Logo
Prev
Bookmark
Rotate
Print
Next
Contents
All Pages
Related Articles
Browse Issues
Help
Search
Home
'
National Geographic : 1989 May
Contents
ASIS AT SEA, a melt pool on the surface of an ice floe provides me with a welcome drink off Victoria Is land during our second season. Over long periods of time salt in sea ice leaches out, leaving fresher ice on the surface, which melts in the summer sun. With such a constant source of pota ble water we were able to limit the amount we carried aboard to less than two days' emergency supply. If we had had to carry enough fresh water for six weeks, we could never have made the voyage-the weight and volume of the water would have left little room for anything else, and hauling the boat would have been impossible. I named the catamaran Per ception because to me she was the earliest perception of how the voyage could be made. The word also symbolizes the differ ent perceptions people have of the Northwest Passage: an un touched wilderness, an icy bar ricade, a crucible of history, an endless challenge. On a more mundane note, the word "Schooner" at the bow honors a Canadian beer whose maker provided generous support for the voyage. Driven ashore by a violent storm that we barely survived, Mike and I camp (below) at As ton Bay on Somerset Island. To shield our tent from hurricane force winds, we built a wall of snow blocks to windward, cut ting the blocks with one of the catamaran's paddles. The pad dles were enormously versatile, serving as radio-antenna masts, shovels, ice prods, snow knives, and potential argument set tlers-whoever had one in his hand at the time would win. In the soft glow of the mid night sun (right) Perception faces a 30-foot-high jumble of ice floes off the southern coast of Victoria Island. Once again Mike and I go overside to push and coax the catamaran toward a single narrow band of open water that leads in the right direction - east. NationalGeographic, May 1989 592
Links
Archive
1989 Jun
1989 Apr
Navigation
Previous Page
Next Page