Contemplating Henri Bergson’s concept of time on the Beaufort Sea
Position update 04.06 CEST: 71.05634 N, 132.88951 W
Position update 07.57 CEST: 71.17963 N, 131.94939 W
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Expedition Report, 08.28 CEST:
“Report from the Beaufort Sea: It’s nice to be racing along at 8 knots! We really get the sense that we are getting some positive payback from Mother Nature and the wind gods after all the headwind we struggled against in seemingly endless northern seas of Russia. And best of all: good winds will be with us all the way down to Cambridge Bay, according to our weatherman Marc de Keyser.
Our friend and sailing companion Ibrahim is really enjoying the voyage. Yesterday he spent 20 hours in the cockpit just watching the sea and the sky! He obviously knows the art of travelling.
We are still surprised and worried about the high water temperature. At the moment we are registering around 7 to 8 degrees Celsius, which according to the experts is far higher than normal.
This crossing of the Beaufort Sea is kind of a rest before the challenging zigzagging through the ice that we expect beyond Cambridge Bay. We even have time to read books! The ships limited library is getting some wear. There are some page-turners, but also philosophy. Vince is deeply into Le Monde de Sophie, while some other readers are trying to understand Henri Bergson’s concept of time. This book was a gift from our expedition from friend and sailing philosopher Håkon Lorentzen. Actually this is the perfect place to reflect on the ideas of time; when you spend a four-hour watch at night on your own and undisturbed, it’s the perfect opportunity to think. That’s quite a luxury – to truly have peace for contemplation and be able to string thoughts together for hours on end without interruption! But do we really understand Bergson? Is the past present? That I cannot tell you for certain.
The “Northern Passage” is a happy ship at the moment. She is now entering the waters above the continental shelf in the southeastern part of the Beaufort Sea. Depth has decreased from 2000 to 80 metres in just the last two hours. On the sea chart we can observe some circular features described as pingos. This is submarine ice, columns of permafrost columns rising 20–30 metres above the seafloor …”
Thorleif, captain
“Northern Passage”
12 September
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Thorleif and Ibrahim on watch on the “Northern Passage”.
