Below is my log for Aug 10th plus photos at bottom of our passage from Upernavik, Greenland to Arctic Bay. — Aug 10 Wind: West 20 Sky: Overcast with rain now. Full sun here in Arctic Bay most of day. Snow flurries predicted by morning. Temp: 43f Anchored Arctic Bay (at last). Departed Cummings, Read More

Below is another attempt at sending a blog post from the middle of nowhere, via satellite, and at 160 characters per message. — August 8 and we are still anchored Cummings Inlet–fourth day. Either our fuel stops, like Arctic Bay, are iced in or we are weather bound. Right now it’s the latter. As I, Read More

Hi readers. This is Joanna, Randall’s other half. Randall and I have tried out a new trick for posting his updates this week. Where he is, he has no internet connectivity. He can, however, text me messages. 160 characters at a time. So here’s his post. Texted to me, then pulled together, for you., Read More

Aug 1 – Aug 4 If we had been surprised to find “the other” Arctic Tern on Bylot, we were doubly so when rounding the point into Dundas: there *three* other boats already at anchor! Granted, we’d met them all in Nuuk. They were Jimmy Cornell and team on Aventura, a yacht in his, Read More

July 30 – 31 Our crossing from Greenland ended as it began, with the thrumming of Arctic Tern’s big Ford diesel. Wind we encountered from almost every quarter in Baffin Bay, but its voice was soft and inconsistent, and its arguments failed to persuade us to raise more than a reefed main as steadying, Read More

July 29 Day three of our crossing of Baffin Bay to the Canadian Arctic. We are 230 miles west of Upernavik as I write and Arctic Tern is steaming on a glassy sea, making (currently) for the Bylot Island coast, 130 miles further on. I say “currently” because Les and Ali are weighing our, Read More

“Land of the Midnight Sun,” a tag-line for high latitude Alaska, conjures a false image of the far north because it suggests an occasional phenomenon, like the aurora borealis of winter. In fact, here summer is a time of *perpetual* sun. Consider that for Upernavikians (Lat 72N), the bright orb fails to set at, Read More

A collection of cabins built onto the side of steep rock and scree facing west and an open harbor often imprisoned by ice blocks calving from the Upernavik Glacier. Dwellings are brightly painted to the Greenlandic theme: colors are primary-red, yellow, blue, and green. Only one house has striped itself in pastels. Windows are, Read More

July 26 Upernivik, Greenland. Writing from a kitchen in a small house on the side of the hill overlooking the harbor. Owned by Gina, a landlady to passersby, mainly oilmen, scientists, and some cruisers. We’ve rented a shower and a squeeze of internet, both precious commodities in the high arctic villages. Fuel, water, shopping, Read More

July 23 We crossed from Aasiaat to Disko Island, dodging both rocks and icebergs on a calm, sunny afternoon, coming to anchor in Fortune Bay via the south entrance at 11PM. Mosquitos attacked the cockpit immediately. The bergs on our route sparkled, running with water where the light hit them, and twice a shot, Read More

We departed Nuuk in the early morning. A thick fog and a chill breeze blew down from the glacier, shooting through my layers until I put on my foulie top. My being the new guy on board means there is a competition, in my head alone, to *not* be the first to reach for, Read More

July 18 Like many such places, the simplest things require effort and planning. Take watering, for example. Not available from the commercial docks where Arctic Tern has been moored these last days. Instead, one must move the boat to a separate part of the harbor; tie along side whatever is already there; call the “fire, Read More

  July 15 – 17, Nuuk Les, Ali and I met for coffee at the Seaman’s Mission early on a foggy morning.  Then we hauled my 45 pounds of equipment, almost all clothing, down to the wharf where Arctic Tern lay, and I was given a quick tour (here’s how to make coffee; here’s, Read More

In Brief To see Arctic Tern’s daily progress through the Northwest Passage, go to https://share.delorme.com/randallreeves# (NOTE: if linking from the above does not work, cut and paste the link into a new window.) How am I doing this? During Arctic Tern’s 2014 attempt at the Northwest Passage, she will be transiting one of the, Read More

This article contains a summary of the clothing strategy and clothing items I am employing for this Northwest Passage. There are many reasons to take a practice run at the Arctic before attempting it solo. First there’s the difficulty of pilotage. Much of the passage is shallow and uncharted. Because the magnetic field moves, Read More

“Cancelled?” I ask, as if hearing the word for the first time. The plane came down hard on the tarmac in Iqaluit, bouncing once. From the window I had seen ice in the bay and ice in flat, white chunks beached at the high tide line like driftwood. But when the doors open, the, Read More

What I haven’t told you about the Northwest Passage: I’m going. This year. This Thursday, to be precise. All rather sudden. Here’s the back-story: Many who have commented on my Figure 8 Voyage slated for 2015 think the attempt downright daft; some say I underrate the difficulty, while an interesting few have remarked, “that sounds, Read More