Arctic Update

 

Before heading up to the Arctic, we first need to acknowledge that former Hudson River whitewater guide Kelsey Pfendler completed her trip from Monterey, California to Oahu, Hawaii. Rowing her 21-foot boat, Lily, solo, she shattered both the men's and women's records in 43 days, 17 hours, and 55 minutes. She became the first and youngest American woman to row the mid-Pacific trip solo. Congratulations.

Meanwhile, way up north on Saint Paul Island in the Bering Sea, English captain Ella Hibbert is still prepping her boat, the Yeva, to complete her solo circumnavigation of the Arctic Ocean. She's been on St. Paul since mid-May, prepping and repainting the Yeva since mid-May, getting everything ship-shape before heading back out. Once she sets sail, she'll pass north over Russia and Scandinavia to return to her original starting point west of Iceland.  

Ice-free conditions on the Kara Sea generally don't begin until mid-July and last through mid-October, so there's no reason for Hibbert to head out any earlier. In fact, it would be foolish to start too soon, as she'd only be waiting from her boat for the ice to clear while needlessly consuming fuel, food, and supplies. However, she's now gotten the Yeva out of drydock and into the water, and hopefully has taken her for a few test runs.

Meanwhile, Brazilian explorer, adventurer and author Tamara Klink is in Homer, Alaska, reunited with her ship, the Sardinha 2. She posted some pics on Instagram of her and a crew priming, painting, and repairing the boat after it's long winter dry-docking in Homer. 

I've visited Homer twice, once in 1994 and again in '95 - marvelous little town, friendly people, lots of bars. The Key West of Alaska, in that it's at the end of the road on a long spit off an even longer peninsula. There's nowhere further to go from Homer other than to turn around and head back, although I convinced someone there to ferry me and my backpacking buddy across Kachemak Bay to the roadless Kenai mainland for a taste of true wilderness camping. No one there but a sky full of air, 40,000 grizzles, and me (and my friend). Intimidating, but a great reminder of what it feels like to not be on the top of the food chain. And to trust some random boat dude to keep his promise to come back and pick us up the next day (he did).  

But this isn't a post about me. What captain Klink plans to do this summer on the Sardinha is anyone's guess. Sail the boat back down to Brazil? Travel back through the Northwest Passage again, but this time in the opposite direction? Follow Hibbert on the so-called Northeast Passage over Russia and into the Atlantic? We'll have to continue to follow her social media posts to find out.