Rowers Almost Make It To The Beaufort Sea After Dragging the Boat Again

ScreenHunter_64 Jul. 20 18.42

Now they are faced with open sea, wind and ice. No more dragging the boat.

ScreenHunter_66 Jul. 20 18.47

They should change their motto from “rowing against climate change” to “slogging against rational thought processes.”

About Tony Heller

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25 Responses to Rowers Almost Make It To The Beaufort Sea After Dragging the Boat Again

  1. hazze says:

    Looks good..now their ready to row,blow,drift into that bay..and watch the last of the arctic summer…the sweat and the mosquitos wasent to bad this year 🙂

  2. Chewer says:

    They mention “slow”, but it might better be categorized as a snails pace!

    “Winds remain unabated through the overnight hours. Frank wakes up periodically and slips out of the cabin to see if there’s been any change. By 5:00am there’s a slight easing to our Easterly blow and we decide to make a move. We’re stuck far out on a small islet, fully exposed to wind and weather, with our options few.
    Moving towards the mainland is essential for us to garner some lee protection for rowing or a for some beach surface to haul along. This is what it’s come to, clawing forward no matter how preposterous or slow.”

    • Mike D says:

      From their June 18 press release:
      “The four men will row in continuous shifts, 24 hours a day, seven days a week as the route will be in constant daylight for the majority of the journey.”

      Now they’re talking of “overnight hours” and seemingly have yet to do even one 24 hour shift. I think now’s the time if they’re going to put out a serious effort to cross. Looks like they’re going to have lot of rest as they wait for the ice on the other side to melt.

  3. Gamecock says:

    I estimate they have done 210 miles in 20 days, and they needed to make 600.

    If they make Coronation Gulf, it will icing over by the time they get there.

  4. Chewer says:

    It’ll be interesting to see if they make a B-Line directly to Baillie Island…

  5. Andy DC says:

    Looks very perilous at this point. Time to throw in the towel. Where is our blowhard friend Reggie? Amundsen was able to traverse the NW passage over 100 years ago. With all this global warming, what is their excuse? Their excuse is that there has not been significant global warming.

  6. Bob Koss says:

    Their last location shows them headed SE. Maybe they are heading for the Nicholson Peninsula Airport in order to pick up a fresh supply of Starbucks. It’s only about 24 miles SSE of them.

  7. SMS says:

    As the crow flies, this towing team has made about 100 miles in 20 days. I have to go by a straight line because I don’t think rowing in circles and towing your boat across shallows should count.

    These boys are in trouble. They do not have the boat needed to take them across open water like they are facing now. Silly human pride and belief in a failed theory is going to get these boys killed.

  8. Harold Ambler says:

    Sorry, haven’t read every post on these guys. Have people been discussing this other would-be NWP rower, too?

    http://www.alaskadispatch.com/article/20130718/french-rower-finishes-first-400-miles-bid-cross-northwest-passage

    • Richard Lynch says:

      Wow, this guy will outdo them by a lot. one guy vs. four. His boat seems much more aerodynamic than the Arctic Joule. It would be great to see him row past them.

      • John Silver says:

        More importantly, it’s much smaller. The laws of nature are exponential, like wind pressure.

        • It isn’t that much smaller, being described as “over 20 feet long” (versus 24-25 for the Arctic Joule). And to be powered by one person instead of two (and, of course, with no crew for shift changes) makes a difference as well.

          But he’s actually doing the whole Northwest Passage, not the shortcut that our boys here are doing. He started in the Pacific (in Wales, Alaska. from whence you can actually see Russia on a clear day) and is aiming for the Atlantic (at the same point the MLF team is shooting for).

          Hedrich is covering about twice as much distance, it seems, but is still working his way northeast along Alaska’s coast. Here’s a link to position reports, the most recent being the 19th:
          http://charleshedrich-nordouest.blogspot.fr/

          It’s less of a “global warming is real!” stunt, it appears. Hedrich is 55, and has many accomplishments to his name. I wish him well.

          ===|==============/ Keith DeHavelle

  9. Richard Lynch says:

    looking at the satellite picture, they do have to go across deep water for the first time. Or else go a hundred miles backwards. There doesn’t seem to be much ice in their immediate way, but if the wind doesn’t shift to a westward direction, they are probably stuck there for awhile.

  10. Shazaam says:

    I hope they choose wisely and pack it in.

    The irony of a news report about the “Rowing team perished in the ice whilst attempting a northwest passage crossing to publicize the ice-free summer Arctic” would be delicious, yet no mainstream presstitue would ever report it as such.

    So I’d rather see the team hang it up.

  11. Traitor In Chief says:

    If they’re intimidated by that bay in front of them, wait till they see Amundsen Gulf. Better keep the choppers on standby.

    • Richard Lynch says:

      They are stopped there, to be sure. A good westerly wind will get them going again. Hope it doesn’t shift while there are midway across.

  12. Chewer says:

    They must be feeling like morons!

  13. hazze says:

    According to the observatoy on Manna Lura in Hawaii…som miljonparts of CO2 might drop down and makem going real fast 🙂

  14. Latimer Alder says:

    I’d like to feel sorry for them, but I can’t.

    Other people will have to put themselves at risk to rescue them

    Jerks.

  15. Pathway says:

    What’s it matter if Hedrich is rowing across the arctic? He isn’t rowing for the TEAM. Besides it already been done 185 times.

    • His organization is called “Respect the Earth,” so he can assume some catastrophist taint, perhaps enough to help his funding.

      However, I don’t think any rowers have made the trip under human power only. And Hedrich, despite starting a thousand kilometers further back, is evidently progressing at a faster rate, and will perhaps overtake the Arctic Joule as the boys work up the courage to head out into the Beaufort Sea.

      While I expect the prediction to improve a bit once we know where they are, their current rate (as of 3:30 pm Pacific, July 21) has them finishing the route on December 5th at 3am.

      That, clearly, is not going to happen; it is months too late. But that is based on two weeks of progress (such as it is) so far, during which they’ve covered about 175 miles. Hedrich, in this same time, has gone over 400 miles.

      ===|==============/ Keith DeHavelle

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