Børge Ousland

Position update 20.29 CEST: 69.78807 N, 168.32016 W – North of Point Hope. Water temperature: 9.0˚C

Position update 08.01 CEST (4 Sept): 69.66011 N, 166.08485 W – moving steadily east.
Position update 12.01 CEST (4 Sept): 69.7204 N, 164.98604 W
Position update 16.23 CEST (4 Sept): 69.91871 N, 163.91893 W
Position update 20.26 CEST (4 Sept): 70.12795 N, 162.96527 W
Position update 23.59 CEST (4 Sept): 70.3325 N, 162.10086 W
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Expedition Report, 21.16 CEST:
We are still on the way to the Alaskan coast, and are now tacking again. But we will hold this position and go straight east and wait for a new burst of southerly winds that are expected to arrive in a few hours.

The big news today is that we have left Russia and entered US waters! So now we are officially finished with the Northeast Passage, which has been an interesting but demanding exercise. Demanding because we had much more headwind than expected – and headwind is our most vulnerable direction. All other variations are ok, but we loose too much time when tacking. Our boat has performed extremely well in all other conditions, but headwind and tacking are unfortunately not the best conditions for this type of boat, since we are unable to go as high up against the wind as we would like to.

It will be interesting to see what the Northwest Passage can offer with respect to weather. Hopefully we will have better conditions there.

I take this opportunity to change my Devold woollen underwear for the first time on this trip. It is not that I really need to, but it’s nice to celebrate that we are done with the East, and feel fresh and ready for the West. It is actually an old Norwegian tradition to change underwear on special occasions. When Fridtjof Nansen and Hjalmar Johansen overwintered at Frans Josef Land in 1895–96, they celebrated New Year’s eve by turning their underwear inside out.

I am more fortunate since I brought two pairs.
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Best regards,
Børge

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Børge Ousland maintaining a long tradition…

Here is a photo of their last documented bath (27 June) – although rumour has it the trio has showered in their various ports-of-call. There is also a hardy Scandinavian tradition of rolling naked in the snow, but at this time we are unable to confirm whether their excursions onto the ice floes have included such activities.

Position update: 69˚41 N, 170˚50’ W

Expedition Report, 06.22 CEST:
From our position in the middle of the Chukchi Sea, the sea between the Russian autonomous area of Chukotka and Alaska, the 49th state of the USA, we can look back on a voyage through the Northeast Passage – or the Northern Sea Route, as they say in Russia.

It is obvious that the conditions met by the early explorers such as Vitus Bering, Fridtjof Nansen, Adolf Erik Nordenskiöld and Roald Amundsen no longer exists. We passed through in a few weeks, while our predecessors were forced to overwinter once or even twice. Still, it is not an easy passage for any kind of boat or vessel. There is still ice, although not to the extent there used to be, but plenty to make conditions unpredictable for ships. In addition many of the seas you have to pass are very shallow. In the East Siberian Sea, the shipping lane is located 50 nautical miles off the coast, in order for there to be sufficient depth for bigger ships. Lights, buoys and nautical markings are scarce.

In the 1930s the USSR prioritized the Northern Sea Route as a major development project. Despite massive investment in infrastructure, navigation aids, ships and establishment of local towns along the coast, the Sea Route never did become “the highway of the north”.

Today, however, it seems that this old vision of a more regular passage of ships, at least in the summertime, is being reawakened. Atomflot, the operator of icebreakers in these northern seas, has a fleet of modern ships. During our weeks along this coast we have been in daily contact with people representing this organisation and other authorities – and from the first moment we have meet professionalism and service-mindedness. They have not questioned the presence of a tiny trimaran zigzagging in between ice floes, but welcomed our presence and interest. Of course the Russians are not alone in searching for opportunities in the north. The Norwegians are most definitely making their efforts as well. A look at our list of sponsors is telling. It includes North Energy, the Centre for High North Logistics in Kirkenes, Tschudi Shipping and the Norwegian Shipowners’ Association (New Horizons).

We understand the possibilities in Arctic shipping, and we fully understand the challenges. One of them is the sensitivity of this marine area. However, we do believe that based on the professionalism we have met so far among our Russian and Norwegian friends, the visions of future shipping along the Northern Sea Route can be developed in a balanced and secure way.

We have sailed through the Northeast Passage. At the moment our challenge is a prevailing easterly wind that is forcing us to tack the whole way across the Chukchi Sea. To put this challenge in perspective, I should mention that Chukchi is twice the size of the North Sea. We’re making our best efforts to sail tactically, using downloaded weather files and good advice from our weather magician Marc de Keyser. Just 70 nautical miles to the north, we find our friends on board “Peter 1”, whom we are happy to see back on track after their repairs in Pevek.
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Thorleif Thorleifsson, captain
“Northern Passage”
3 September, Chukchi Sea

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Update: The water temperature is 7.5 degrees. If we weren’t sailing, it would be a great temperature for a swim!