland (1993).

Michael Brogan
Expedition Doctor. In 1990 he sailed to Iceland and Spitzbergen on Paddy Barry's Hooker St Patrick.

Garry Finegan
Freelance cameraman, works on drama, documentaries, commercials. Clients includes RTE, BBC, ITV, Japanese TV, Croatia TV, Norwegian TV and Slovenia TV. Worked in Cambodia, India, China, USA, and throughout Europe.

Colm Brogan
Fluent Russian speaker. He spent ten years working and living in Russia(CIS) and is currently living in his native home, Kinvara, Galway.

Rory Casey
IT & electronics. Rory sailed on Northabout through the Inside Passage, British Columbia, Canada last summer. A qualified Mountain guide and Managing Director of Fibrepulse, a fibre optic company.

Vladislav "Slava" Samoilovich
Ice pilot. Was born in Moscow and grew up in Siberia. At 15, he joined the Russian Navy and studied navigation. He became a captain with the Administration of the Northern Sea Route and has 23 years experience of navigating the Russian Arctic.

Brendan Minish
Radio operator and webmaster. Keeps the team informed of weather and ice information, via HF radio, and is the team's link to the outside world.

Image of one of the teams polar passages, courtesy expedition website.

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