tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9066599892109251360Wed, 11 Feb 2026 00:02:00 +0000"Northwest Passage""russ roberts"fiona"northwest passage" "roald amundsen""fleur australe"Resolute"Gjoa Haven""al gore""beset in ice""eric forsyth""global warming""ice melt"baganicebergsperithia"Baffin Bay""Lancaster Sound""Matty Island""Peel Sound""Resolute Bay""Shortland Channel" "Mustang survival""al gore hoax"."is global warming a hoax""geraldine danon""ice concentration""motor sailing""roald amundsen""sailing the northwest passage"Upernavikfulmar"Beechey Island""Cambridge Bay""Canadian Coast Guard""Deale Sound""Dutch Harbor""Gjoa""Hapag-Lloyd""Larsen Sound""MCClintock Bay""Mark Schrader""Ocean Watch""Royal Geographical Islands""Simpson Straits""Sir John Franklin""Spot tracker""acceptable risk""aground""arctic ham radio" "mobile maritime" "14.3 MHz""bingo fuel""coast guard station iqualuit""equal time point""gordon lightfoot""ice breaker""is global warming a hoax""little auk""little auks""phillippe poupon""pitch perfect""retirement checks""run to ground""sea ice""single handing""single handling""single-handed""social security retiree""social security""whaling ships""wherefore and why"BremenDiskoETPFranklin Strait"HanseaticLaurierOcensSisimuit Greenland "Northwest Passage"aground"fulmarsgrundensnorthwest passageseasickA journal of the trip aboard S/V Fiona by Russ Robertshttp://fiona2009northwestpassage.blogspot.com/noreply@blogger.com (Russ Roberts)Blogger57125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9066599892109251360.post-6230116910555696599Thu, 08 Sep 2011 15:34:00 +00002012-04-24T14:14:37.960-04:00 Thursday, October 6 – “The Inner Reaches of the Northwest Passage” Airline pilot, sailor and broadcaster, Captain Russell Roberts will speak about his experience sailing the Northwest Passage across the top of the world in a 42-foot fiberglass pleasure boat.  Roberts will share details about navigation, icy travails, the arctic weather as well as the people and animals he encountered alonghttp://fiona2009northwestpassage.blogspot.com/2011/09/russ-roberts-speaks-at-lake-superior.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Russ Roberts)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9066599892109251360.post-4599437865372054886Thu, 21 Apr 2011 06:53:00 +00002011-04-21T02:56:46.891-04:00News report from the Orange County Review:  Come to the Orange Historical Society's Research Center, 130 Caroline Street, at 7 p.m. April 25 to hear Russ Roberts' presentation:  The Inner Reaches of the Northwest Passage. For well over a century, the Holy Grail of explorers was the Northwest Passage, an imagined sea route around North America to the riches of the Orienthttp://fiona2009northwestpassage.blogspot.com/2011/04/russ-roberts-speaks-in-orange-virginia.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Russ Roberts)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9066599892109251360.post-917771762888565488Mon, 14 Mar 2011 15:31:00 +00002011-03-14T11:44:19.949-04:00northwest passage Russ Roberts' "The Inner Reaches of the Northwest Passage," is scheduled for Wed March 16 7PM at the Mariners' Museum in Newport News, VA and on Sat March 26 2PM at the Vancouver Maritime Museum in Vancouver, BC, Canada www.marinersmuseum.org/ http://www.vancouvermaritimemuseum.com/ http://fiona2009northwestpassage.blogspot.com/2011/03/russ-roberts-speaks-about-northwest.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Russ Roberts)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9066599892109251360.post-3121434539285777478Fri, 09 Jul 2010 21:21:00 +00002010-07-09T17:21:26.805-04:00 Click here for a YouTube video of Fiona in Resolutehttp://fiona2009northwestpassage.blogspot.com/2010/07/fiona-in-resolute-video-summer-2009.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Russ Roberts)1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9066599892109251360.post-7844246366315947347Sat, 19 Sep 2009 16:29:00 +00002011-08-25T16:19:32.402-04:00"Dutch Harbor""eric forsyth""Northwest Passage""retirement checks""single handing""single handling""single-handed""social security retiree""social security"fionaFiona arrived in Dutch Harbor, Alaska yesterday morning with her captain, Eric Forsyth, 77, the only person on board.  After the two remaining crew members, Joe and David, left the boat in Nome, Eric pushed off alone for the Aleutians.  The trip took almost a week.  He anchored before dawn Friday morning. He next job, he said on his website, will be to find a crew for the next leghttp://fiona2009northwestpassage.blogspot.com/2009/09/eric-forstyth-arrives-in-dutch-harbor.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Russ Roberts)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9066599892109251360.post-8686003331371941326Fri, 18 Sep 2009 17:12:00 +00002009-09-18T17:00:46.952-04:00"al gore hoax"."is global warming a hoax""al gore""global warming""ice melt""Northwest Passage""northwest passage" "roald amundsen""russ roberts""Shortland Channel" "Mustang survival"From the National Snow and Ice Data Center, University of Colorado, Boulder (September 17, 2009): Arctic sea ice reaches annual minimum extent Arctic sea ice appears to have reached its minimum extent for the year, the third-lowest extent since the start of satellite measurements in 1979. While this year's minimum extent is above the record and near-record minimums of the last two years, it http://fiona2009northwestpassage.blogspot.com/2009/09/ice-melt-ends.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Russ Roberts)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9066599892109251360.post-1850424357364640238Mon, 14 Sep 2009 17:49:00 +00002012-03-17T13:31:25.725-04:00"al gore""beset in ice""eric forsyth""global warming""ice melt""is global warming a hoax""northwest passage" "roald amundsen""russ roberts""sailing the northwest passage"icebergs Having returned from the "Summer of Cold" on the Northwest Passage, I am in the process of editing my journal, sorting the thousands of photographs and attempting to put the trip into perspective. This year all but one of the ten vessels (ten that we know about) attempting the Passage completed their goal. No vessels were damaged, no crew members injured, no "Mayday" calls were made and no http://fiona2009northwestpassage.blogspot.com/2009/09/back-from-ice.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Russ Roberts)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9066599892109251360.post-7706909932730021822Wed, 26 Aug 2009 16:33:00 +00002012-03-17T13:38:15.023-04:00"al gore hoax"."is global warming a hoax""al gore""beset in ice""global warming""ice melt""Northwest Passage""roald amundsen""russ roberts"Fiona arrived in Cambridge Bay in fine "shirtsleeve" weather Tuesday evening, just in time for Happy Hour. Sprague Theobald and Chauncey Tanton from the M/V Bagan boarded for drinks and interviews with Fiona's crew. Sprague, an Emmy award winning filmmaker, is producing what he hopes will be a multi-part TV series on the Northwest Passage and the 2009 season in particular. Bagan and http://fiona2009northwestpassage.blogspot.com/2009/08/cambridge-bay.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Russ Roberts)2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9066599892109251360.post-2405549673388717040Tue, 25 Aug 2009 04:12:00 +00002011-08-25T16:21:14.686-04:00"Cambridge Bay""Gjoa Haven""Hapag-Lloyd""MCClintock Bay""Royal Geographical Islands""russ roberts""Simpson Straits"BremenHanseatic Saturday Fiona anchored in McClintock Bay and waited for the wind to moderate before pushing west early Sunday. Russ reported via SSB datalink on Monday: "Overnite McClintock Bay Sunday. Want good daylight for passage south of Royal Geographical Society Islands today. Reefs, etc. ETA Cambridge Bay Tuesday evening." By clicking on and enlarging the photo at left one see's why Fiona's crew did http://fiona2009northwestpassage.blogspot.com/2009/08/sailing-west.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Russ Roberts)1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9066599892109251360.post-5833469717660130869Sat, 22 Aug 2009 21:53:00 +00002009-11-22T12:21:01.208-05:00"Deale Sound""Gjoa Haven""Gjoa""Mark Schrader""Matty Island""Northwest Passage""Ocean Watch""roald amundsen""russ roberts""whaling ships"aground" Email from Russ Thursday August 20 after arriving in Gjoa Haven: "We arrived in Gjoa Haven, Nunavut this morning around 10AM. Rainy and foggy but otherwise good to be here. This is where Roald Amundsen wintered with the Gjoa before proceeding west to complete his passage. At the end of his second winter in Gjoa Haven he encountered San Francisco whale ships in Deale Sound near present day http://fiona2009northwestpassage.blogspot.com/2009/08/fiona-underway-to-cambridge-bay.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Russ Roberts)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9066599892109251360.post-3795835601132537615Thu, 20 Aug 2009 18:07:00 +00002009-11-22T12:19:48.741-05:00"acceptable risk""Gjoa Haven""ice breaker""Larsen Sound""Peel Sound""russ roberts""Spot tracker"baganfionaFranklin Strait"perithia Entry from Russ Roberts journal on 8/20/09: 46 miles to Gjoa Haven at 0815.  It will feel good to get there. Rae Strait is bumpy this AM after overnight winds which have swells unsettled.  It's raining and damp.   Last Message received from Russ on Wednesday night: "Quiet night tied to floe. Underway 6AM. Motoring well. 130nm (nautical miles) to Gjoa. Biggest story on this triphttp://fiona2009northwestpassage.blogspot.com/2009/08/fiona-arrives-gjoa-haven.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Russ Roberts)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9066599892109251360.post-5361574293569081212Wed, 19 Aug 2009 16:14:00 +00002009-11-22T12:17:02.528-05:00Entry from Russ Roberts' journal: Nice day - like a Caribbean cruise.  http://fiona2009northwestpassage.blogspot.com/2009/08/nice-day.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Russ Roberts)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9066599892109251360.post-1888985047768110174Wed, 19 Aug 2009 04:39:00 +00002009-11-22T12:14:44.305-05:00"Canadian Coast Guard""coast guard station iqualuit""russ roberts"baganfionaLaurierperithia The winds have shifted from the south to the north slowly pushing the ice in a more southwesterly direction and hopefully opening a passage with low enough ice concentration to make it possible for Fiona, Perithia, and Bagan to arrive in Gjoa Haven soon. 12:03PM Email from Russ: "All well & happy. Waiting game. Fog. Wind shifting. 'Breaker Laurier ETA late tonight. Rec'd e-mail from Spraguehttp://fiona2009northwestpassage.blogspot.com/2009/08/waiting-game.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Russ Roberts)5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9066599892109251360.post-6287554357438234752Tue, 18 Aug 2009 16:14:00 +00002009-11-22T12:34:35.207-05:00From Russ Roberts' journal entry: 0400:  On watch.  Quiet.  Occasional whale songs.  In the last hour we've started a drift to the southwest.  A change from the last 24 hours.  Wind seems to be starting to move.  It's forecast to be from the north.  This could give problems.  Better to have easterlies.  But then, we were supposed to have http://fiona2009northwestpassage.blogspot.com/2009/11/morning-watch.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Russ Roberts)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9066599892109251360.post-3610429855531814215Mon, 17 Aug 2009 20:57:00 +00002009-11-27T13:44:07.233-05:00"beset in ice""ice concentration""Matty Island""northwest passage" "roald amundsen""russ roberts""Shortland Channel" "Mustang survival"grundensicebergs [Joe Waits photo] Sunday August 16, email from Russ: "FREEZING, sleet, wind, ice everywhere, like world's biggest game of Dodg'em. I wear the Mustang suit and Grundens foulies [foul weather clothing] to stay safe and warm. Through Shortland Channel in Tasmania Islands. Hand steered all the way in ice and fog. Making for Matty Island." At the time Russ wrote that, the Fiona was in 1/10 ice http://fiona2009northwestpassage.blogspot.com/2009/08/ice-everywhere.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Russ Roberts)4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9066599892109251360.post-233277486772871489Mon, 17 Aug 2009 00:13:00 +00002009-11-27T13:40:09.942-05:00Entry from Russ Roberts' journal: Due to lousy weather and increasing concentration of ice Eric called the Coast Guard to give them our position. After pancakes for breakfast we are checking and filling the Go Bag.  This is a partial list of some stuff we need to put in it in case we need to abandon ship(discuss more with others): Epirb SPOT locator beacon Iridium phone Shotgun & http://fiona2009northwestpassage.blogspot.com/2009/08/busy-day.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Russ Roberts)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9066599892109251360.post-8117265594431482506Sun, 16 Aug 2009 03:03:00 +00002009-11-21T20:11:49.051-05:00 Fiona left Resolute Friday morning, 14 August, sailing south down Peel Sound. Progress Saturday was made more difficult with south winds and at 6:30 pm Russ reported that they had finally sailed far enough south to have "ice in sight". The next couple of days will no doubt be the most intense for the crew of the Fiona as Franklin Strait and Larsen Sound are still strewn with ice. The ice is http://fiona2009northwestpassage.blogspot.com/2009/08/farewell-resolute.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Russ Roberts)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9066599892109251360.post-6913512149729870400Fri, 14 Aug 2009 23:06:00 +00002009-11-21T19:34:23.003-05:00Fiona's Resolute departure was set for noon today.  At 0530 Eric woke us up, concerned about several big ice floes surrounding us (again).  He decided we would leave right away.  He did tell Uwe on Perithia that we were shoving off, but I feel bad Eric did not wait for him. David stood his first two hour watch at 1400.  Visibility down to less than 1,000 feet in fog with http://fiona2009northwestpassage.blogspot.com/2009/11/big-ice-floes-in-resolute-bay.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Russ Roberts)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9066599892109251360.post-7196896323842369746Thu, 13 Aug 2009 22:59:00 +00002009-11-21T19:04:23.396-05:00Eric wanted to leave Saturday.  I had recommended leaving today, Thursday the 13th, in order to get down close to the ice.  That way we would be set to make a run when the wind opens up a lead to Gjoa Haven (or better yet northwest of the island direct to Cambridge Bay ... a wild dream indeed!).  In the end he weighed all the options and decided noon, Friday is the time to leave.&http://fiona2009northwestpassage.blogspot.com/2009/08/from-journal.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Russ Roberts)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9066599892109251360.post-2795624759829188643Wed, 12 Aug 2009 20:35:00 +00002009-11-04T13:21:42.223-05:00Here's the August 4th article from the National Snow and Ice Data Center. It shows the ice melting at a record pace. But, for Fiona's trip this is a two-edged sword. The warm weather is dislodging old ice that normally survives year to year. This ice starts to migrate and can clog up passages that are normally open.  Arctic sea ice extent for the month of July was the third lowest for http://fiona2009northwestpassage.blogspot.com/2009/08/ice-melt-on-par-with-2007.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Russ Roberts)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9066599892109251360.post-3748342127680355423Wed, 12 Aug 2009 17:35:00 +00002009-11-04T13:37:07.534-05:00entry from Russ Roberts journal: The Mounties, Carol and Ted, came down to the boat yesterday to tell us about the bear.  It had been in town the night before we saw it swimming in the bay and had chased a kid down the street, or so the story goes. We may wait another day or two before leaving.  We have set the 16th as our "bingo day," the decision day on whether to get underway for http://fiona2009northwestpassage.blogspot.com/2009/11/still-cooling-jets-in-resolute.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Russ Roberts)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9066599892109251360.post-4574182086568445151Wed, 12 Aug 2009 01:34:00 +00002009-11-08T00:01:59.587-05:00"Resolute Bay"Resolute "Russ, Russ, hurry up on deck!  Look behind you!" Eric called from the dingy.  I turned to see a polar bear swimming into the bay. Eric had gone to shore to fetch David's gear but cut his errand a bit short. The bear, meanwhile, swam to shore and headed to town.  A local resident, however, "buzzed" it with a four-wheeler (called a "quad" here) chasing the polar bear in a flurry http://fiona2009northwestpassage.blogspot.com/2009/08/pervasive-aroma.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Russ Roberts)2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9066599892109251360.post-1668717863224013451Sun, 09 Aug 2009 17:14:00 +00002009-11-05T19:45:14.972-05:00entry from Russ Roberts journal: Three times this morning we rousted out to reset the anchor.  The first time, at 0500, was when the anchor chain was found laying on top of an ice floe which lifted the anchor off the bottom.  The other two times was to get out of the way of incoming chunks of ice.  Other than that and a 25 knot wind, it is a quiet morning. David came by to visithttp://fiona2009northwestpassage.blogspot.com/2009/11/ice-wrangling.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Russ Roberts)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9066599892109251360.post-7815666476816473297Sat, 08 Aug 2009 18:27:00 +00002009-11-04T14:13:21.820-05:00 Resolute was established in 1947 as a weather station and military airfield. It is Canada's 2nd northernmost town with a population just over 200. An average yearly temperature of 2.5F degrees makes it one of the coldest inhabited places in the world. The area is experiencing 24 hours of daylight now until the middle of August when the days start to become shorter leading to the period of http://fiona2009northwestpassage.blogspot.com/2009/08/downside-of-adventure.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Russ Roberts)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9066599892109251360.post-4367610702755657331Fri, 07 Aug 2009 20:08:00 +00002009-11-04T14:02:55.177-05:00"aground""fleur australe""gordon lightfoot""ice concentration""Resolute Bay""run to ground""sea ice""wherefore and why"perithiaOn Friday, August 7th, we awoke at 4:30 to someone "you-hooing" from shore. My first thought was, "Damn kids, don't they ever go to bed?" Then Joe rolled out, popped his head out the hatch and said, "Shit. Look at this." Resolute Bay was full of ice and it was moving our way. Beyond the ice Fleur Australe, the French boat, was making its way out by way of the only lead along the shore (Fleur hashttp://fiona2009northwestpassage.blogspot.com/2009/08/interesting-day-in-resolute-bay.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Russ Roberts)0