(exploration, solo, curiosity, reading up, asking questions)
There will always be the question what makes a person, such as
myself, seem to want to pursue paddling exploits. Have I discovered from local paddling that perhaps exploration of
the water from my kayak might be a particularly fascinating way to experience
and observe nature.
I noticed, when I am out on the water in my kayak, that even
local kayak paddling is surprisingly diverse, no matter what are the
conditions.
As my understanding of kayak paddling has been increasing I have
discovered that kayaking is a highly intellectual, challenging and stimulating
experience. I have found that during
quiet times I can relax and glide over the water investigating its shallows but
when there is wind on the water, everything is different. Then I find myself thinking very
differently.
I have found that just because of the very nature of the kayak I
can closely interact with the waves on the water. In my mind this is ballet on the water, the interaction of my
body and my kayak with the waves.
Now there are those situations such as when I am passing through
conflicting currents I notice that I have to paddle very precisely and
vigorously just to control the helm and stay upright. But in paddling there is plenty of less threatening but very
interesting delightful moments while paddling, ballet on the water.
All in all, this wonderful little boat, the kayak, allows me to
indulge both my imagination and my curiosity.
Curiosity, this endless pursuit of my curiosity, makes those
pieces of my puzzle, those seemingly unimportant things, become terribly
exciting. I have found myself suddenly
becoming very involved in unearthing one answer here and another answer there
only because I just happened to be out in my kayak and have come across
something unknown.
I really don’t know how anyone can enjoy water as much as I do
in any boat other than a kayak.
For myself one of my questions in this wonderful puzzle is
"why do these things live here what are the chemical and physical factors
to cause this particular phenomena of are?"
I realize that each solo trip requires immense amounts of study
about the natural systems of each area, but that is the wonder of exploring.
Sometimes
people feel quite threatened when the find out how serious I actually am about
my paddling adventures. I have always
found that resourcefulness and being good at asking questions has been the key
ingredient for survival.
I have ravaged all the books in our local libraries reading
anything about the Arctic. Then again I have also acquired my own collection of
reference books. I used to spend a surprising amount just complete focused on
how was I going to even dare to explore.
Questions needing instant answers none of my resources at hand
would tell me so invariably I have telephoned people in the places I wanted to
visit asking some very important questions such as how do you handle the bears.
And of course there is always some little detail that I forgot
to think about. Exploration in the
arctic is such a passion I find myself always asking as much as I can before I
get there.
I really don’t want to find out that I have just chosen a
terrible place to paddle.
Believe me, I have based some of my trips upon just a short
telephone conversation with someone who has special knowledge about the area I
am interested in.
This type of self sufficient travel has made me recall and
combine observations and learning I did about geology combined with reading so
that I understand a simple description such as katabatic winds occur during
summer months in this area.
Then I combine the remark about katabatic winds with the note
that this area is made up of basalt or sedimentary rock. These little notes immediately alerted me to
No I don’t want to paddle there because the katabatic winds will drown me and
the basalt and sedimentary rocks mean there are just endless scree slopes with
no place to land for miles.
I cannot fault myself on trying to be as completely prepared as
possible both mentally and physically.
I need to be well prepared and self-sufficient so that I can appreciate
and understand what I am experiencing on my journey.
In a solo on a solo expedition kayak there is only one captain
and one expedition guide, that’s me!
Then again there is always the part of travel where I am going
to find that I cannot always expect to know everything about an area. I have to access for myself whatever
information is available.
Choosing a place to go**
I will tell you about one of my experiences. I read in the Pilot Guide to Sailing
Directions that the winds in Barrow, Alaska in August averaged fifteen
knots and blew from the east.
Sounds good to me! I thought.
www.guillemot-kayaks.com/Trips/Gail/GailFerris.html
What I had not thought about things like those occasional
meteorological excursions that can occur at any time. And I do mean excursions.
Barrow was beset by a very large powerful low-pressure system
packing 60 mile an hour winds. Rude I
thought to myself. Well I was very
lucky that I happened to chat with the people where I was camping on Point
Barrow the day I landed. Even though it
was calm and perfectly innocent looking when I set up my tent that evening the
storm came in like a bear. My friends
set up a shelter around my tent of plywood and their station wagon, which saved
my tent from “who knows” but I didn’t want to find out. It took a few days for the storm to blow
through. I spoke with the local weather
station and they advised me to just stay put until this storm passed
through. Then there would be a period
of relative calm. Believe me, I
believed them and that was fine with me.
My notes, videos and photos for each trip have much more meaning
to me when I write them up as I work on identifying and explaining my
observations. The seemingly simple
exercise of just having to put into words what I have seen, is really be quite
a challenge and when I do my greatest amount of learning. http://www.whitespacegallery.com/livingartists/ferris-statement.php
When I flew to Point Barrow, Alaska and on one side was the
exhilarating sight and sound of the waves of the Chukchi Sea coming into shore
and on the other side was the Beaufort Sea a mass of chunks of ice and to crown
it all was the great mysterious Arctic Ocean.
On
my way to Barrow I happened to a shadow of my airplane I was flying in
reflected in the clouds with a halo around it, and at one point I even saw two
of the same airplane side by side. I
didn't think much about it until I started trying to find the answer, then my
imagination became excited as I thought about how these factors I had never
even given thought to can create such unbelievable visual phenomena.
I found the answer in a Sierra Club Handbook Weather,
which explained that this condition was due to the moisture level at that
altitude in combination with solar reflection.
Then I panned through the guide to see how this guide might
explain mirages or "immera," and so I continued on with more
questions of "what is it and why?"
It seemed so impossible but it exists that at just the right
moment it is possible to see landforms several hundred miles away magnified
just as if they were only a few miles away.
This is because atmospheric conditions are right. What an experience to be standing there an
see an image emerge from the horizon shimmering and climbing higher hovering
there for a while only to fall back gradually and disappear on the horizon. www.islandnet.com/~see/weather/history/artmirge.htm
This type of mirage described in the Pilot Guide to Sailing
Directions
http://www.guillemot-kayaks.com/Trips/Gail/GailTrips/UpernavikPaddlingAlone.txt
is the result of such a rapid temperature elevation that the density of the air
relative to the surrounding air is so different that it bends the light rays
causing refraction. This makes objects
appear elongated upward and also may cause objects to appear to be floating.
Barrow Alaska, because it is a very flat area, is a good place where I saw one
of these mirages at about 4:00 in the afternoon. I asked a lady about them and she said oh they happen every
afternoon. www.islandnet.com/~see/weather/history/artmirge.htm
Out on the Barren-grounds on a nice hot bright summer's day
while we were running some mild whitewater on the Baillie River. I was sure
that I saw was a huge boulder in the middle of the river. When I got there, I found out that huge
rock, which looked like it was sitting at the top of a rapids as though it was
five feet across turned out to be just a regular stone only five inches across.
This visual aberration, the magnification of objects on the
surface, is caused by bending of the sunlight as it passes on a shallow angle
through the atmosphere and colder surface temperatures.
That rock sure looked real to me and when I actually came up to
that 5-inch rock I felt as though I was in a time warp. I have heard of people having trouble
stepping across little ditches because they looked huge to them. I was glad that I did not have that trouble,
things were complicated enough. Nothing
is real and we were in bear country too.
For the Barren-grounds there is information available from The
Canada Department of Energy, Mines and Resources in a guide written for
canoeing, which advises paddlers to begin run of those river on the last week
of June ideally just as the ice goes out.
Ptarmigan Airlines www.firstair.ca/About_First_Air/company_history.html
flew us in a DeHaviland Beaver
floatplane from Yellowknife to the beginning of the Baillie River for us to run
the entire length of the Baillie by the middle of July to its confluence with
the Back River. Then we proceeded to an
easily accessible pickup point on the Back River where there was a long enough
stretch of flat water for the plane to pick us up on. www.webshots.com/g/poster/89/19189_poster.html
As we made our way down the Baillie we noticed by the next
morning of each day that the river had dropped six inches a day. By mid-July the Baillie has run out of water
because the snow runoff feeding the watershed for this river had long since
carried down the river.
The Back River is noticeably wider being about four
times the width of the Baillie. The
huge, flat expanse of the Back, belied its swift current at least 7 knots as
against the 4 knots I could sprint my Klepper.
I was glad we did not have to run any rapids in the Back I think they
would have been quite formidable.
For me during my Barren-Grounds trip the low angle of the sun
caused visual aberrations while judging rapids even more complicated on the
Baillie River making me ask myself "hey, what's real around
here?" There were also plenty of
rock gardens and good strong eddies on the Baillie. http://www.guillemot-kayaks.com/Trips/Gail/GailFerris.html
Another beautiful weather formation I saw at Barrow I saw was
plenty of Virga. www.newton.dep.anl.gov/askasci/wea00/wea00173.htm
It seemed to me as though there were more at Barrow than I have ever
seen elsewhere but later I saw some lovely Virga in Arctic Bay Canada.
www.guillemot-kayaks.com/Trips/Gail/ArcticBay.html
There are many more situations in the Arctic where atmospheric
conditions that permit unusual visual phenomena in the Arctic. Their occurrence doesn't make them any less
strange or exciting than watching shooting stars in my kayak at home.
With all these visual phenomena in the Arctic I wonder about how
much personal stress these put on those who live there, because I can never be
quite sure of what I am actually seeing.
So there I am paddling along and nothing is real,
now what!
In
the winter the aurora borealis happens in great grandeur and when I was in Greenland
there was a Leonid meteor shower with the Aurora all at the time. That was spectacular.
http://science.nasa.gov/newhome/headlines/ast10nov98_1.htm
I wonder if this is another one of the reasons why
Arctic people, the Inuit, are always so close with each other and the mystical
is of such great value. Other factors
such as the fierce weather, the unpredictability of the ice and the long
periods of darkness make the Arctic a very difficult environment to live
in. To visit the Arctic and to be among
its people, the Inuit, and to eat some of their native food, but not to
disturb, is a special experience.
In
Pond Inlet I happened to be on the water just as the sun pierced through the
departing clouds as it was beginning to set.
Brilliant reds and oranges illuminated the contrastingly blue and grey
sky imparting a pearl luster of pinks and grays to the softly rolling
water. Many times I had been enveloped
by this glorious brilliant sky and surrounding waters with their pearly hues at
sunset but I this time was special.
From the side of my kayak I lowered my video camera just to the surface
of the water and captured not only the brilliance of the sun in the air but
also reflected among the soft riffles on the water. www.guillemot-kayaks.com/Trips/Gail/89PondInlet.htm
When
it is very clear in the latter parts of the day I could look for miles across
the water. This became very confusing
because I could not tell what was in the foreground and what was the
background. This can be in the range of
50 miles where islands and peninsulas will coalesce to look as though they are
combined.
The
colors blend into the subtle range of an Oriental watercolor. Each feature with the closest being yellow
browns grading to browns then becoming a lighter and lighter shade of brownish
blue finally becoming blue and then finally so pale that the opposite western
shore about fifty miles away had become almost invisible.
I
saw this while looking at Bylot Island from across the way in Pond Inlet. In contrast where I was on a vast expanse of
flat land in Pond Inlet just a few miles across the water can be a grand cliff
face towering to 3,000 feet in one sheer vertical rise called Qorbignaluk
Headland and southward down Oliver Sound.
I saw that it was flanked by these equally dramatic cliff faces lining
both sides. The sight is so startling
that Oliver Sound is a fjord that has split very deep into the earth appearing
as though this fjord had been cut through the rock just same as if I had cut
off a piece of cheese. This illustrates
how distance, atmospheric conditions, the angle of the sun above the horizon
and objects to compare with for size make quite a difference in how things
appear in the Arctic. www.guillemot-kayaks.com/Trips/Gail/89PondInlet.htm
Comparing
others experiences and reading various explanations of how does this phenomena
happen is very exciting to me and makes travel all the more rewarding. Some areas in the Arctic have many more
mirages and others are especially beautiful for their colors.
I
took the advice of Peter Bendtzen and stayed through the winter in Kullorsuaq
Greenland just to see the colors.
Weather
and angle of the sun above the horizon can intensify changes in light
conditions, which amplifies the colors of everything such as ice, snow and
especially the icebergs. On a foggy
gray day where there has been fog among icebergs, I have seen what looks to me
to be very strange a glow coming from refractive ice in these icebergs. This glow I found especially visually
exciting during low light conditions when I was paddling alone on the water.
The
snow along the riverbanks and the snow which compresses becoming glacier under
just the right conditions can become compressed into areas that are perfectly
transparent aqua blue.
The
physics of compression on snow deposits alters the color that I see by the
spectrum wavelength of the light it refracts, which caused the intensely blue
color that I saw. I think that is part
of the magic of looking at ice in the Arctic.
Jon
Cons and I spent hours photographing and looking at an iceberg beached in
Newfoundland because it had the wonderful glowing lines of transparent blue.
In late June into early July along an Arctic river
I have seen a very special type of ice, which I have
Getting to your destination**
(getting there)
When
I am planning a trip I have to think about what my final problem is going to
be. Sometimes simple things like just
getting there can be quite a trick especially when I am carrying lots of excess
luggage.
I
learned from my first trip to Pond Inlet, which was served by a small aircraft
that I had to ship my luggage via airfreight in advance. www.nunavut.worldweb.com/Transportation/Airlines/
I
could not even get away with booking an extra seat for my luggage.
In
Upernavik Greenland when they only had helicopter service I often wound up with
stuck in Ilulissat camping in front of the airport a few days waiting for the
weather to clear. Passenger helicopters
are not allowed to fly if the ground cannot be seen throughout the entire flight. We flew so low up to Upernavik that I could
have reached out the window and grabbed some rocks.
Waiting
in Ilulassaat I did tour the Knud Rasmussen Museum www.ilumus.gl/uk/about.html several times, this is a very informative
museum. Since I was trapped in
Ilulissat I also took a day flight to Aassiat to visit that well known
museum. However I would have much
rather been on my way to Upernavik.
Iceland air
offers a cheaper fare to Greenland but flying into Kulusuk Greenland is not
daily and kulusuk is frequently fogged in making the flight from there to the
other connections a possible problem I prefer to avoid. Also I think the freight service is more
limited from Kulusuk to Kangerlussuaq.
So I prefer
to go by way of Denmark because of the size of the airplane and frequency of
service.
In 2003 I
found that there was a flight from of Canada to Aasiat but it was only once a
week on a Hawker-Siddley with no extra baggage allowed.
Now
I found via Google on my computer that First Air is planning to possibly offer
jet service to Greenland in the summer.
This would make my travel much easier and less time in the air.
However here is the reply from: "Reservations
First Air" <reservat@magma.ca>Thursday,
January 20, 2005 3:58 PM
Subject: Re: Canada to Greenland this summer
We
will not be having regular scheduled jet service from Nunavut to
Greenland. Great Canadian Travel will
be chartering our aircrafts this summer.
Great Canadian Travel contact information is: www.greatcanadiantravel.com
or 1-800-661-3830.
To book my air tickets to Greenland I use Greenland
Travel phone +45 33131011 or email Copenhagen@greenland-travel.dk
to book tickets
There is coastal ferry service
via the Arctic Umiaq Line http://www.aul.gl and the ferry can be taken from
Ilulissat http://www.greenland-guide.gl/aul/sarpik.htm#F
the ferry takes more time but is considerably cheaper.
Some
friends of mine chartered a flight for their family of five with kayaks and
camping gear included directly from Canada to Upernavik and this did not cost
all that much money in fact it was cheaper than had they booked the commercial
flight. http://www.greatcanadiantravel.com/greenland_charter.htm
I
have not flown to Russia since 1991 however Alaska Air does offer flights to
Russia.
(Pond Inlet, luggage shipping problems, Hawker Sibley, Boeing 737)
Well it seems so easy to cross the Canadian border
but when it comes to shipping airfreight in advance
I
tried to arrange for an airfreight company to ship my gear over the border from
the United States into Canada. Not all
service from the US such as Hartford is suitable for carrying large airfreight
items.
I
had to go to Canada to clear my freight through customs.
However,
once my gear was cleared through customs, I can then ship my gear in advance to
Pond Inlet. I would suggest for Pond
Inlet call First Air and see how badly they are backed up with cargo and expect
that you might have to ship your gear a month in advance minimum.
To save money on airfreight we drove our freight
over the Canada border on the condition that we were on vacation and had it
transported by a trucking company to Yellowknife.
For expedition travel I found that it is very
important to find out what size aircraft serves the final point of
destination. Then my next question is
can this flight carry all of my excess luggage? If I cannot be guaranteed that my luggage will be flown with me
what other means of shipping are available with airfreight being the preferred
method.
It is generally true that to places where there is
commercial ventures such as mining, Barrow Alaska and Arctic Bay there is
frequent Boeing 737 service. This is
ideal the prices are less and shipping problems are minimal. However SAS from Copenhagen, Denmark to
Søndrestrøm Fjord / Kangerlussuaq Greenland and then Greenland Air within
Greenland charges full freight prices all in all will cost hundreds of dollars.
There
is no customs in Greenland and Danish customs for accompanied baggage are not
difficult.
In 1992 I flew on First Air New York to Ottawa and
Ottawa to Nuuk, Greenland on a Boeing 727 without baggage problems. Canadian customs were no problem for people
from the United States going on vacation in Canada. I do not understand why this is so exactly because I was going on
to Greenland.
When departing I make sure that I get to the
airport very early to be sure that my baggage is put on the aircraft in time.
In 1989 I would have never known that there might
be even the slightest problem with flying ourselves and all our folding kayaks
and camping equipment to Pond Inlet had a friend of mine asked the question
about whether there would be any problem getting our equipment up to Pond
Inlet.
To
Pond Inlet on the leg from Frobisher / Iqaluit, because the only air service,
First Air, could not necessarily fly my baggage all the way to Pond Inlet since
the 44 passenger Hawker Siddeley 748 airplane is often over booked for baggage
and people during the summer.
Unfortunately
some of the towns in Canada such as Pond Inlet are limited to small aircraft
because the strata beneath those runways cannot tolerate the landing impact of
a Boeing 737. There will not be Boeing
737 service in Pond Inlet any time soon even though this is one of the most
beautiful places to paddle in the Canadian Arctic
I
plan my packing so that I will not become separated from my camping gear and
food because hotel rooms in the Arctic at airports are very expensive. I have camped at Søndrestrøm and Ilulissat a
few times and not by choice either.
In
one instance I had the misfortune of an outfitter failing to notice that one of
my bags was missing. The airline, First
Air, kindly retrieved my missing bag on the next flight.
From
that experience I feel it is best to have the airline receive and store my
baggage on the other end. Make sure
each bag is labeled with name, telephone number and date of my expected arrival
with the label "Hold for Arrival"
For
destinations such as Barrow Alaska I have used UPS instead of airfreight
service.
I
use only shoulder strap canvas or backpack fabric bags because these can be
packed into my kayak for the rest of my trip.
My folding kayak is packed in canvas bags because canvas breaths.
(information sources communicating and arranging tide
at Pond, Baillie story, Upernavik and Barrow as a contrast)
Well
what about the old question, so what will the paddling conditions be? What I have done is to find out what the
conditions are likely to be. Sometimes
there is no information.
I
have found that when dealing with guided tour companies not until I have gotten
in contact with the proper person and asked the right question have I
necessarily gotten the real answer.
Tour guiding companies prefer to avoid accommodating my innovative travel
requests if I want to do something that they are not comfortable with somebody
like me who would just like to use their transportation to get up to Ellesmere
and then go off paddling alone. I still
have never been to Ellesmere and I would like to see the polynia area of
Victoria Bay. http://collections.ic.gc.ca/arctic/enviro/polynyas.htm http://collections.ic.gc.ca/arctic/enviro/polynyas.htm
At
home in Stony Creek, when I paddle I pay attention to what kind of sea develops
a where in relation to the above and underwater topography when I am
paddling. The familiar questions of how
big are the waves when the wind blows twenty knots from the west and where will
the waves be largest all go into my collection of information.
I need to be realistic about what paddling situations may arise
unexpectedly such as a huge chunk breaks off an iceberg and crashes into the sea. Or an iceberg suddenly breaks apart.
One of the worst iceberg situations I encountered
was in the fjords of Upernavik. I
paddled by what looked like two medium sized icebergs in September. Of the two icebergs the nearest one suddenly
reared completely out of the water. The
whole iceberg was lifted out of the water by the abrupt readjustment to the new
center of gravity on the interconnected icebergs. What looked like two bergs was one gigantic iceberg with a
submerged bridge of ice between them.
I was very lucky.
I had assumed the medium iceberg I was passing by
was stable and I had been planning to beach my kayak on the nearby shore. The steep waves generated by the shift in
this gigantic iceberg would have swept my kayak away in an instant.
For
exploration planning once I have a clear idea of my paddling skills, I have to
match these skills to what I believe my paddling conditions will be. Why, well because I am a big chicken! I don’t like to be fearful when I am
paddling. I like to paddle from one
place to another feeling relaxed to see things I have never seen before. To me that is what exploration is all about,
me not being scared to death and thinking “Wow I almost died doing that”. I rather feel just transported with aw and
fascination looking at things.
Things
such as bumblebees and butterflies, the Arctic Fritillary http://www.turtlepuddle.org/alaskan/butterfly9.html in the Arctic. Who would believe that there are huge bumble bees in the Arctic www.nhm.ac.uk/entomology/bombus/al.html I have seen them and it was especially
exciting because I had read about them, but seeing made them all the more
amazing.
In
some ways my travels feed my imagination an extension from when I was a child
looking at things and wondering.
So
this where the fun begins because there is so much abstract thought and
communication necessary to try and figure out what the paddling conditions at
the place I plan to visit are likely to be.
I must confess without the slightest hesitation that I certainly have
changed my plans from paddling in one area to another once I found out what the
paddling situation was really going to be like.
Misery
is not for me. Travel via the kayak is
for exploration. My strategy for
paddling is similar to avoiding a traffic jam when I have heard a few cryptic
words on the CB from a truck driver such as "backed up to exit 40",
which is just enough to be a very convenient tip off. Forget it I will go elsewhere.
Kayak Choice for shipping**
(shipping )
Just ask yourself how feasible would it be to fly with a fiberglass
kayak as a passenger next to you.
Somehow I think it is not likely, even if you were to saw your
fiberglass kayak into sections, you would probably be arrested and charged with
traveling with an alien.
I have asked airlines if I could purchase an extra seat to accommodate
my excess baggage. The answer was no.
Folding kayaks, which have canvas bags with shoulder carrying straps,
such as the Aerius I Expedition Klepper, are the easiest to fly to the Arctic
because these can be shipped in their original canvas bags.
How well I remember John Dowd said that you can
take folding kayak anywhere in the world on an aircraft. That was when I decided that first thing I
was to do was to own a folding kayak.
In 2003 I replaced my other folding kayaks with the
Mark I and II designed and manufactured by Mark Eckhart, Long Haul Products,
1685 2075 Drive, Cedaredge, CO 81413 USA phone: 1 970 856 3662, 1 888 811 3662
fax: 1 970 856 3663 http://www.longhaulfoldingkayaks.com/
.
The Mark I the best folding sponsoned kayak for
many reasons first of all for its reliable design and choice of materials and
second is because it can be repaired in the field easily. This is the kayak of choice by the US
military exceeding all other kayaks on the market in 2005.
Kayak Choice**
(seaworthiness, wax, rudder, sponsons & air temperature
The Long Haul Mark I I found myself paddling 10 to
12 hours a day because it was so comfortable and seaworthy until I was falling
asleep. I prefer the Long Haul Mark I
because this kayak paddles better because the hull is longer and more streamlined
shaped than the Klepper. I have inadvertently tested the seaworthiness of the
Mark I in hours of following and nasty broadside high wind seas my motor
boating friends suggested that I really had better avoid.
The frame is better designed and fittings do not
slip apart as they do in the Klepper.
All the failings of the other folding kayaks have been addressed in this
kayak.
Loading the Mark I was without question much easier
and quicker because of the deck ports.
The nylon dry bags just slipped through the ports. I could position them within the hull to my
weight distribution and logistical needs with complete ease.
http://www.oceanriver.com/ors_files/storage.asp
I found the design of deck cargo ports, spray
skirt, cockpit rim and rudder to be Arctic expedition quality.
www.guillemot-kayaks.com/Trips/Gail/MarkIchoice.htm
I used to prefer the Klepper because it was tough,
roomy and the most seaworthy kayak I knew of John Dowd said "I can take a
folding kayak anywhere in the world.
Anywhere that I can fly to yes John Dowd was correct, and that if I want
to be an explorer and to go to remote places only a folding boat will do. For me it is the Long Haul Mark I.
How
many people know I can paddle a class II river in a Klepper, I know several of
these people and I met some of them when I paddled the Baillie with my Aerius I
in 1990. My black hypalon bottom shows
hardly any wear after my trip down the Baillie, at Barrow and two trips in
Upernavik Greenland and one in Arctic Bay as well as my local paddling and
sailing. In the past the frequent
comment was that the Klepper boat bottoms were so fragile that they shredded
when used in rivers and shoal areas.
That is not true now.
From
my experience in Arctic Bay I can assure I from having rammed into and dragged
that black hypalon bottom over some pans of sea ice that the hypalon hull can
with stand entrapment in ice floes. The
stress was even greater on the fabric when I forced the hull against sharp
fingers of ice to extract myself from ice floe entrapment. I experienced four instances of ice floe
entrapment during my solo kayak trip in Arctic Bay on Baffin Island.
Eric
Stiller and Tony Brown used the Klepper Quattro in Australia they were able to
vary the shape from the traditional V shape of the Aerius I and II to a flatter
shape by fully inflating the second set of air chambers or sponsons. With this flatter shape they increased their
hull speed such that they were able to set a new average speed record of 75
miles 24 hours for 4 to 5 days.
I
ran the Baillie with Erwin Streisinger in 1990 in my Aerius I after I had
practiced running in a class I white water slalom course was interesting. I took lessons in slalom paddling from Bart
Hauthaway and participated in the ACA New England slalom clinic and race series
with a white water kayak and my Klepper.
I did my most intense learning running slalom in my Klepper because in
slalom you either make those gates or you do not. I really found out what it was like to lean out on my elbow to
execute an eddy turn into a slalom gate.
I used this knowledge in Arctic Bay for real when I found myself
suddenly being blown by wind so strong I felt as though I was water skiing only
nobody was towing me, the wind was blowing me.
Kayak repairs **
(cold condition repair)
Cold
conditions complicate making repairs.
Any skin on frame kayak or boat hull of Hypalon such as the Long Haul Mark
I and II and Klepper can be repaired within the warm environment of a
tent. Depending on where the hole or
rip is either take the frame out of the skin and bring the skin into the tent
or just bring inside the tent the damaged portion of the bow or stern.
The
glue for repairing Hypalon is like bicycle patch cement it will set in just a
matter of moments (the time it takes for a bicycle patch to set) in below
freezing temperatures however inside a tent there is added security that the
cement will have set fully.
Even
on a bright sunny summer day I have found that tape will not even stick to
itself, so don’t bother bringing any tape with you unless you know it will
stick at near freezing temperatures.
The
fiberglass kayak cannot even be repaired with tape because tape barely sticks
even to itself in the typical 40 degrees F Arctic day temperatures. Special arrangements have to be made to
repair fiberglass I have seen fishermen in Upernavik repair their fiberglass yawls
by applying polyester resin on the inside of their boat and inverting the hull
over a simmering camp stove for a day.
A sewing kit, just a small one in a waterproof
cylinder I have found is the best type of repair kit going. I t fit it out with some heavy needles and
thread for sewing canvas because usually a repair needs to be made on some
fabric item. I also put in a small spool of thin nylon thread. www.seattlefabrics.com/
I bring either two Leatherman knives or a
Leatherman and an extra set of pliers.
I have used those to make a frame repair on my kayak. The wood split and I cooked up a splint from
some bones I found on the beach and some wire I came across.
Wind***
(projected wind demands)
Wind**
In the Arctic
wind I have to exercise some judgment as to whether I should wait out strong
winds from foul weather or whether I should take my chances.
If
I do know that there is a forecast for fierce wind commonly called cooling
winds wind at 25 knots or 14-16 meters
per second I stay put.
The
wind generated by temperature difference in fjords generally ranges in 10 to 20
knots will blow for days on end.
Katabatic winds come with no clouds often on bright days. The katabatic wind does not necessarily
ruffle the water in the immediate area affected, indeed katabatic wind can blow
the water absolutely flat along with you in your kayak. These winds are forecast in some areas
because of local topographic features that cause them to happen. Mountains long steep sided fjords bright sun
shine on a warm summer day. In Pond
Inlet I was told to beware of White Bay and Arctic Bay near town in general
many katabatic winds occur. The basic principle
is cold air is heavier than warm air cold air replaces warm air.
In a group
paddling situation in Pond Inlet I have had the experience of being in a
situation where people really felt that they had to be on the water even though
the wind blowing 25 knots behind them.
When they got to the tip of the peninsula where there was only boulders
they had to face the wind. I decided I
would paddle only until I could find a place any place to duck in. I ducked in and when I turned around I was
amazed to find that everyone else had the same idea. The rest of the group was following me. The leader said that this was supposed to just be a lunch stop,
but none of us were not interested in any more punishment by the wind.
A second
situation in Pond Inlet again with heavy wind at our backs we rounded the tip
of a peninsula to come abruptly face to face the katabatic wind coming down
White Bay. There were no waves, instead
water was blown absolutely flat.
The only
possible point of refuge was a waterfall part way down the peninsula. There was no other choice for any campsite
behind us. I and the rest of the group
survived by paddling as close to the rock cliffs as possible. We arrived extremely exhausted at the
waterfall.
Previously on
our journey outbound we had passed by this waterfall. I had noticed the loose basaltic rock geology of this island and
that this waterfall which came out of the top ridge was surrounded by freshly
fallen rocks. Now we had no choice.
We were able
to land and to find spaces for our tents among the rocks. The rocks had lichens on them, which told me
that the rocks had probably not fallen all that recently. It did not matter we had to take our
chances.
I thought
that our group should have waited another day for the wind to abate. This endeavor may have not only been futile,
but truly courting disaster because the extremely strenuous paddling could have
given a paddler a heart attack.
Not all kayak
paddlers have skill sufficient to turn a kayak 180 degrees and control kayaks
in this amount of wind could easily result in the capsize of a kayak. Kayaks are very stable going into a wind,
but when run with the wind kayaks are much less stable.
Safety issues
such as these are why I discuss all the factors I can think of as to what goes
into making decisions to paddle in the Arctic.
To
me paddling into twenty-knot wind is just slave labor twenty five knots is not
realistic except for a very short distance or a dire emergency.
In
Arctic Bay a thermal powered wind that had blown all day. I thought during the early evening as the
wind calmed that I could dodge the wind by getting on the water as soon as
possible at night.
While
I was making a crossing on Adams Sound of 1 or 2 miles at 20:00 before I was
completely across I saw the wind turning the blue-black water to silver white
several miles away west of me in the storm direction. The wind hit me was blowing +15 knots.
I
was faced with the decision of turning around returning to a protected campsite
and just waiting.
I
decided that I could handle the demands.
Even though I faced waves crashing into the shore with unabated violence
I trusted my skill and my boat. Some of
the broadside waves slapped me in the face.
I fought my way to keep from being inadvertently blown onto shore using
my rudder and my strength with every paddle stroke from that solid paddle I had
so carefully chosen for moments like these.
The
wind never let up, in fact the wind increased to 20 knots. I paddled up the coast in a dead heat with
no place to land until at 01:00 I came upon a campsite to tuck into just large
enough for myself. I was exhausted.
I was lucky I was able to paddle against this wind
and I did not loose my head, but I could have just turned around and found
safety back behind me. I was lucky I
did not have a situation with a huge field of ice to blow into if I could not
have gotten to the campsite. This was a
judgment call where being alone and past experience played a role.
I went to
Arctic Bay and I did experience some very skill demanding winds and at Barrow
Alaska I changed my mind and shortened my trip because I was padding east into
a 15-knot wind day after day. Next time
I go to Barrow I shall start out in Prudhoe Bay and head west letting the fair
weather wind of 15 knots blow me to Barrow.
When nasty weather comes out of the west I will just camp out until it
passes. I know what nasty weather in
Barrow is like and it is not for me.
If
I am told that "the wind blows hard one way for days on end and then it
blows the opposite for days on end" I try to plan on paddling elsewhere
where there is less wind.
Now
just for a laugh think of the strategy the wind quiets down at night. Does this apply in the Arctic when the sun
does not set? Generally in the Arctic
the wind just blows when it blows.
There are situations when on sunny summer days the winds from the cold
regions of the icecap in Greenland blows into the warm fjords and the only time
that stops is when it is gray weather and not at night when the sun does not
set.
My
over all decision to visit Arctic Bay even though this is a windy area was
based on the general observation that during July the weather would be most
settled. However I had not thought that
katabatic winds are frequent in warm sunny weather. Settled weather meant that there would be less likely strong
low-pressure systems lasting for days.
The weather becomes more unsettled as the summer progresses into August
and still worse in September.
During
my encounter with katabatic wind in Arctic Bay my practiced low a low brace
from slalom racing saved me in 30+ knots of wind. The stronger the wind the lower you lean into your low brace
toward the water. Wear a drysuit and
don’t be afraid to get wet.
I
found that out in two incidences in Arctic Bay I wound up leaning way over the
side with my elbow on my paddle blade skimming the water. During another katabatic wind situation I
got to go body sailing in my kayak for real.
I just happened to come around a corner to find that it was just like
stepping behind a jet airplane on take off.
Believe
me I was glad I was in a Klepper with a big rudder and knew very well how to
brace down on my elbow into the wind.
www.guillemot-kayaks.com/Trips/Gail/GailFerris.html
I
wondered why everybody in Arctic Bay had two motors as large as 225 horse power
on the back of their freighter canoes.
I didn’t wonder about that after I saw them coming into town going the
opposite way that I was blowing. All
they did was to just put the throttle down and head into town. Near the end of the point I was able to take
refuge coming in for a quite landing in the wind shadow.
Timing and Ice**
(projected open water)
When I am
deciding that I might like to visit an area, reliable information such as that
the last week of June is the best time for running rivers in the Barren-Ground
area is very critical. This bit of
information saves me from having to deal with ice jams or portages because the
water shed of snow runoff would become quickly dissipated within the next few
weeks. Who wants to portage needlessly
mile after mile if the trip should have been started just a few weeks earlier.
I have risked
my job so that I could take a trip in the Arctic. Life happens only once.
Money comes and goes!
In
Toronto at the annual Wilderness Canoe Association is an excellent opportunity
to gather information about the north for expedition planning. http://northernbooks.tripod.com/home.html
The Baillie River trip turned out after hours
of flying over the seemingly endless still frozen tundra with occasional open
ponds and lakes when I come upon my destination, this is one of those moments
when I was very glad that I did do my homework. I have heard the stories about people who have tried to run the
Baillie starting in mid July – they got to walk a lot.
On
the Baillie where we had planned to start off from on the Baillie River in the
Barren-grounds was still frozen in. We
were lucky, our pilot found enough open water to bring us in for a landing. Our trip worked out just fine.
In
Ice**
(projected ice picture why and when
Do
I want to paddle on open water, paddle in water at the ice edge or have a
combination of up an over ice pans with frazzle ice between. Timing within the season gives me these
options. And remember that when the
sunsets where there is fresh water frazzle ice forms. Frazzle ice is very sharp and cuts boat hulls. At 72 degrees North the sun sets in late
August.
I
saw that in King Oscar’s Fjord Greenland.
The last week of August I got to see rafts of frazzle ice float by on
clear mornings. We left just a day or
two before it all froze up. The Serius
patrol was right.
Now
the big question was for me when I was planning to paddle in Pond Inlet, does
the ice usually go out every year and if it does when does the ice go out.
http://www.guillemot-kayaks.com/Trips/Gail/GailTrips/ForcastingWindsinFjords.txt
At
Pond Inlet I arrived there just the day after the ice went out. We paddled down the coast a few miles came
in among a cluster of chunks of ice and set up camp. The next day we got to dry out because The ice had come in and
settled as the tide went out. We found
ourselves blocked off from open water.
Oh
we were so naïve, had we known better.
We thought that the next morning we could just wade out there in our dry
suits and push the ice off.
We
learned that we couldn’t just push the grounded ice off. In fact our pushing attempts did absolutely
nothing. The ice was impossibly
heavy.
We
gained a new respect for ice as we realized that even the collision of a few
chunks of ice with our boats in between would render our kayaks into
matchsticks. We had to wait for the
tide to refloat the ice off elsewhere.
Luckily the wind didn’t blow on shore when the tide came in.
The
temperature of the offshore currents have a very large effect on when the ice
goes out. The west coast of Greenland
frees up much sooner than the East coast and the coast of Baffin Island because
the West Greenland current, a branch off the Gulf Stream, comes up the west
coast of Greenland and swings back down the east coast of Canada.
At 72 degrees
north on Baffin Island where Pond Inlet is located the ice goes out the last
week of July and at 72 degrees north in Upernavik Greenland the ice goes out in
late May or early June. The east coast
of Greenland is late for the same reason.
Read Nansen’s story Crossing the Greenland Ice Cap. He and his crew were dropped off 15 miles
from shore. They couldn’t make it to
shore. They got to ride down the coast
and back up to the same place on an ice pan getting to shore just as the ice
pan broke up. And even better read how
he puts together these crude canvas covered boats and runs the west coast but
arrives too late to catch a ship back to Norway that year.
In
1992 I had my own experience with the ice and when it is supposed to go
out. Even though this is true, the west
coast of Greenland was much slower to open up.
I did not take into account that conditions for that summer were very
different because of the eruption of the volcano, Mount Pinatubo, which the
summer to be very cold and the ice never went out from Frobisher Bay/Iqaluit
north on Baffin Island.
I had never considered the effect this huge load of
volcanic ash in the atmosphere would have on the strength of sunlight, which
would cause the worldwide summer to be very cold and that the ice north of
Iqaluit on Baffin Island would never go out that year. www.crh.noaa.gov/dtx/talessum.htm
When
I flew from Frobisher to Nuuk from the airplane I saw the extent of this ice on
Davis Strait off the southern tip of Baffin Island. I couldn't imagine how vast this ice was until I looked out at it
and saw that all I would see for hours from 20,000 feet as I flew to
Greenland.
As
we approached Greenland there was a narrow strip open along the coast and as I
flew to Upernavik a few weeks later the Disko was just resting in the ice off
Uummanaq waiting for the ice at Upernavik to open.
In
Upernavik thanks to advice from the hunters to the museum director I was able
to paddle from Upernavik to Aappilattoq http://iserit.greennet.gl/adamgrim/aappilattoq.htm and to visit an area of flowers on Nutarmuit
island. However I was not able to
paddle completely around Aappilattoq island because the density of ice bergs
essentially closed in the back side of the island. I did not dare to tackle icebergs so tightly packed.
http://www.guillemot-kayaks.com/Trips/Gail/GailTrips/UpernavikPaddlingAlone.txt
In
1994 when I went to Arctic Bay I knew from having talked with Glen Williams is
the Reneweable Resources Officer in Arctic Bay that the ice was late going out
that year. In my paddling all I did was
dodge the ice back and forth. The
afternoon I arrived at Arctic Bay the ice was out of town as far as I could see
which was Holy Cross Point. I could
have assembled and packed my kayak and left immediately. The next morning the ice was coming in. I got my kayak on the water but was forced
to get out and drag my kayak over some ice pans along the edge of the shore to
make it to the point a few miles away.
The next day the ice was in so I had to content myself with
waiting. When I did get on the water I
paddled as far as the ice would let me go down Adams Sound. The moment the tide changed I was lucky
enough to be able to stop and camp. The
ice filled in and I had to wait a couple days for the ice to go out however
guess what? The ice filled in the lower
part of Adams Sound so all I could do was either wait or paddle back out of
Adams Sound.
http://www.guillemot-kayaks.com/Trips/Gail/ArcticBay.html
At
one point luckily for just a short time in my kayak while the wind and tide
changed I became trapped in the ice. At
another I saw this lovely flat spot and very nearly set my tent up. Some time that night the ice piled up during
the night and would have crushed me in my tent and my kayak. I never heard a thing!
Ice
is tricky stuff it is always changing and on the move. Ice supports a majority of life in the
Arctic in the most interesting ways. It
is fun to watch the birds gathering food at the edge of ice and the specialized
sea life at the edge of the ice.
http://collections.ic.gc.ca/arctic/enviro/ecozones.htm#Ice%20Edges
Tides**
(projected matching tides and white water to paddling skills)
For me the
major factor when I am choosing a place to paddle is what is the tide
range.
Captain Bob
Bartlett’s account of the tidal bore coming in behind his ship in the Button
Islands Hudson Basin made me decide not for me. Becoming stranded in Hudson Bay or stories of people not being
able to find dry ground to camp on causes me to have no interest traveling
there.
At Iqaluit
the tide goes out for miles, not for me.
I just do not have the patience for that kind of situation.
Do
I want to have to plan my day by the tides on the open water, which can just as
easily turn to open mud or a raging tidal torrent. http://academic.bowdoin.edu/arcticmuseum/exhibits/html/fouryears.shtml
I
prefer and am more competent as an open water paddler, so I feel most
comfortable on open water because I understand open water more thoroughly.
I thought I
couldn’t get into much of any trouble in Barrow Alaska because there was only
six inches of tide. Well that was what
I thought until I got there. The only
problem was the land was absolutely flat so six inches of water did not make
much difference one way or the other to me in my kayak. I got stuck in the mud anyway. I never did figure out how they could have
possibly mapped the inlets because the water only covered very short grass at
high tide. There was hardly any
difference between high and low tide in the inlets.
Where
I paddle I am used to six foot tides and granite islands. The tide can only go out just so far is my
theory so how much trouble can I get into I thought to myself.
I
choose Pond Inlet on Baffin Island Canada and Upernavik Greenland have the same
range of five to six foot tides, which generally does create fairly moderate
conditions.
When
I am studying my maps and charts the compare relative lengths and depths to the
widths of the fjords and look at how many fjords come together to feed through
a passage, especially where there are deep fjords and severe restrictions.
Now for a
starting point, to give you an idea of what I mean, compare the width of Long
Island Sound to its length and relate this to its outlets. At the eastern end of Long Island the Race
is quite aptly named, because that is exactly what the tide does at the Race. The same thing happens with Cape Cod Canal
and only during the short period of slack tide for an hour or less does the
tidal flow and wave conditions slack off.
The
distance that a kayak can travel in an hour, usually it is not sufficient to
execute a crossing through a threatening area before slack water is over and
the tide resumes, also there may not be a defined area of slack water. Bathyometry or underwater topography govern
the timing and flow of tidal waters.
Even in Stony Creek Connecticut where there are many variations of depth
and islands the complete picture is very interesting to see when conditions are
right from the air. Fast moving
currents in Upernavik Greenland are created by tidal flushing in the very deep
fjords.
On southern
Baffin Island, Iqaluit or Frobisher Bay has twenty-three foot tides with a hard
mud bottom. Customarily large ships
stranded on them and trucks drive out on the hard mud flats to unload
them.
Conversely
the bottom of Cook Inlet in Anchorage Alaska
is very soft mud bottom and a twenty foot tide, which can easily strand
the unsuspecting boater.
An
example of an area with minimal range tides is at Barrow Alaska and throughout
much of the Arctic Ocean the tides are only six inches. This creates another situation especially if
the bottom is soft mud because the difference between land and water is only
the matter of a fraction of an inch.
Since
there is mere inches of water and lots of sticky mud, the buoyancy of my kayak
becomes very minimal, if the kayak is heeled onto its chine the chine will be
just deep enough to bottom out.
Talk
about not being able to lean over and look at interesting things on the
bottom. I couldn't even lean to look at
anything because my kayak would just bottom out instantly. I had to diligently sit there stock straight
while I sort of manipulated my craft along with my most delicate version of
probe paddling.
I
had to very carefully keep my boat gliding over the shallows, sooner or later
as the wind pushed me down wind where I finally did bottom out in some
impossible mud.
At Pond Inlet
even with six foot tide I did happen to come across a situation where I
happened to notice a suspiciously odd arrangement of small boulders, which
stretched from Frechette Island to the Mainland across the western arm of Tay
Sound. When I saw this unusually large
number of closely spaced small boulders, little bells went off in my head and I
said to myself "something tells me that this is a very shallow spot about
to become exposed as this outgoing tide drops and some of those small rocks
look like there isn't much water around."
Quickly
I jumped out of my kayak, grabbed the bow and deftly "hot footed it"
dragging my kayak with just barely enough water to float it across this
strategically placed sand bar. A few
minutes later, just as I turned around this shallows was completely dry.
I
read the map afterward and this area was properly noted. When all else fails read the map!
Okay all that
sounds nice, but you must be wondering just exactly why did I choose Upernavik
Greenland.
I
choose Upernavik after all my other travels because I like all those granite
islands, the tides were 2 meters or 6 feet the same as Stony Creek CT where I
paddle. One interesting aspect about
paddling in this area is that some of the seas are similar to what occurs in
Long Island Sound. I think this is due
to the short fetch from the ice out in Davis Strait off Baffin Island. The waves are often just short chop maybe
three feet tall most commonly.
Ice off shore
has the distinctive quality of suppressing wave development however where
currents collide steep chop does develop.
A
friend of mine warned me about the currents behind two islands. This is an area where the tide flushes
through. We crossed them in his
motorboat and it was a violent ride.
Later when I made the crossing in my kayak I was quite scared until I
figured that my kayak was handling the chop just fine. I calmed down and just kept paddling.
The
currents in Upernavik are to notoriously fast because of the many deep
fjords. Upernavik is described as where
the mountains plunge into the sea.
These mountains as high as 4,000 feet are everywhere throughout this
region. Because of this spectacular
geology and mineralogy paddling is very scenic.
In
this region outside of the fjords while I was once at the helm of a Colin
Archer fishing boat putting along at 4 knots, we came upon an iceberg grounded
on a rock off Upernavik Isfjord. I saw
that the current passing around this berg was so intense that I immediately
turned the ship’s wheel over to the captain because I realized that under my
helm we were going to be swept into the berg.
I was correct about that decision and the captain brought us clear.
I have seen
small icebergs crisscross right in front of my kayak as I was paddling briskly
along at about four knots on the icefjord, this taught me a lesson about the
currents at Upernavik.
During
the winter the ice around Upernavik is among the most dangerous in Greenland
because of these currents.
Although I
have run the Yama River in Siberia and the Baillie in Canada class II
whitewater I prefer open water.
Topography**
(sedimentary, trap rock, rock slides, talus slopes landing sites
From
my assortment of knowledge and paddling observations especially when I have
been paddling to me, it is very important to try and figure out if landing
places will be reasonably close together.
Before
I choose a place to paddle I scan the NOAA Tides and Currents, consult the
Pilot Guide for Sailing Directions (Mystic Seaport Library has a complete set),
at topographic map maps and most importantly I find out what the local geology
and mineralogy is.
I
can find out quite important information from these other sources, but I need
to know the geological information because I can judge landing conditions by
the type of rock in the area.
Paddling
in an area of sedimentary rocks such as sandstone, from a distance I can see
that they will have very definite straight stratification layers, but only the
soft sedimentary finely layered rock cliffs have such a grey weathered
appearance. The problem at the bottom
of these high steep let's say 1,000 foot cliffs landing is very likely not
going a good idea. At the bottom of
these talus slopes is most likely have nothing but loose talus slopes extending
up these escarpments a long way, almost twenty to twenty five percent of the
cliff face. There is also the
possibility that there could easily be a shower of this type of rapidly
disintegrating rocks come down any time so be careful when I venture too close
to them.
Massive
rock slides are easily set off from trap rock.
I have seen a rock slide of trap rock let loose from a vertical 3,000
foot level cliff and believe me I was glad we were not on the receiving
end. This was in Pond Inlet and so was
the unstable sedimentary rock talus slope.
I can be glad I did not happen to be passing by that area at that
moment. Just the rock dust from that
kind of rock slide hung in the air for quite a while. "Ain't nothin guaranteed!" was about all that was left
for me to say to myself .
I very sagely decided not to paddle in Uummanaq because the Pilot Guide because it is surrounded with 7,000 foot mountains endless sedimentary and basaltic formations plunging straight into the water with no place to land for miles around and a few katabatic winds just to finish it all off.