Arctic Update

 

Quick geography lesson: Canada's Amundsen Gulf is the western end of the Northwest Passage through Nunavut and the Northwest Territories. The north shore of the Gulf consists of Victoria Island to the east and Banks Island to the west. The south shore is the northernmost coast of the Canadian mainland and contains two prominent peninsulas: the Parry Peninsula with Cape Parry at its northern tip and, to the west, the Bathurst Peninsula with Cape Bathurst at its tip. The part of the Gulf between the two peninsulas is called Franklin Bay.     

The reason I bring this up is there's a big slab of year-round sea ice extending from west of Banks Island down into Franklin Bay, blocking off the western end of the Gulf and preventing exit of the Northwest Passage toward Alaska. It appears that the best route around it - probably the only route around it - is to hug the shore of Franklin Bay, down the west coast of the Parry Peninsula and then up the east coast of the Bathurst.   

To be clear, the waters in the Gulf not occupied by that big slab of sea ice aren't ice free. Until one clears Cape Bathurst, 20 to 50% of the water between the sea ice and the mainland is covered by floes of new ice. To make things even more interesting, there's a gale warning in effect. Winds will increase up to 20 knots near midnight tonight and to 35 knots near noon Sunday, returning to 20 knots by Sunday evening. To quote Penelope Cruz in the film, Vanilla Sky:

Ella Hibbert has taken the Yeva through 100 miles of icy water partially covered by thin to thick floes, hugging the northernmost coast of the Canadian mainland. Today, she arrived in Pierce Point, a natural harbor east of the Parry Peninsula. She intends to ride out the gale there, double-anchored in the harbor.  Pierce Point looks small on the map compared to the vastness of the surrounding Canadian wilderness, but the harbor is nearly 1½ square miles, more than enough to make water conditions in gale-force winds interesting.   

Tamara Klink and the Sardhina 2 have taken a different route. She sailed along the north side of the Amundsen Gulf, away from the mainland, and it looked like she was going to take refuge on the south end of Banks Island. But instead, she turned toward the southwest and sailed through over 100 miles of that floe-infested water across the Gulf toward Cape Parry. About 15 miles north of the cape, she may have seen what appeared to be an open channel of water leading toward the Bathurst Peninsula, as she abruptly turned to the west. The channel was apparently a dead end, as after a couple of miles, she turned back around and tacked back toward the east and her point of departure. Once back on her original route, she headed southwest again. As of this afternoon, she's cleared the northern tip of Cape Perry and hopefully will soon find a snug harbor somewhere to ride out tomorrow's gale.

It's also worth noting that the two have finally left the Canadian province of Nunavut and are now in the Northwest Territories. "Only" 425 more miles to Alaska.   

Since leaving Fort Ross on Somerset Island together, the two explorers were up to 100 miles apart at times, but right now the Sardhina 2 is only about 50 miles west-northwest of the Yeva. It's not a race, but assuming the winds die down by Monday morning, Klink will still have a sizable head start on Hibbert to get around Cape Bathurst and complete the Passage.

Update: Sardhina 2 has found safe harbor on Booth Island just west of Cape Parry.