Dogbark Turns Back!
By Paul Homewood
h/t Green Sand
A few weeks ago, a family of six was holed up in Nome, waiting for the ice to clear so that they could attempt to sail to Greenland through the Northwest Passage:
Like so many other attempts in recent years, they did not get very far at all:
http://forecast.predictwind.com/tracking/display/Dogbark
Their yacht, the Dogbark, barely got beyond Prudhoe Bay, when it was forced to turn back on August 18.
This was their blog post at the time:
Yesterday I received this note from Victor Wejer, one of the men who helps boats navigate the Northwest Passage.
Message received from Canadian Coastguard :
From: “NordReg1 Iqaluit” <iqanordreg@innav.gc.ca>
Subject: 9H9573 – INFO – 08-18-1256 – LR – HEAVIER ICE CONDITIONS
Date: Sat, 18 Aug 2018 13:06:44 +0000
NORDREG IQALUIT 181256UTC AUG 2018Good morning,
Due to heavier than normal ice concentrations in the Canadian arctic
waters north of 70 degrees, the Canadian Coast Guard, recommends that
pleasure craft do not navigate in the Beaufort Sea, Barrow, Peel Sound,
Franklin Strait and Prince Regent. CCG icebreakers cannot safely escort
pleasure craft. Operators of pleasure craft considering a northwest
passage should also consider the risk of having to winter in a safe
haven in the Arctic, or in the case of an emergency, be evacuated from
beset vessels. Safety of mariners is our primary concern.
REGARDS,
NORDREG CANADA
181256UTC\LR
Then he told me that Franklin Strait has started to refreeze. Franklin Strait is one of the main bottlenecks that we hoped to traverse to complete the passage to Greenland. We can’t even get there because the border between Alaska and Canada is blocked, with the only other boat westbound with us stuck in the ice, unable to move forward or retreat.
He painted a wonderful picture of us stuck in Cambridge with Dogbark frozen in and the girls breathing air that freezes right out of your lungs.
We got the hint.
Turning back was a very hard decision. There were some tears, and some group hugs.
The Arctic is not an easy place. But it is stunningly beautiful. And there are many lessons here. As a team, we all learned about a place, a climate, an ocean like no other. We battled winds, and ice. We worried about polar bears, but never saw more than their prints and their poop.
We flat out loved our experience, the good and the bad. It snowed, actually accumulating on deck last night. In August. Nice timing!
We are lucky to have had the chance, with a ton of help and support, to explore a tiny part of it. Some of us will be back someday, but for now, it is time to leave.
https://saildogbark.com/2018/08/22/dogbark-turns-back/
Great adventure, I have no doubt. But a reminder that the Arctic sea ice is not melting away, as many gullible sailors believe.
The Arctic is still a very dangerous place, and trips like this one would not be possible at all without the benefits of modern technology, GPS, satellite tracking and the assistance of the Canadian Coastguard.
Comments are closed.
NOT A LOT OF PEOPLE KNOW THAT 
“There were some tears, and some group hugs.”
Don’t get many of those when you’re frozen to death.
I assume they are now climate sceptics having seen all that August snow.
Would that you were right, HotScot. However, mainstream climate obsessive behaviour statistics are against you! 😉
Only if one of the many lessons was that climate ‘scientists’ spout a lot of crap about melting ice in the Arctic. But some people enjoy a state of willful ignorance.
Nope, no skeptics. Just people who call this weather and an anomalous year. Because.
Just more useful idiots.
Snow? In August?
Yet another example of carbon-induced extreme weather.
Another “ship of fools”
Aahh! those group hugs, ….. says it all IMHO. ( obv. NOT a fan of that sort of stuff, Hi-5’s etc… WHY? Do what you have to do and get on with it, my Teachers told me. )
So where’s all the usual Media hype about another crossing like tha one which was widely followed last year, Sponsored by that Daft Old Pultney Crowd? Whisky may be OK, but the association?
The Air tastes ” thin” here in N Scotland t his now – not quite a taste o snow – BUT as it’s been ALL SUMMER, letting you know that the High air is V Cold – why else do we get forecasts of HAIL at harvest time? Spring time, yes…. I would call it SEASON Change, – Not CLIMATE change. Farmers have spoken of this phenomena for Decades – since the 60’s………..
The MSM focus this year is on the North-East passage, relatively clear this year. The BBC World Service thinks this spells the end for the Suez Canal, such ignorance of basic meteorology.
On their website under “Things we care about: Causes we support ” you can see the following entry: “Ocean Conservancy: Confronting ocean acidification & climate change, protecting the Arctic, and promoting sustainable fisheries and trash-free seas.”
Fantastic!
Well, the Arctic Circle goes approximately through Kotzebue on your map. So it’s good to know that they protected it by getting out of it soon after they entered it with their various forms of human waste and detritus. The Arctic was indeed the dog that barked back, it seems. The polar bears must have been very disappointed….
All these attempts are perfect examples of the triumph of ideology over reality.
There have always been nutters. The modern ones seem rather smug when compared with this one:
Unfortunately I lost the book a long time ago. I remember Mr Tambs sailed with a dog he called “Spare Provisions.”
. . . and they failed because reality as ever, beat idealogy. When are they going to learn.
Another curious incident. This is a retired racing boat, not an icebreaker, thank Gaia they turned back. No mention of the diesel engine, generous size with fuel tanks to suit no doubt.
They were “racing” to beat the ice buildup, right?
No safety harness on the bosun’s chair and no kill cord on the dinghy outboard, in each case a young daughter at risk (linked video).
It’s one thing to enter yourself for a Darwin award but another entirely to put your children at risk for the sake of ‘environmentalism’.
Inscription on a memorial in Ashbourne church to five-year-old Penelope Boothby (d 1791): ‘She was in form and intellect most exquisite. The unfortunate parents ventured their all on this frail bark, and the wreck was total.’
At least no one else had to risk their life to rescue these jokers. Let’s see…..spanking your child might get them removed and land you in jail. BUT risking their lives to freeze in the Arctic Circle……nothing to see here.
Haven’t been to the Arctic. Nor Alaska, for that matter. I lived in Maine, saw the frigid landscape in winter. Stunning beauty? Not! I can’t imagine a world that is nearly endless ice and snow, broken only by stretches of black looking water and calling it stunning beauty. Seems a bit brain dead to me. I prefer greens and pinks and yellows and reds and all those colors that make up life in the livable portion of the planet, and where you don’t have to worry about dying inside of 10 minutes if you get wet.
I agree, being an “adult” and taking your life in your hands is one thing. Taking children, even brain washed children, and intentionally putting their lives in danger should be considered some kind of criminal offense.
I have been on a wonderful cruise through Alaska’s Inside Passage about 10 years ago with 30 some from a Washington, DC singles church group in the 1970’s.
Back to the subject. What amazes me from this article and those posted here from the past years of near misses by these environmentalists. There are the loonies who nearly bought the farm in the Antarctic in addition to folks such as these.
The takeaway is that they only listen to like-minded and totally ignore reality from others. Within the past 2 weeks, I have seen the following articles: “Millennial Couple Bikes Through ISIS Territory to Prove ‘Humans Are Kind’ and Gets Killed” and “Woman Hitchhiked Through the Middle East to Prove Muslims Are Peaceful. Gets Raped and Murdered Instead.”
The rape & murder occurred in 2008. It keeps getting recycled every few years. The second one that the couple were murdered trying to prove humans are kind, isn’t accurate either.https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/millenial-couple-isis-tajikistan/ There’s a bit of reality for you.
Sorry, Adam, but Snopes has been shown to have feet of clay. A 2016 article from Forbes discusses their “fact checking” methods or lack thereof. It also illustrates their unwillingness to exercise any transparency which should be a huge red flag.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/kalevleetaru/2016/12/22/the-daily-mail-snopes-story-and-fact-checking-the-fact-checkers/#2d8b93c1227f
I quote from a portion of the lengthy article: “(Snopes) did not answer whether Snopes uses any sort of assessment scoring or ongoing testing process to assess its fact checkers.
This raises exceptionally grave concerns about the internal workings of Snopes and why it is not more forthcoming about its assessment process. Arguing that because multiple fact checkers might work on an article, reliability is not a concern, is a false argument that shows a concerning lack of understanding about reliability and accuracy. Imagine a team of 50 staunch climate deniers all working collaboratively to debunk a new scientific study showing a clear link between industrial pollution and climate change. The very large team size does not make up for the lack of diversity of opinion. Yet, David provided no comment on how Snopes does or does not explicitly force diversity of opinion in its ad-hoc fact checking teams.”
As to your assertion that one had been around since 2008, I say, “so what?” It does not make it false. I was using these 2 articles to make the point that liberals who only listen to what they wish to hear, sometimes make deadly choices. I cite the ship in Antarctic ice several years ago to prove that there was global warming, the sailboat through the Arctic (subject of this article), the cyclists and the hitchhiker believing that militant Muslims were just nice misunderstood people. A lot of resources were spent by several countries trying to get that ship out of Antarctic ice and I believe that one had a lot of school children on board. The sailboat had a whole family. Fortunately these examples were not deadly for the participants, but there are countless examples of those who listen only to environmentalists or political group who spout what they want to hear who predictably end up in deep trouble or dead.
This is all we will hear about. (Warning to blood pressure sufferers, this article contains factoids on steroids!).
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-45271766
Q: When is an icebreaker not an icebreaker?
A: When its a ‘specialty cargo’ ship and you want to give the impression that there is no ice to break!
We’ve been there before, as Paul reported:
Reminiscent of the so-called ‘Row to the Pole’, which had to change the pole it aimed at, and still failed. Thanks to too much ice they told us wouldn’t be there, they never did manage to actually ‘row’ to the North Magnetic Pole despite it being much further ‘south’ at 78°35.7N, than the actual North Pole
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_Pulteney_Row_To_The_Pole
“Prior to 1979 ice extents are unreliable.”
WHooooooooooooaaaaaaaaaaa, that one’s escaped the gatekeepers.
Good news. Santa Claus will not be moving this year. Someone notify Al Gore.
Shades of Sherlock Holmes – the dog that didn’t bark.
http://www.dangreller.com/the-dog-that-didnt-bark-2/
Navigating the North-West Passage! Obviously an indication of CAGW, because this has never been done before. Please don’t make any reference to the RCMP schooner St Roch (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Roch_(ship)) which did the same thing both ways in the early 1940’s. It might make some green heads explode.
The words “Franklin Strait” ought to have been warning enough!
How about this for a bold statement?
“But global warming, which has raised temperatures along the route during the summer to over 30C, is changing its viability.“
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-45271766
….. they said: “knowledgable people” inspired us to cross the NW-passage….. I hope they
share the cost with those guys….
Presumably they were attempting to follow the route Roald Amundsen navigated in 1904/05. The charts from DMI show a lot of that route through the Islands of the Canadian archipeligo blocked by ice up to 2m thick. They had no chance of success. Ice extent may be fairly low, but anecdotal evidence like this suggests that there is nothing unusual going on in the arctic.
Reblogged this on Climate Collections.
All of the “cruises” to the north and south poles designed to ‘prove’ global warming have failed due to excessive ice. All of them. Need more be said?
Trying to leave the Chukchi Sea – at 8.7 Knots. I smell a fossil-fuel engine running!
http://forecast.predictwind.com/tracking/display/Dogbark
Interesting to read this from the Canadian coast guard: “heavier than normal ice concentrations in the Canadian arctic waters north of 70 degrees”.
Shouldn’t the arctic ice have disappeared by now? :-p
They were about ten centuries too late:
“Towards the end of the 10th century the climate became warmer, and the change affected all those living in the northern hemisphere. Much of the ice in the seas around the Canadian archipelago disappeared, and baleen whales moved into the area to search for food.
Eskimo whalers from northern Alaska sailed east in their large, skin-covered boats and reached Greenland in the 12th century. These conditions prevailed during the subsequent neo-Eskimo period which also includes the Thule culture.”
This is from a history of Greenland that used to be on the Danish Foreign Ministry site.
Read somewhere yesterday that Maersk are going to run a container service through the North West passage. Thought it was foolhardy then, reading this makes it seem more so.
No, the North East passage – the Venta Maersk, designed as a new “ice-class” container ship, will carry frozen fish from Vladivostok to St Petersburg
Similar trip done last year > https://thebarentsobserver.com/en/arctic/2017/08/shipload-frozen-fish-sails-northern-sea-route-vladivostok-arkhangelsk <
The value is in the announcement of the stunt, not its actual performance.
Few will know that they didn’t actually do it.
I have a book
“The north-west passage by land, being the narrative of an expedition from the Atlantic to the Pacific, undertaken with the view of exploring a route across the continent to British Columbia through British territory, by one of the northern passes in the Rocky Mountains”
Milton, William Fitzwilliam, Viscount, 1839-1877,Cheadle, W. B. (Walter Butler), 1835-1910
says it all really
note “Northwest Passage, historical sea passage of the North American continent. It represents centuries of effort to find a route westward from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean through the Arctic Archipelago of what became Canada.” https://www.britannica.com/place/Northwest-Passage-trade-route