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blog ARCHIVE March 22, 2009 I will be on RTHK Radio 3 (HK English language public radio) on Monday morning from around 1000hrs (HK time) for about 30 minutes talking about the expedition. Tune in or listen online. If you're listening online and not sure of the time difference, use this world clock. I will also be speaking at a luncheon at the HK Foreign Correspondents Club on Tuesday, March 24. Contact the FCC if you want to attend. Cameron March 20, 2009 I took a humbling trip down to the Coast Guard base near Victoria’s Ogden point on Monday. There are days when I can kid myself that I’ve got a few sea miles under my belt, seen a storm or two, know how to handle myself at sea. Then there are days when I feel like whimpering and creeping down to the foot of my sleeping bag (I’m living aboard this week) and pretending to be asleep till all this expedition talk blows over. Today was one of the latter, but in the end the fear turned into cautious optimism. Captain David “Duke” Snider is the regional director for the Pacific Region Coast Guard fleet and a part time Arctic ice breaker pilot. In short, he’s a sailing man, and knows the Arctic waters pretty well. And I was there to learn. I was introduced to Captain Duke by Wendell Sanford, Canada’s High Commissioner to Brunei and an old Navy hand formerly the lead lawyer on Canada’s sovereignty claims to the Arctic (that’s another blog coming soon). I met Captain Duke in his office. With a trim grey beard, twinkling eyes and an office full of pictures of ice-breakers and Coast Guard souvenirs, he struck me as the kind of man that read sailing adventure stories as a boy and never got over the romance of the sea even after spending years rescuing men from its icy grip. I told him about my plans and then gave him the opportunity to talk me out of it. He nearly did, but in the end he convinced me I was onto a good thing. Captain Duke’s main message was that the Arctic changes and surprises all the time, and especially when you think you’ve got it figured out. “We’ve had a couple of good years (good ice years, from a sailing perspective), and often that’s followed by a bad year. What happens when you have a few years of melting ice is that the big blocks of multi-year ice in McClure Strait melt, and that’s what has been holding back all that bad pack ice. This can then come rushing into the passage. That’s what got Franklin,” he tells me. Oh dear, I know what happened to Franklin, I thought. Captain Duke then gave me a quick navigational lesson on how to duck and run through Arctic ice, hugging the shallows along the shore to avoid the pack ice, which grounds in about 10m of water. He sketched out the roughest parts of the passage, where to watch for “razor sharp rock piles” and the stretches of water most likely to grab the Silent Sound and refuse to let go. “You have an advantage, and, well, I guess it’s a liability as well. Your vessel is pretty small, so you can hug the shore and escape the pack ice. But, then again, if you get caught, well, you’re in big trouble,” Er…ok, got it. But in the end Captain Duke gave me confidence. I wasn’t the craziest, least prepared Northwest Passage dreamer he’d ever seen, and that was a sort of blessing of sorts. In my mind anyway. “I’ve seen some mad, insane people up there. They’re not prepared, they haven’t registered with the authorities. Our ice breakers can be more than two days away if they need help.” He recounts coming around the a bend in the Northwest Passage and seeing a “27-foot fibreglass sailing boat with a couple and their 3-year old toddler who thought they’d go on a bit of an adventure” along with tales of other poorly prepared sailors. Captain Duke’s advice confirmed some of what I’d already been doing, building several networks of support and contacts. Canadian North, our Arctic airline sponsor, will be an important resource for helping us keep in touch with the communities along the way. They have offered to use their local radio system to announce our arrival in communities along the way. That means they will also know where we are much of the time. Add to that our plans to run a live tracker on this web site, and my registration with Canada’s NordReg and we have a solid system of checks on our safety. “It’s about layers of information and support, that’s what you need to protect yourself,” he advised. “If we have that, we know where to watch for you and we have an idea if you’re having trouble.” Captain Duke has sailed the length of the Northwest Passage twice and plied both ends of the passage countless times, as well as lived in Pond Inlet. He’s the kind of guy I want watching out for our safety. “There’s no reason why you don’t have a reasonable chance, actually a very good chance, of making it through in one season this year. I’ve looked at your web site, you seem to be taking the right steps in preparation.” I was beaming. But then he added a dose of reality. “But don’t forget the Arctic is about variables, nothing can be assumed. And it’s too early to know what the ice will be like this year.” There were other things that Captain Duke said which mean I’ll have to dig deeper for further funds for to buy more communication equipment. And I now realise that my hope of getting into the Beaufort Sea by mid July was optimistic – he doesn’t expect ice breakers to make it in before July 28th. Captain Duke’s men and women will be leaving Victoria on July 8th, a full month after we untie from the dock in Victoria’s inner harbour. However, they will soon overtake us an then lead the way into the Arctic, and after meeting Captain Duke I feel a lot better knowing they’ll be “in the neighbourhood” even if that means the are several days of ice-busting away. Now it’s time to shut down for the night and crawl down to the bottom of my sleeping bag, but mainly because it’s cold in Victoria and the driving sleet outside is tapping against the portals of the Silent Sound as she pulls at her mooring lines. There’s more of this weather to come this summer. Cap’n Cameron March 17, 2009 I’m back aboard the Silent Sound for a week, and Mother Nature has decided it’s time for some conditioning. The weather has been wretched for this time of the year in Canada’s “warmest” city. Temperatures have hovering around freezing highs of around +9C with much of the days spent in cold rain, strong winds and occasional snow flurries . This is what we’ll be sailing through this summer, so I guess it’s time to get used to it. We (Jackie is aboard as well) tend to hide down below with the diesel heater roaring away while keep drinking hot tea. I managed to get the gas-fired water heater working , but it has been pointed out to me that we don’t really have “hot” water, it’s simply no longer so cold that it causes your bones to ache. I’ ve again been reminded how lucky I am to have the friends I do. Norman and Trudi Prelypchan have bent over backwards to help us get around Victoria, and Norman went as far as to hand over the keys to his pick-up truck so we can get around town. Thank you! We also got the chance to go hear Trudi playing in the Victoria Symphony Orchestra at the Royal Theatre, and they’ve had us over for dinner, making this a small vacation as well as an expedition planning trip. The many people that step up to help, show interest in the project or offer an encouraging word continue s to amaze me. Jackie’s auntie Stella helped smooth the handling of our luggage (suitcases full of heavy tools and Silent Sound’s full suit of sails). Jackie’s friends Rosalind and Stewart drove us around Richmond. Chris Klaming, a West Coast photographer, read about the expedition online and dropped by to see the boat. My sister Connie has been working on endless favours I’ve asked of her and Adam and Niki, friends here in Victoria, will help crew the boat on Wednesday when we test the sails. It’s been a busy week, and I still have a lot to do. I have booked a berth in Victoria’s Inner Harbour, smack in front of the Empress Hotel, for the last week before our planned June 6 departure. I finally figured out what the problem with the gas fired water heater is and just had a meeting with Gunter, the man who will be installing Silent Sound’s new radar, chart plotter and satellite commications gear. It was a sobering meeting, seeing what needs to be done and knowing I have yet to find a way to pay for all this. It means I have to renew my effort at finding additional sponsorship and again take a knife to the budget to see what can be abandoned. Cameron March 13, 2009 We've had a very tough time getting sponsorship support for crew airfares and courier services, so we're turning to our many individual supporters for help. Do you have air miles you'd be willing to donate to the expedition? These would be used for getting crew and expedition gear (as excess baggage) into Victoria, and then flying crew home again at the end of the expedition. Tobias is based in Germany, Elaine in Singapore, and I am in Hong Kong, and your air miles would be a great help in getting us to and from the boat. Star Alliance miles are particularly valuable to us as they include Singapore Airlines, Air Canada and Lufthansa – airlines we're likely to fly with for this project. Of course, Asia Miles and One World miles are also a great help. If you have air miles you'd like to contribute to the team please email us at info@OpenPassageExpedition.com with the airline and/or alliance group name and we'll arrange the transfer. Thank you for your support, March 7, 2009 The Open Passage Expedition is three months away from departure. Scary. Exciting. Anticipation. The crunch is on! We have picked June 6 as our target departure date from Victoria, BC, and we’ll do everything we can in the coming months to meet that deadline. We have an entire suite of marine electronics to install by then, a satellite communications system to install, hull to sheath in stainless steel, provisions to buy, sponsors to secure and we’re still looking for that fourth crew member to do the video work. That’s the short “To Do” list. Trust me, I have a much longer list in my hand. So, I better stop tapping away at this blog and get to work! Captain Cameron March 5, 2009 Cameron und ich sind uns 2005 in Südafrika begegnet, dort, wo sich Gnu und Löwe „Gute Nacht“ sagen. Ich wusste nicht, wo ich war und fand einen langhaarigen, bärtigen Mann mit einer Landkarte auf seinem Auto ausgebreitet. Dr Tobias A Dream Cameron and I met 2005 in South Africa. We met in the middle of nowhere and I met a longhaired, bearded dude on the side of the road who had a map spread out on his car. This was the beginning of our friendship. Ever since we have philosophized about dreams and living dreams. In my still very young age I have learned from people who are living their dream or have lived their dreams. With this journey I will be able to live another dream, in a period in which we lose more and more contact with the environment and abstract nature. We want to awaken people. Global warming, which will affect our children and grandchildren much more than us, is happening now. My dream is to build a beautiful world for our children. Dr Tobias March 1, 2009 The Open Passage Expedition has added a very important new team member. Dr. E.C. (Chris) Pielou is joining as our shore-based scientific adviser. She is a mathematical ecologist and a former Killam professor at Dalhousie University in Halifax, NS. Chris has just completed her twelfth book, this one on the evergreen forests of Canada and how they are responding to climate change. She is also the author of what is often described as the bible of Arctic guide books, A Naturalist's Guide to the Arctic. It was this book that led me to Chris. The title kept popping up in Artic adventure accounts I was reading, so I bought one for myself. It’s an incredibly interesting book to read, whether or not you are going to the Arctic, and Chris’ drawings are exquisite. I Googled her, and was amused to find out that we were born on the same day of the year, only half a century apart. I was on my way to Victoria to shop for a yacht, so I got in touch and she agreed to meet. Chris has endless yarns of unique adventures to share and learn from. She has made more than 20 Arctic trips in the past 30 years, some as the naturalist on eco-tourism trips, and over the years she has become a keen trekker, rafter and kayaker. She is passionate about environmental and climate change issues, and is not afraid to speak her mind. And she exudes a sense of adventure and confidence that immediately made me feel that this Arctic trip I was planning was not only possible, but the best plan I’d ever had. I’d intended to chat with her for an hour or two, but it was at least four later that I was back in my car with a stack of Arctic books and my head swimming with new information. Chris left an impression, and I was thrilled when she recently agreed to join the team. Chris’ role within the expedition team is to give us advice on what to look for while we sail through the Arctic and to put our observations into scientific context. And we will share that story with you. We are looking forward to posting her views on this blog and publishing some of our Q&A sessions online to give you a better understanding of how climate change is affecting communities in the Arctic. Cameron February 25, 2009 I’m excited to announce the Open Passage Expedition’s newest sponsor. Direct Energy is one of North America’s leading integrated energy companies and a member of the Centrica group of companies. It has more than five million customers spread across Canada, Texas and the north eastern United States, serving them with low and zero carbon power generation. Direct Energy is a funding partner of the Open Passage Expedition. However, what I’m most excited about is that the company is providing the project with carbon offset credits to make this a carbon neutral expedition. Watch for more news on this soon! There’s an interesting twist to this story … Direct Energy came onboard because of Nathan Kroeker, VP of finance at the company. Nathan and I grew up half a mile from each other in Manitoba’s Interlake region and grew up together. It’s a special touch to have a childhood friend get involved in the project. Cameron February 25, 2009 Sometimes you need to hear your ideas expressed in a new way to see the flaws, strengths and methods of putting them into action. There’s been a lot of this in recent days as Tobias, the ship’s doctor and crew on the expedition, has been in Hong Kong for to discuss the project. Tobias is playing a key role in planning the expedition and helping me to sharpen some of its messages and focus. The goal of the Open Passage Expedition is to tell the story of how climate change is affecting Arctic communities. We will use written word, videos, and photos to do this. Scientists play a key role in finding the data and facts which prove the changes are happening, but sometimes that message doesn’t get to people in a way that captures their imagination. That’s what we hope to do. We want to tell this story in a way that engages people who otherwise would not be interested in climate change or the Arctic, and capture their imagination through the storytelling alone. It’s a big task, and we’re still thinking of different ways to do it. We are talking to Discovery.com about ways to link our site with theirs and to contribute content to their site, and I hope to be able to tell you more about this soon. Tobias has brought some fantastic ideas to the project, and we’ve been working with Troy, the team’s designer, to build some of these into the website. We are translating the entire site into German in order to cater to Tobias’ home market and make it more appealing to European sponsors. There will also be more information on our funding progress on the “support us” page, and we hope that will encourage individual supporters to commit funds to the expedition. Tobias helped me rework our budget, and his business mind found a lot of expenses that I hadn’t thought of, so we have to work really hard to raise more sponsorship support. Media attention of the project is slowly building, and you can check on what has been written on the links page of the website. I expect to add a few more articles to that list in the coming week. Cameron February 14, 2009 The Hong Kong heat is coming back, so it’s hard to get my head around planning for an Arctic expedition and thinking about how best to stay warm. I’ve been looking at some average temperature data for the Canadian Arctic and we’ll be lucky to see many +15C days while we’re there. The average temperatures for July are +12C, with August at +10C and September at +2 … so we need to bring our woollies. We’re negotiating a sponsorship deal with a clothing company, so I’m hoping that they’ll keep us warm and dry. We have a new sponsor to tell you about. Mustang Survival is supplying us with harness/lifejackets and immersion suits … both things I hope we don’t need but they’re essential safety gear. Mustang is a Canadian brand, so it feels especially good to have them onboard. For those of you in Hong Kong, make sure you buy your Sunday Morning Post tomorrow as they’re running a story on the expedition. I’m hoping that with some more publicity we’ll find a few more sponsors. It’s been tough going, but we’re slowly gaining traction, and I expect to announce two more partners later this month. Thanks for telling your friends about us! Website traffic is climbing steadily, and we’re on track to have about 600 unique visitors this month if things keep up. Troy has added a lot of great functions lately, including an RSS feed, a link to our Facebook page and PayPal for those who want to contribute to the expedition. I am going to Victoria for the week of March 15 to work on the boat. I’m hoping to give our new sails a test and start installing some of the new electronics. Cameron February 3, 2009 I’ve found that a lot of people in Hong Kong have trouble finding a connection with the Arctic or even imagining where the Northwest Passage is. Well, now I’ve found a bit of history to bring it all home. Kellett Island used to be located just off the shores of Causeway Bay, in Hong Kong’s Victoria Harbour. Rampant land reclamation over the past 150 years means that it is now part of Hong Kong Island, but it remains home to the Royal Hong Kong Yacht Club. The island was named after Sir Henry Kellett (1806-1875), a British naval officer and explorer who was sent to the Arctic to find Sir John Franklin after he, his 128 men and two ships went missing. (There’s more on this on my “Arctic History” page) Kellett’s connection to Hong Kong is that he was second in command aboard HMS Sulphur during the Opium War with China in 1840-41. It wasn’t until 1848 that he was sent to look for Franklin as the captain of HMS Herald. The Silent Sound will actually be following his route through the Bering Strait and across the Chukchi Sea. He turned westward, where he discovered Herald Island and named it after his ship, while we will be turning eastward. Kellett spent three summers in the Arctic but didn’t find Franklin. However, he was sent back to the Arctic in 1852 as second in command on the HMS Resolute, again in search of Franklin and also to aid Robert McClure, who was trapped in the ice during his own Franklin rescue mission. Kellett was commanded to abandon the HMS Resolute when it became ice-bound in Barrow Strait in the winter of 1853-54, even though he argued that the ship was not in trouble. He returned to England that summer, and in the summer of 1855 his ship was found adrift in Baffin Bay and taken to the US for refit before being presented as a gift to Queen Victoria. Kellett was right to resist abandoning his ship. Today, US President Barack Obama can enjoy a unique perspective of this tale as a table built from the HMS Resolute’s oaken beams stands in the White House to commemorate this act of generosity. And now Hong Kong and the Canadian Arctic don’t seem so far apart anymore. Fair Winds, Cameron January 19, 2009 There’s no guarantee that we’re going to find enough open water to make it through the passage in one season. I’ve known that all along, although its something I’ve certainly tried to ignore. Financially, I’m pretty much screwed if I can’t make it through this summer, but there’s no need worrying about things that haven’t happened yet. Gary Ramos, captain of S/V Arctic Wanderer, was the third person in history to sail the passage single-handed by his count. He completed it last year after leaving his boat in Cambridge Bay for a few winters. He says only 122 boats have traversed the Northwest Passage since 1906, and that 38 of those were 100ft or less. Six boats made it through last summer, and I think around 10 made the attempt. I’m not sure if there’s any official database on this, I’d be interested if others have different data. The National Snow and Ice Data Center, an American body, notes an interesting pause in ice growth from December 12-19, which they think may be caused by odd atmospheric pressure patterns combined with unusually warm ocean temperatures in the Barents Sea. However, according to their data the December ice growth was pretty much average. There was 12.53 million square kilometres of ice in December, which is about 1 percent more than 2007 levels and 6 percent below the 1979-2000 average. With 2008 having had the second-least ice in history following 2007, I’m hoping, for my sake, that trend continues. “Heading into 2009, the Arctic sea ice cover is again young and thin; given this set-up, a continuation of well-below-average sea ice extent in 2009 is a near certainty,” the centre says on its web site. Bad news for the globe in general, but, for purely selfish reasons, good news for me at the moment. Canadian Ice Service data isn’t quite as comforting. They are showing pretty rapid ice growth in late November pushing ice levels, which were below mean all summer and early autumn, to mean levels and even above mean. They have not posted December data yet. In the western Arctic, Beaufort Sea and Northwest Passage routes in particular the ice growth seems to have caught up to mean in November, although the eastern Arctic is still lagging behind mean. That doesn’t look good for us, as we will be entering the Arctic from the west. I’ve been planning on leaving Victoria by early-mid June in the hopes of getting to Bering Strait by mid-late July…I wonder if I’m planning on starting too early. However, I’d rather have more time than less, and that will give the crew some nice shake-down cruising up the Inside Passage without too much time pressure. See…my mind is spinning with possible scenarios. No wonder I can’t sleep anymore. Cameron January 18, 2009 Planning this expedition has taught me that confirmation and assuredness are as elusive as wind in the sails. Plans change. Crew get side-tracked by life’s complications, sponsors opt to hoard cash rather than spend it and the grandest of dreams don’t hold up once the math has been done. Open Passage Expedition is undergoing some of its own changes. Most importantly, we have a new crewmember. Dr Elin Folkesson is not able to join the expedition due to a variety of commitments, but Dr Tobias Neuberger is stepping in to become the expedition doctor. I met Tobias on a dry and dusty highway in South Africa in 2004. I had a map and he didn’t, and that was the foundation of our friendship. Since then he has left his medical career for business, which has brought him to Hong Kong on a regular basis. Now he’s wrapping up his business in Turkey and will spend some time in his native Germany before joining the expedition in Canada. I’m excited to have Tobias on board since there’s a lot for all of us to learn, and he’s one of the quickest learners I know. He’s also one of the funniest Germans I know. No, really, he’s very funny. There are other crew changes in the making, but I’ll tell you more about those once I know more. The recession that is flattening entrepreneurial spirit around the globe is making sponsorship pretty difficult. It’s the same story with every pitch. “Sounds like a fantastic idea. Great voyage. I’m sure it will be very interesting. But sorry, we have no funds for sponsorship now.” Or, those that do still stick out their neck and offer their support do so a bit more cautiously than I’d hoped. So, the budget is undergoing some re-configuration. Less new equipment, and all of it of a less costly calibre, will likely be the theme. But, I’m still very thankful for the support I am getting. UK-Halsey is now officially on board, and they’re making new sails for the boat. Jeppesen, a Boeing company, is sponsoring our C-Map electronic charts, and I’m hopeful of adding further names to this list soon. In recent weeks I’ve had the chance to stand up and give a few groups of people a small taste of the constant barrage of optimism, big dreams and endless details that my friends in Hong Kong must put up with daily. I’ve made my pitch at a businessmen’s dinner club, a Green Drinks meeting, and the sustainable development committee of the Canadian Chamber of Commerce. I’m now trying to come up with a programme that allows students to interact with the expedition and get involved in the research. No money, but I think an educational programme would add an interesting and awarding angle to the project. Cameron January 4, 2009 I want to go on a bit of a riff on dreams and passion. I like telling people that this expedition began as a dream thought up on the deck of a boat under the blazing sun off the coast of Brazil. Then it stewed and developed for several years through my time in Canada, London and in Hong Kong as I read more about the Arctic and past sailing voyages through the Northwest Passage. Then, one day, I woke up and the dream had become a plan. There were fixed points of reference in the idea, solutions to problems, I had devised steps to carry me up an otherwise very slippery slope. Now the plan is becoming reality. I’ve bought the Silent Sound, I’ve got the crew, this website is a physical sign of the reality of the project. It’s a thrilling process, and more empowering than anything I’ve experienced before. Now, I find myself trying to plant that same dream in the minds of others in order to get the support I need. I will set off on this adventure regardless of what level of support I get from sponsors or creative partners. I’ve planned it in such a way that I can pay for the basic expedition with my own modest resources. I did that for two reasons. Firstly, so that I’d be able to go, regardless of how much support I raise. Secondly, it meant I’d never be able to use the excuse of a lack of support to keep me from pushing ahead. But this project has huge potential for sponsors and creative partners, and I don’t want to see it all left on the table. It has the potential to be something much bigger and better than the expedition I can pay for, and in order for that to happen I have to get others to go through that same process I went through. Dreaming of the adventure, seeing how they can be part of it, and then doing it. Many people have already caught the spirit of it and offered their help, but I still need others to join as well. And I need your help with that. So please keep checking this site for updates, tell others about the project, think of people that might be interested in it, companies that may want to get involved. “Victory awaits him who has everything in order -luck, people call it. Defeat is certain for him who has neglected to take the necessary precautions in time; this is called bad luck." Roald Amundsen Cameron December 28, 2008 I’m back home now, regrouping after the Christmas holidays and refocusing on the project. I’m finding that the expedition seems the most real when I’m onboard Silent Sound … Waking up in a frigid boat, huddled in my sleeping bag and watching my breath turn the air white was a good daily reminder of what I was planning to do. I had the diesel heater working well, but running the heater all night seemed unnecessary, and prying yourself from a warm cocoon and into the clammy reality is good motivational practice. Silent Sound is tied up in a beautiful scooped out corner of the Esquimalt Harbour, and it wasn’t unusual to have a harbour seal pop by for a visit while I sat drinking my morning coffee in the cockpit. Fisgard Lighthouse is also visible from the cockpit, a constant reminder that all this is leading up to a grand ocean voyage. There are a few fresh pictures on the site showing where she’s laying. I didn’t get to sail Silent Sound on this trip out. A shortage of time and crew were to blame, mainly, and the purpose of the trip was to get some work done on the boat and figure out what else needed doing. Most of the work was minor, but necessary, such as recharging the refrigerator. I tracked down an aging marine refrigeration technician by asking around a few shops and he agreed to come by and take a look at the fridge. He was a cheery Swiss man that had settled in Canada years earlier, and now puttered around on people’s boats and RVs for a few extra dollars to add to his pension. Within 20 minutes he had my icebox cold again, had checked my system for leaks and given me a quick lesson in maintenance. Another job that needed to get done was measuring the rig for the new mainsail and furling genoa being made by UK Halsey Sailmakers in Hong Kong. Adam Egan, a fellow sailor and very knowledgeable outdoorsman I met last summer, came over on a cold and rainy day to help with the job. I got my harness on and climbed the rig while Adam took measurements on the deck. After a few hours of swaying at the top of the mast in the sputtering rain my hands were stiff and I was soaked through, but we had all the key measurements done. A few days later Adam returned, this time with his wife Niki, and they brought sunny warm weather with them. We rechecked all our measurements and finished the job before tucking into the rum bottle in the cockpit as the afternoon sun slid across the harbour. Bradley Clements, the son of the former owners of the yacht, came by with a friend to have a last look at her. It was interesting to have him onboard and hear some sailing stories from the 11 years he spent growing up on the boat. I also had marine electronics expert come by for a look to give me some advice on what needed to be done to beef up the power system and what kind of navigational gear we could put in. I’m hoping to put in new radar, chart plotter with matching screens above/below decks and new radio…if money allows. We’ll also have to put in a larger alternator to provide the juice that we’ll need for the cameras and computers needed to document the trip. I’ve been feeling pretty overwhelmed by the amount I need to learn about the boat, its maintenance, along with the navigation and sailing demands. Meeting people that have 10 miles at sea to every one of mine and seeing their reaction to my plans is both encouraging and humbling. Normally there’s a low whistle, some hard questions about boat preparation and plans, and then the excitement in their eyes grows as they begin to appreciate the true adventure of this undertaking. I’ve been lucky to meet some great west coast sailors who know the waters and the sailing community well and hearing their confidence in my plan spurs me on. I was returning to the boat one afternoon when I spotted a young man walking down the pier next to the one Silent Sound is on. I’d seen him around a few times, and suspected he was living onboard his yacht, a 30 foot racer/cruiser. I had a quick chat with him over the water, he’d heard about the voyage I was planning, and agreed to rendezvous on his boat later in the evening over a few rums. When I asked Chris if the gates were open to the home behind his dock he told me the easiest way between our docks was along the shore at low tide, so at 2100 I grabbed a bottle and my torch and prepared to walk over. Climbing along the shore wasn’t quite as easy as promised, and as I stumbled along by torchlight I was terrified that I’d slip and break a leg, or even worse, drop my bottle of rum on the rocks. I’d seen a weasel working his way along the shore this way the night before, so I knew it was possible, but I doubted the weasel had the same amount of trouble fitting underneath the boathouse, with its filthy, oiled beams wacking me on the head every time I tried jumping between boulders. After a generous amount of grunting, cursing and heart-stopping balancing acts, I crawled onto their dock, safe and sound, with bottle unbroken. Chris had left for town with his mates, but there was light and noise pouring out of a gleaming 60-foot yacht next to his. It turned out to be Chris’ father Pat, who was giving his new yacht a bow to stern cleaning and servicing. He’d just traded in a Farr 60 for this J/160 and had, together with his wife, sailed her up from California straight into the teeth of an early winter northwesterly. His zealous cleaning made me feel a bit guilty about how grubby Silent Sound was looking. Pat, like so many others living along this coast, came from a sailing family and was proudly passing the tradition onto his own kids, with one daughter working for the Canadian Coast Guard in the Arctic. I left his luxurious cruising yacht an hour later feeling warmed knowing I had such Corinthian neighbours, and humbled by his expertise in boat management. I left Victoria December 12 to come back to my job in Hong Kong. It was hard to leave Silent Sound again after a week onboard, but I have plenty of expedition-related work to keep me thinking about the adventures we’ll be sharing this summer.Cameron December 7, 2008 Much of the adventure of this expedition will be in the planning and preparation, so I'd better start telling the story. November 15 was the official public launch of the Open Passage Expedition, as that was the day this web site went live and we formally announced our intentions. The launch party took place on my rooftop in Hong Kong, with a group of close friends and sailors gathering to mark the occasion. Drew Fellman, expedition filmmaker, was in Hong Kong after a few gruelling months of underwater shooting in Bali for an IMAX project. We had some good informal planning sessions over seafood and beer and were able to further synchronise our dreams and plans for this project. I was also honoured to have two of my brothers, Bryan and Terry, out from Canada to help us celebrate. Just to backtrack a bit … this plan has been hatching since 2004, when I took a year away from my journalism career to sail from Asia to the Caribbean, via the Red Sea and Atlantic Ocean. In July I took a leap of faith and bought Silent Sound, my first yacht, with the sole purpose of using her for this expedition. Since then I've been adding crew to the team, working with Troy on the website and planning the creative side of the expedition with Drew, who is now based in L.A. I must admit, there are moments when the scale, danger and breadth of this undertaking leave me with a dry mouth and sweaty palms, and I wonder just what kind of beast I've created. Yet, it's exciting to see a dream become a plan and then reality, and that process itself builds confidence and momentum. Elin Folkesson, expedition doctor, is still working for MSF in Burma while first mate Elaine Chua is in Singapore, where she is preparing for the VOR stopover. I arrived at the boat last night after what seemed like a marathon drive from my sister Connie Harms' place in Chilliwack, in the Fraser Valley. I spent a few nights there arranging gear, including some new salon cushions. I also did a short presentation on the project at my niece's school. My cousin Tim Dueck drove me and a heap of gear to the island, and the ferry we took had to turn around in the middle of the Strait of Georgia and head back to Vancouver after someone jumped off in an attempted suicide. When we finally arrived at the boat it was dark, the batteries were dead, and I couldn't remember where anything was, or what I'd turned off before leaving her in July. But we finally got things powered up, a heater going to ward off some of the chill, and food put away. A quick trip into town to pick up a sleeping bag, some more food and eat a nice Greek dinner, and we were back on board for a much needed sleep. I love this boat already … the attachment is growing by the day. Right now it's cold and rainy out, and I'm tied up to Greg Sager's private dock. But I've got Billie Holiday and a pot of tea for company, and Greg showed me how to light my diesel heater without blowing up the boat. A good day to relax, take stock, do some reading and writing and try to clear my head after a few tumultuous weeks. I've contacted my friends here in Victoria, and Norman and Trudi Prelypchan have already extended an invitation and offer of transport if needed, continuing the exceptional generosity they displayed in July when I was here buying the boat. I'll be here for a week, doing some refit work, measuring her for new sails and consulting with some potential sponsors and various advisors. I expect the expedition to soon sign two crucial partners, one is a world leading sail maker, and the other is a Canadian airline. Please sign up for email alerts to keep updated (info@openpassageexpedition.com). Seeing other people's excitement over the project only fuels my own belief that we are on the path to success, and their support means more to the expedition members than they will ever know. Fair winds, |
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