What Is The Middle Pack?

by John May 18, 2005

Question: I am planning a passage from Cartwright, Labrador to Disko Bay in Greenland leaving about July 1st. You wrote that I should watch out for the ‘Middle Pack’, please explain.

Circumnavigation Of Scandinavia Via The White Sea

by John May 19, 2005

Question: Do you know if it’s possible to circumnavigate Scandinavia via Holland, the Baltic Sea, St. Petersburg, the Belomorsk Canal, the White Sea, the Norwegian Coast, returning to Holland?

Polar Bears, How Serious Is The Risk?

by John May 19, 2005

Question: How seriously do I need to take the threat of polar bears in the Arctic?

Would You Sail In The High Latitudes In A Fibreglass Boat?

by John December 1, 2005

Question: Would you cruise the high latitudes in a fibreglass hull?

Is An Aluminum Catamaran Suitable For The High Latitudes?

by John May 1, 2007

Question: I would like to do some cruising in the high latitudes and am in the process of planning a boat to take me there. You and others, like Jimmy Cornell, are very partial to alloy boats and I agree it seems to be the way to go. But I also like catamarans. I can [...]

Winter Boat Storage In The North

by Phyllis May 19, 2007

Question: We are thinking of buying a 70′, 55 ton, steel motorsailer which we want to fix up and cruise on for 4 months of the year. We would be starting out on the east coast of the US and are contemplating going via Nova Scotia, Newfoundland and Greenland to Northern Europe. We would have [...]

Why The High Latitudes #1—The Light

by John May 20, 2007
Hunters weave their boats between icebergs on their way back to Illulisat (Jakobshavn), Greenland at sunset.

Phyllis and I have just started planning a voyage to Greenland for 2009. If we pull it off, it will be my sixth sailing trip to the largest island in the world. You might logically ask, why go again? Or even, why go at all?

Ice Risk, Eastern Canada To Western Greenland

by John March 19, 2009
An iceberg factory caught in the act

Question: We are planning a trip from eastern Canada to south west Greenland and return and have the following questions about ice [see specific questions and answers below summary answer].

A Rugged Boat For The High Latitudes

by John June 1, 2009

A few weeks ago we met up with our friends Michael and Martina on their beautifully designed and built custom Hutting 54 Polaris. They were kind enough to give me, camera in hand, a tour and to patiently answer my many questions.

S/V Polaris, Built For The Arctic

by John December 1, 2009
The red drums contain a shore survival kit in case the crew is forced to abandon. The blue bag is a small light inflatable that is both a backup to the larger tender and intended to assist in getting ashore during the freeze-up.

Those of you who have read some accounts of boats wintering over in the polar regions may have visions of dented hull plates, narrow escapes and three inches of frost on the INSIDE of the boat. That is not the Polaris way.

Climate Change In Action

by Phyllis October 2, 2010
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John and I have a longstanding interest in collecting books on historical and present-day exploration of the high latitudes, or “death and destruction on the ice” as we call it. But it looks like climate change could put an end to this genre more quickly than we thought: This summer, for the first time in [...]

Why The High Latitudes #2—The Scenery

by Phyllis March 8, 2011
Scanned With Provia Profile

When John wrote the first post in this series back in 2007, we were planning a trip to Greenland for 2009. Well, for various reasons—including boat refit leftovers, a repower, and moving to Canada—we never made it to Greenland in 2009 and we never continued with the series.

A Big Adventurer In A Small Boat

by Phyllis March 18, 2011
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On our way to Svalbard (Spitsbergen) in Morgan’s Cloud in 2002, we stopped at Teltvika, a cove on the west side of Bjørnøya (Bear Island), a virtually uninhabited island which lies at the halfway mark on the 550 nautical mile passage from Norway. During our second evening at Teltvika, the fog came in pea soup [...]

Why The High Latitudes, #3—The People

by Phyllis April 10, 2011
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Genevieve from Bonavista, Newfoundland stands at the gate of her summer place Local Connections When we first went to Newfoundland in the early 1990s, very few foreign boats cruised there, and so, when we entered a harbour, the entire population of the outport would gather on the docks to silently observe us and Morgan’s Cloud. [...]

Why The High Latitudes, #4—The Adventure

by Phyllis November 29, 2011
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This fall, on our way south bound for Charleston, SC after a challenging Arctic cruise to West Greenland, Baffin Island and Labrador, we were met on the dock in Northeast Harbor, Maine by our friend, Phil, a rock climber of some renown. The first words out of his mouth were, “Have you got over the [...]