Incoming!

Red circle shows the rower’s location. Animation shows the ice movement from July 10 to July 14.

NWPJuly-10-15

About Tony Heller

Just having fun
This entry was posted in Uncategorized. Bookmark the permalink.

18 Responses to Incoming!

  1. stewart pid says:

    Its only first year slush … the boys will fly through the ice like it isn’t even there, likely grabbing a few pieces to put in their drinks as they merrily row, row, row their boat gently through the ice 😉

  2. Fred from Canuckistan says:

    They better fire up the blowtorch now if they think they will melt that ice pack.

  3. Richard Lynch says:

    It all depends on the wind.

  4. Crashex says:

    The ARC ice speed and drift predictions for the next week suggest the wind isn’t going to start pushing the ice away from shore until the 20th or 21st. They’re going to have to make camp in the bay for a while.

    Blocked/delayed by excess ice—the irony burns.

  5. shazaam says:

    No, no. Their delay will be spun as “delayed by extreme weather“.

    No mention of ice is allowed. It’s the blowtorch effect that matters, not reality.

  6. Traitor In Chief says:

    This will be a tough trip to “re-define” for posterity. They should call for the Chitty Chitty Bang Bang to finish their journey.

  7. Norm says:

    Four guys. They’re going to get awfully sick of each other.

  8. Bob Koss says:

    1-2 hours ago they made a right-hand turn and now seem to be heading toward land. Or maybe dodging some ice.

    Winds forecast to be 7 mph from the east for at least several more hours. clear skies with the temperature in the 40s.

  9. Mike D says:

    Quote from their website:
    “The temperature in Tuk is -1C and there’s a strong Northeasterly wind blowing in the morning. Locals tell us it should be 15-20C at this time of year. “The bugs should be bouncing off your head” explained Eilleen who came down to the beach to visit with us. Strange weather has defined the year we are told. It’s been colder than usual and the ice has been very slow in going out.

    Climate change critics may quickly point this out as a damning argument but the reality of climate change is not reflected in specific anomaly but rather in overall trend.”

    They then recount specific anomalies to bolster their view.

    One thing I can’t figure out from their FAQ is how it is possible to do their shifts of 4 hours on, 2 hours off, with 4 people. Has to be more time off than 2 hours with all 4 people in rotation.

    Q: How many hours per day will the team row? How will you schedule rowing shifts?
    A: We will try to row 24 hr/day when we can, rotating shifts of 4hrs on/off and 2 hrs on/off between the 4 members of the team. Only 2 people row at a given time so we can move continuously.

    • Richard T. Fowler says:

      Mike D,

      Your paraphrase of their answer (4 hrs. on, 2 hrs. off) does not mean the same thing as their actual answer (4 on/off, 2 on/off). Their answer implies that they are doing shifts of 4, 4, 2, and 2; or to put it another way: 4, 2, 2, and 4. So if, say, team A starts by resting, their rotation will be 4 hrs. rest, 2 hrs. work, 2 hrs. rest, 4 hrs. work … and so forth.

      Also thanks a lot for highlighting their take on the current weather. I’m thinking that bit of fuzzy logic will probably disappear from their website at some point in the not too distant future, like maybe during the next warm spell that happens anywhere along the route. Or if they decide that they really must go full-Goebbels regarding the actual conditions they are witnessing.

      RTF

  10. SMS says:

    They’ve gone 99km in six days. (Not counting all the days they wasted just getting started).

    I’m thinking they are taking the slow scenic route. They want to take a picture of every piece of ice they see because they think ice is disappearing at an alarming rate and won’t be around much longer.

    It’s like getting the last picture of the Dodo bird before it goes extinct; except in this case the Dodo’s are inside the boat.

  11. Crashex says:

    Well from Friday at 11 pm they moved from near Tuk to their current spot, at a small inlet between the barrier islands at the edge of the ice piles. I’d give them a 5% chance of making it up to the next inlet and sneaking to the leeward side of the next island. They covered about 100 to 110 km in three days, about 1.5 km/hr as an average. They’ve got a couple days to rest now, because ice blocks the next ~2600km of the route. At their average moving pace, they can finish in 1733 hrs, or 72 days. That gets them ~September 27th or so with NO BREAKS. If they burn a few days at a time for the wind and ice, now and again, they’ll still be rowing into October.

    They’ll need less downtime and a faster rowing pace if they’re going to make it. And they need that blowtorch to get rid of all the ice.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *