The Challenge of the North West Passage

“Thor” reaching the exit of the Bellot Strait on the 22 August in a blizzard © Victor Wejer

The Northwest Passage (NWP) season happened this year on schedule, despite a few routes still closed by ice making decisions difficult for skippers intent on making the transit. This month (August 2024) the first sail boats made the significant crossing of the difficult Bellot Strait, westbound.

Among them Gerd and Mellisa Marggraff on their yacht Thor (USA) completed the passage passing through the Bellot Strait in a fully blown snow storm, passing a large ice patch and multiple ice ribbons, before arriving in Wallis Bay on Prince of Wales Island on 22 August.

Not for the light-hearted

The Marggraff's entered this adventure with a strong vessel (Thor has 16mm aluminum hull plating, a heated pilot house and many other safety features and comforts making it ideal for high latitude exploration) and were well prepared for remote cruising having done extensive research on ice, weather, and routing.

Gerd told Noonsite, "The NWP is not a trip for the light-hearted. We recently departed Cambridge Bay and as we write these lines are sheltering in Summer Harbor, out waiting a westerly gale. Ahead of us are still 1500 miles of Arctic waters and the Bering Sea.

"Traveling in these waters is anything but normal cruising. You go, and go fast when weather and ice conditions permit. There is no time for any delay.

"In recent years, the challenges presented by ice have somewhat decreased, while the challenge of strong storm systems in Arctic waters has increased dramatically. It was impossible to prepare fully for the challenge of traveling in largely uncharted waters."

Ocean Cruising Club support

Gerd and Melissa benefited from the expertise of Victor Wejer (OCC Port Officer) who relayed the latest ice and weather information and provided his expertise on passage making through the Arctic. In addition to that, Victor - together with the OCC - shared his knowledge at periodic zoom meetings made possible by Starlink.

Gerd explains, "Even though we sailed for decades, and I was a commercial captain in Australia for a long time, this NWP is surely a challenge. A special part of the NWP transit has been the camaraderie among the small group of boats attempting the passage this year. In addition to enjoying the company of fellow cruisers in remote parts of the world, this network shared valuable information on anchorages, ice transits, and local weather conditions."

All the OCC boats attempting the North West Passage this summer connected via Zoom with the OCC Port Officer for the NWP, Victor Wejer, for a conversation about their exploits, the ice conditions and their plans as they make their way through the NWP. See the videocast from 16 August, 2024 here.

“Thor's” track through the North West Passage - photo © Victor Wejer

Sailing to the ends of the earth

Gerd and Melissa met over 26 years ago on the Great Barrier Reef. Gerd had sold his sail-dive charter business and had decided to take a break from his commercial maritime career. Since then, Melissa and Gerd have sailed more than 50,000 miles across the world's oceans. This includes the standard barefoot route detouring to Northern Europe and Southern Australia as well as cruising extensively in North America including the west coast from Alaska to Panama and the east coast from Panama to Newfoundland. They particularly fell in love with the Pacific Northwest and Alaska on their multiple summers there and intend to keep their boat in Alaska for a couple more seasons upon completion of the NWP.

Find out more about Thor's adventures sailing to the ends of the earth at www.sailthor.com.

See Thor's track through the NWP at forecast.predictwind.com/tracking/display/Thor

This article has been provided by the courtesy of noonsite.com.