2015 Hudson Bay Expedition – A Very Repulse Welcome
I wonder who should play me in the movie. My short visit to Repulse Bay, a remote and insular Inuit hunting village perched on the arctic circle has all the dramatic trappings of good, pulp cinema. Though I’m still trying to figure what kind of story it is, or even who are the good guys […]
2015 Hudson Bay Expedition – Prisoner of the Wind
Every time you step out the front door, you put yourself at the mercy of the elements. Traffic is snarled, flights are cancelled and you can rest assured that it’s going to rain on someone’s parade. Today seems to be my turn. For a small boat out on the water, there’s a special circle of […]
2015 Hudson Bay Expedition – Heading North
After days of utter calm, the wind returns like a jilted lover in a country song; howling with rage, waving a pistol and busting up the furniture. It wasn’t supposed to be like this. For three days I motored north and east, making a stately five knots over glassy seas. At times, it was practically […]
Hudson Bay Expedition – Away We Go
It’s time to go. All the same, I keep finding small excuses to stay. I need more fuel. Have to edit that video. Might need some more groceries. Facebook beckons. It’s time for lunch/coffee/a nap. With the wind and fog, I had an excuse. But the easterlies have gone and the fog is only an […]
Hudson Bay Expedition – Tour the Boat
This boat. This 22-foot floating fiberglass money pit. For the summer it’s my home, my office and my bedroom. It’s also my jail cell and my ticket to adventure, my shelter through the storms to come and my private little shop of horrors. I’ve often compared her to a VW camper of the sea, but […]
Hudson Bay Expedition – Into the Sea
This whole thing feels like it’s held together with baling wire and wishing thinking. But has it ever been otherwise? After all the running around, stringing wires and stowing cases, it comes down to this: will the boat float and can I make her go. I mention to my friend Chesley that it seems as […]
On the Road Across Canada
It’s 2:45 in the morning, and I bolt awake, my brain spinning in full hamster-wheel mode. I am so not ready for this. But the sun comes up whether I’m ready or not. And soon, it’s time to go. My eyes brim with tears as I hold Janet in my arms. Despair grips me. Is […]
2015 Hudson Bay Expedition
For weeks, I’ve been packing as if my life depends on it. Because, not to be a drama queen, it kind of does. How do you prepare for six weeks alone on a boat in the Canadian arctic? Most modern explorers take the travel light and move fast approach. I’m more of a kitchen sink […]
Drake Passage, Antarctica
At the start of an Antarctic expedition, the sailing yacht Sarah Vorwerk heels over in a squall south of Cape Horn. “We cleared the southern tip of the world just as a single beam of sunlight struck the cliffs, and soon rain and clouds obscured the view. Just before land faded from view, Henk intoned […]
