What's in a Nome?

I'm sitting in Mark's Soap & Suds on the main street of Nome, Alaska. When Larry returns with our overloaded laundry bag, we'll be able to do our laundry, write this Blog and have a drink. We got here just as it opened after our visit by US Customs. Its hours are 3pm until 2am ... so even if I suffer from an unacustomed fit of Writer's Bloque I have lots of time to recover.

On our way here we passed right by what used to be the Soviet Block ... the mid-channel island of Diomede in the Bering Strait just off Dezhnev Point in Eastern Siberia. I felt a bit of pre-Wall chill. My father was a child refugee to Canada in the 1920s. He was born in western Siberia, and I still remember my mother's anxiety in the late 50's that the Soviets would forcibly repatriate him whenever he attended international scientific conferences. Even so, it was nice to see some brand-new names ... not the ever-familiar Nelsons, Cooks, Richmonds etc etc which have haunted us in all our travels. Of course, Cook WAS responsible for naming most of the world. And I find (in reading the "Nome Nugget") that the name Nome was actually a mistake made by the British Admiralty in the 1850s when they read what was meant to be C NAME? They were meant to re-name it,  but ignored the question mark and assumed the badly-printed 'a' was an 'o'. Since then, it's been Nome.

Of course, all the territory used to be Russian and apart from C Prince of Wales (which retains it's British name) there's a mix here ... Chukchi Sea, Ratmanov and Vrangelya Islands (Russian). And of course - Seward - one important name around here. He was Abe Lincoln's Secretary of State back in the 1860s and is known for "Seward's Folly" ... this was because of his purchase from the Russians of the whole of the huge state of Alaska for the sum of $7.2 million (about $.02 an acre). Of course, his decision (considering the oil and mineral discoveries let alone gold) has been fully vindicated.

Nome was the center of a huge gold-rush after its discovery here in 1898. WE had a lot of trouble getting here - imagine how difficult it must have been the the late 19thC? 20,000 wealth-seekers flocked here because gold (1899) was $20/oz ... and the GOLD RUSH CONTINUES today ... with gold at $1500/oz in today's money, there are literally dozens of gold-seekers here. The size and variety of craft are unusual ... but most of them look somewhat haphazard. However, since each of them have to be safety-passed by the Coast Guard, they are all navigable. Each unit has one or two sifter/sorters to go through the sand and one diver who vacuums up the bottom of the sea. The individulas trying their luck seem to be rugged individualists, and the names of their craft follow suit: "Bulhed" (sic), "Pioneer Pump", Casa de Paga ...  I mentioned to Larry that diving for gold for one of these outfits might be a good job for us next summer ... at least it would be better than sailing the NWP!

ps our seal "Sonny" is no longer worried about polar bears - now he's watching for brown/grizzly bears. He finds the fragrance of Pam's scarf reassuring just as I did (Pam is a librarian at the Cambridge Bay school)

Morgan, Jean-Gil and Nick from 'Acalephe' say good-bye

Gold-dredgers

"Sonny" watches for bears

Cape Prince of Wales, Bering Strait

After our rounding Point Barrow, the helpful wind that had been with us from Tuk faded and left us motoring past Icy Cape [named by Captain Cook] and beyond.

Near Point Hope, the forecasts began threatening 30 knot winds first from southeast and then from southwest and west. We could have anchored behind Point Hope and hidden from the southeasterly (SEly) but I was not confident that there would be adequate shelter from the southwest and west winds that would follow. There are no real sheltered harbors in the 1000 miles or so from Tuk to the Bering Strait!

The 30kt SEly really DID blow on the 12th and led to a rather bumpy day. Until it faded though, it allowed us to hold a course a little west of Bering Strait close-hauled under a stays'l and 2 reefed main.

After the frontal passage, the 30kt SWly never blew strongly. We were unwilling to add enough sail to power us through the lighter winds out of fear the forecast 30kt wind would suddenly come on the scene. We thus went very slowly during the night. By morning, it was clear that an uncomfortable 20 knots rather than a revolting 30 knots was as much as we would get. On went more sail! Of course, things being quite unpredictable in these latitudes, off came sail again an hour later when 20 knots became 25!

The line you see on the blog connects noon positions and salient headlands and thus hides the zigs and zags we make when unable to maintain our course due to wind direction. Concealed are the hour or two of fading SEly when we were pointed at Siberia and the many hours of SWly when we were pointed at the Seward Peninsula.

Cape Prince of Wales

Finally this morning as we crossed the Arctic Circle, the southwest wind had relented into a westerly and, as I write this, we are moving well towards Cape Prince of Wales [more Cook!] on the east side of the Bering Strait.

Officially, the Northwest Passage runs from the Arctic Circle in Davis Strait to the Arctic Circle in the Bering Strait. By that definition, we have done it. But, as Hillary rejoined when asked if Mallory had perhaps climbed the mountain first, "Isn't the point to get down again too?"

Thus, we must get to port - that would be Nome sometime tomorrow. Then we must move onward to a place - the first in two months - that doesn't fill with ice during the winter.


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At 14/09/2013 03:38 (utc) our position was 65°39.34'N 168°09.86'W

Point Barrow

The Alaska coastline after Point Barrow still trends more to the west than to the south. Nonetheless the 40 degree heading change we made on passing the point is very significant psychologically: our course is now SOUTH of west rather than NORTH of west.

In many years - though not this one which found our icy hardships elsewhere - the polar pack ice hovers just off Point Barrow. A slight shift of wind brings it crashing up against the land closing a boat's only exit from a wintry prison. Though this year's ice reports and forecasts place the pack many miles off the coast, hovering in the background of our minds is the spectre of past years. Our fast, fair-wind sail from Tuk had a bit of the feeling of racing a train toward a level crossing. We know the ice won't come - but what if it did.

After Barrow, and certainly after Icy Cape a bit beyond, the ice might decide to chase after us but, unlike along the coast behind us, we can sail away to the south faster than the ice can encroach.

There are certainly many miles more to sail ... even to Nome, our next likely inhabited stop. The air temperature still hovers chillingly around the freezing mark - sometimes above and sometimes below - and the water temperature is 3C [37F]. Outwardly, little seems to have changed.

Further on, in the Bering Sea and in the North Pacific, there will be plenty of time for apprehension due to autumn storms rather than to ice. But, for the moment, as we follow Alaska's Chukchi Sea coast down toward the Bering Strait, the predominant feeling is one of relief.

Pack ice Port-side (Bellot Strait) now safely in the past ...

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At 10/09/2013 04:30 (utc) our position was 71°31.30'N 156°01.83'W

Saved from defeat?

 

Larry prepares to dive

Yesterday morning Larry wrote the following letter to our fellow Northwest Passage boat crews and to Claude and David Lloyd …

“After sailing much of the way from C.Bathurst to Tuk, we started the engine about 40 miles before Tuktoyaktuk as the winds faded.  There was considerable vibration accompanied by water ingress around the prop-shaft seal.  We established that we could power at slightly over idle [just under 4 knots] without vibration or water ingress.  Thus it was a very slow trip to and entry into Tuk.

A dive in Tuk's muddy MacKenzie waters [visibility about 6 inches] found that the cutless bearing has play in it and that the blades of the feathering propeller seem excessively loose.

We do not feel we can continue safely…”

Rad, Alec and Dale

We were about to move here for the winter (organizing mail box, cell phone, possible accomodation etc.) but Larry decided to check the engine one last time and he noticed something STRANGE. A call to Yanmar Canada (the engine people) confirmed his suspicion was correct … one engine mount had a severed bolt which was well hidden and impossible to suspect previously. Meanwhile, we had to get off the dock and we called the Coast Guard to arrange for a safe place to keep our sick boat in any type of weather.


A white truck pulled up outside the dock and three men got out. They had heard our call to the Coast Guard on Channel 16 and offered us safe haven tied to one of the barges of their owner – Horizon North – a Vancouver company which provisions this north country over the short summer season. One of them – a master mechanic – had a look at the engine and said he could help and he stayed with us on the trip over and then set to work – welding first one and then a second compromised engine mount. It has now turned out that during the course of this journey ALL FOUR engine mounts were sheared – probably one at a time following weakening in a previously described altercation with fishing gear in England. The engine has been simply resting there, and letting in increasing amounts of water when we raise the RPM.

Radovan Sumera and Larry

Radovan Sumera spent hours helping us last night, and will be back this morning to mend the third and fourth engine mounts. After that, the engine will need to be aligned with the propeller shaft and tested and with the mounts all secured, we SHOULD be on our way once again. 

Our sincere thanks to Horizon North and to Rad, Alec and Dale for coming to the rescue!

Cape Bathurst

One of the unusual features of this summer's ice situation is the movement of Beaufort Sea ice in a kind of clockwise gyre to clutter up the coast of Banks Island. On a bad day, it even extends across the mouth of Amundsen Gulf to Cape Bathurst and impedes navigation between Tuktoyaktuk and the central arctic.

At the time we left Cambridge Bay, the Bathurst ice picture was bleak. Nonetheless, it began to look quite rosy as we headed west toward Pearce Point; there was less than 1/10 ice in a wide band around the cape. Of course gales have a way of changing the ice picture as we have noted before.

We left Pearce Point on the strength of an imperfect but still acceptable picture. We headed away into the fading winds and waves of the westerly gale mindful that the fair winds that followed would be brief. We used up much of this available interval when, in addition to the minimal speed we can maintain when powering into large waves, we discovered a 2 knot current flowing against us around Cape Parry. We were lucky to achieve 3 knots!

Shortly after our departure we received the "new" ice chart which showed Cape Bathurst had deteriorated to the extent of being surrounded by 2/10 ice backboned by a formidable wall of 4/10. But we were on our way and LIBELLELE had reported success in getting through.

For us, though, there would be a building easterly gale that would make a return to a safe anchorage very difficult if we failed to cross the ice barrier. Our ice chart would be 27 hours old when we reached the ice!

ANXIETY ATTACK!

Various phone calls followed. On the one hand, LIBELLULE had succeeded and told us the route they had used. On the other hand, the government "Ice Operations Office" examined the latest RadarSat image and pronounced the ice impassable to us. We were loath to dash back to safe anchorage at Cape Parry without trying the ice and there wasn't time to get TO the ice and BACK to Cape Parry.

We hatched a plan! I bent on the storm sails and we decided that if the ice was impenetrable we would sail about to windward of the ice during the gale and see if things were better after: not a comfortable option, but it at least allowed us to continue with a good conscience.

At about this juncture, the official 1800UTC ice chart arrived in an email from David Lloyd. We were immediately relieved as it showed a difficult but passable situation.

In the event, it was all a bit anticlimactic. There were two or three ice barriers that took some searching to find a way through and, of course, countless VW Beetle sized chunks of ice bobbing about. Navigating in the ice was, in a way, pleasant; the ice damped out the waves normal to a gathering gale. We only really noticed the cold wind when we turned across our downwind course in search of a lead.

Now all that is behind us. 100 miles ahead is Tuktoyaktuk, our last NWP stop in Canada. Our government Sailing Directions authoritatively states that Tuk Harbour will be frozen over in the first week of October!

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At 04/09/2013 03:10 (utc) our position was 70°31.96'N 128°55.25'W

Still at Pearce

It's pleasant in this lonely, wintry wasteland to contemplate a more benign and delightful subject … so here's more about FOOD!

Depending on 'where you are' in your sailing career, food is very important. People can be discouraged and give up their cruising plans due to poor food management.

On a start-up boat: We've noticed a huge difference in what we could put up with when we were first sailing and young(-ish). Most first-time "cruisers" sail in temperate or semi-tropical climes. Traversay II had an ice box. This meant that we could have fish/chicken on Day 1, pork or beef on Day 2 and ham on Day 3 before the ice melted. All the other days on our way to Hawaii, we selected food from 3 bins. Bin 1 had tinned meat, Bin 2 had tinned veggies and Bin 3 had tinned fruit for dessert. Eggs (with Vaseline coating) would be broken in a bowl to check for freshness before use. Opened mayonnaise would last well as long as a fresh utensil was used each time. Fresh vegetables were confined to onions, potatoes, cabbage and turnip. Rice could be cooked in a mix of fresh/salt water. We tried to use the juice in the tinned veggies to cook with as well. I later found that some salamis will last well in the bilges as will certain large cheeses. We had about 100 gallons (400l) of water and we practiced water conservation. Naked bathing on deck whenever there was a tropical downpour, and salt water baths at all other times conserved our water. It was exciting to have a glass of ice water and a fresh salad when we got to Hawaii!

Fishing/hunting: Many of our best friends are good (and avid) fishermen - many are hunter-gatherers by avocation and some are followers of 60's guru Euell Gibbons who wrote the classic "Stalking the Blue-eyed Scallop". They learn from the locals about subsistence fishing in whichever locale they're in. Others learned to hunt as children (like our Norwegian friend Rune). The Norwegians we met in South Georgia were fishing from kayaks and lassoing and butchering reindeer. This not only bettered their diet but also helped the British eliminate an unwanted "introduced species". We ourselves find it's easiest to fish in our freezer.

If you're a vegetarian you can get by with much less. Sir Frances Chichester, the noted British sailor and aviator seemingly survived on a diet of beans. We are not by any means such ascetics. As we've become older and have a much better boat, we're able to provision well and give ourselves a more varied diet. As for the expense, we always buy the best food we can find. We found we actually saved money last summer in Norway which is reputed to be one of the most expensive sailing destinations. We cut down on drinking alcohol and seldom ate out. Of course, all the money we saved was quickly spent once we reached London. We expect to save money this summer also since our main expense seems to be diesel fuel. Today, I'm making a chickpea stew in the pressure cooker with *cumin, paprika and oregano*.

Now we're all alone here in this snowy, windswept spot. At 0600 we got a call from our friend and only neighbour Libellule that they were heading out to see how far they could get towards Tuktoyaktuk. They are going to be so kind as to call us and let us know about the conditions out there … we're really grateful for any help. Libellule is fully crewed with five adult males (some 20 or 30 years younger than us). We are not as sanguine about going off into huge leftover waves and headwinds of 20 knots. We're waiting until later in the day for the wind and waves to abate.

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At 02/09/2013 15:57 (utc) our position was 69°49.25'N 122°42.21'W

Paella

Pearce Point Harbour

Abandoned hut

Mary Anne mentioned in our last posting that we spent a minimal amount of time in Cambridge Bay. I was aware at the time that a westerly gale was brewing and would arrive on the scene in three and a half days. If we left immediately, we would have just enough time to get to this spot: Pearce Point Harbour. Any delay would mean having to stop 170 miles earlier at Bernard Harbour, the nearest previous sheltered anchorage along the coast.

An earlier stop would not only have delayed us one day, but as the weather systems move from west to east, any weather improvement would not arrive there until an additional day later - thus costing one more day!

In the south, the word "Harbour" generally connotes a town or village; here it just means that enclosing bits of land will reduce the waves and wind just enough to anchor your boat in safety until whatever weather you are escaping has passed. There IS an old abandoned shack on the shore along with an old abandoned road leading to the disused gravel airstrip. There seems much evidence in this part of the world of people, no longer here, having passed through.

Eighty meters [270 feet] of heavy 10mm chain stretch from the bow to our anchor buried in the sand and mud under 7 meters of water. Sand and mud are our favorite sea bottom for anchoring. Much more than gravel and certainly more than rock, they allow the anchor to bury deep and hold with remarkable tenacity.

It is snowing off and on outside and the wind, steady at 35 knots and gusting to 40 knots [47mph - 78kph] is making loud moaning sounds in the rigging interrupted by the occasional staccato banging of the slightly-too-loose halyard ropes.

Only road for miles around!

It is difficult to convey an essential psychological difference between a stop on this coast and a weather anchorage further south. The weather that forces us to stop typically disallows visits ashore. Dinghy work is unpleasant - even dangerous - in large waves and we want to be aboard in case the anchor drags. Thus the enforced idleness of the weather delay is combined with an intense awareness of the dwindling supply of "summer" days set against the immense number of miles yet to be traveled.

But all things come to an end - as will this gale. We hope to be moving again by late Monday, September 2nd to deal with any remaining ice around Cape Bathurst and sail onward toward Tuktoyaktuk. Our stop there will be, needless to say, brief: a few hours if we arrive early in the day; overnight if we arrive late.