Arctic Update

 

Remember the Yeva? Ella Hibbert, its pilot, is about to enter the Bering Strait, leaving the Chukchi Sea  and "officially" completing the Northwest Passage over North America. After months of ice, storms, and close-quarters sailing, she's finally back in ice-free, open water again. She's heading toward Nome, Alaaka, the finish line of the Iditarod, and will find a place to dock the Yeva over the winter, and then return next year to sail the Northeast Passage over Russia and Europe to complete her solo circumnavigation of the Arctic Ocean. 

Tamara Klink and the Sardinha 2 have also left the Passage and have already made it all the way to Nome. She passed between the two Diomede Islands, the U.S. on one side and Russia on the other, separated by less than three miles but by 20 hours (the International Date Line runs between them) and a geopolitical gulf far larger than the water that separates them. I have no idea where or what she intends to do next.