Guest Post by Willis Eschenbach
I must admit, being an oceanic adventurer myself, I do love to read about outrageous voyages. The feats of Shackleton in the Endurance stir my blood. I’ve stood on the deck of the Gjoa, the first ship to make the northwest Passage, and marveled at how tiny it was, and the steel nerves of the men who sailed it into the unknown.
But the latest crop of Arctic adventurers leave something to be desired. Last year we had the “Row To The Pole“, which didn’t … and in 2008 some other fools tried something similar in kayaks. This year, we have “Arctic Row”, whose stated goal is to make “the first, non-stop, unsupported row across the Arctic Ocean”.
Here’s the ocean in question.
Figure 1. Arctic Ocean. Greenland is the white island on the right, Alaska is at the bottom left, Canada is bottom center, Russia is at the left and top left.
Now, when I read that they were going to row “across the Arctic Ocean”, from Canada to Russia, I thought “No way”. There’s always too much ice in the middle of the Arctic Ocean to make that at all possible. But I hadn’t reckoned on their ingenuity. So how exactly do they plan to make “the first, non-stop, unsupported row across the Arctic Ocean”?
I searched all over their web site for a map showing their route, but I couldn’t find one. However, I did find where they are leaving from (Inuvik, Canada) and where they are landing (Provideniya, Russia) , and with the help of Google Earth I’ve plotted out the likely route of their Arctic crossing for you …
Figure 2. Path of their rowing journey “across the Arctic Ocean”.
I guess that the term “across the Ocean” must mean something different where they come from …
They are asking for sponsors on account of their important scientific work. They are going to record all of the whales that they see, and mark down which direction they are traveling, to determine if whales use their noses to navigate to the nearest krill patch. There was no word about how they would know where the nearest krill patch might be. There was also no word on whether they are asking for sponsors who will pay for the ships and planes in case they need to be rescued … although from the looks of their route if they get in trouble they could just wade ashore.
I note that they say that “The Arctic Row expedition presents an unusual opportunity to conduct scientific research with absolutely no carbon emissions or negative impact on the Arctic ecosystem.” I’m not clear how they plan to get the boats and rowers to Canada and back from Russia without using carbon fuels.
I also note that their web site references, without a hint of irony, the discredited Nature magazine claim that the plankton in the oceans is only half as abundant as a century ago … so they are going to “create a thorough zooplankton sample transect along the entire path”. We’ll see how that goes …
I wish them well, and I do not minimize the difficulty of such a long row. I used to fish commercially from a rowboat, and rowing it eight or ten miles a night was a long and tiring pull. I’ve also fished in the Bering Sea, and I know how changeable and deadly the northern waters can be. I admire their courage and search for adventure, and I wish them a safe journey.
But calling that journey a voyage “across the Arctic Ocean”? Sorry, that’s a coastal voyage they have planned, and is hardly “across” anything but the Bering Strait. I can see why they neglected to put a map on their site showing their proposed route …
[UPDATE] An alert reader yclept “climatebeagle” noticed the following:
I wonder if their route will even cross into the definition of the Arctic Ocean?
http://www.iho-ohi.net/iho_pubs/standard/S-23/S23_1953.pdf
Looks like it could just be the Chukchi and Beaufort Seas.
I looked into his excellent reference, and found the following (click on image for larger version):
Note that their route actually doess cross the Arctic Ocean as they claimed … looks like the crossing will take a couple of hours.
w.
Shackleton’s Endurance expedition was one of the most remarkable feats of survival of all time, but perhaps Matthew W’s statement that no lives were lost might be qualified by noting that three fatalities did occur among the Aurora party preparing for Shackleton’s never accomplished arrival on the far side of Antarctica. Their achievements and suffering are too often forgotten.
‘This year, we have “Arctic Row”, whose stated goal is to make “the first, non-stop, unsupported row across the Arctic Ocean”.’
Heck, that’s nothing. Last month my wife flew ACROSS THE SOLAR SYSTEM.*
*from California to Taiwan
They may have to reconsider this – remember, there are people that are easily upset at the sight of melting ice, especially those suffering through the “heatwave” in the Washington DC area.
Then again, maybe Bill McKibben found his available source of ice. After all, does it matter if this ice melts in the Arctic, or on the Mall in DC – as long at it makes money for the “cause”?
jack mosevich says: I read through their website and fear that it is a hoax. No one could be so stupid. I think they are baiting us.
If it were a hoax, they’d have put the route straight across. Nothing is impossible to one who doesn’t have to actually do it himself.
JM VanWinkle says: They will need to watch out for endangered polar bears, polar bears are not cuddly in real life.
But surely the explorers’ noble intentions will assuage the bears’ carnivorous predilections.
I think they’d better find a little better map…. Inuvik is NOT on the Arctic Ocean. It’s on the MacKenzie River about 100 kms south of the ocean and that’s about 100 kms of very confusing delta. They’d probably get lost before they ever reach the ocean. I’d suggest they start at Tuktayuktuk right on the Arctic Ocean – and that is what their rudimentary map seems to show. There’s a small town with an airport. Or they could do as I did: take a barge up the MacKenzie from Inuvik and enjoy the river. (This was the terminus of a bicycle trip from the Gulf of Mexico/Corpus Christi.)
They’ll be able to see Alaska from their detention cell.
If their route was a few miles south, they would be able to walk across.
No problem actually. If it’s real cold, you keep moving to keep warm and, when you want to quit moving, you climb into your sleeping bag as quickly as possible.
“Dodgy Geezer says:
July 9, 2012 at 11:59 am
They ARE asking for donations on their web site. I wonder whether UK law allows someone to challenge this as false advertising?”
It’s fraudulent misrepresentation. Not negligent or mistaken.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Misrepresentation
It’s a “historical feat”, Willis, but not as we know it.
I hope they pack a whistle in their kit so they can do something useful during their voyage by making some noise.
I would never knowingly wish anyone any ill wind – but this is blatant tagging along on the ‘Global Warming’ bandwagon as can be possible – and frankly, I hope they struggle to get any funds at all.
Research my ah$e !! Hmm, perhaps that’s the only way they will get anything outta me!
If they had said, ‘hey folks, fancy sponsoring a darned good pish up as we row around the edge f the Arctic’ – I’d have been far more tempted to put my hand in my pocket at the honest approach than the Bulldust publicity stunt they are trying to pull !
Wow! Now, that’s a trip, worth talking about! GK
“First Arctic Crossing”? Looks to me like the arctic part of that route has been done many times.
On the website given by jack mosevich, look at the diagram showing the solar panels. Looks pretty minimal for that latitude and doesn’t hint at any mechanism to aim them at the sun (hint: not up).
VHF contacts might be few and far between; there is no mention of satellite communication (except EPIRB) even though they obviously plan to stay connected. Do they know how much power the laptap will need? Looks to me like their own awareness needs raising.
At least this time there not claiming its only possible to do this row thanks to global warming /climate doom
Willis,
I looked at their web site and there is a map of their route; just the same as the one you worked out. And no, it doesn’t cross the Arctic Ocean.
I have to defend my old sailing buddy John Wishart on the “row to the pole” trip last year – he himself never said anything other than that they were going to row to the position that the N. Mag. Pole was in whatever year it was that he organised a race over the ice to that position. The PR of the trip kind of took over and made it look like something different.
As usual, don’t trust the MSM.
Regarding kayaks, I understand that there are reports from medieval times of manned kayaks being found near Faroe and Shetland.
They’ll need to keep their eyes open for the tankers and barges taking materials to and from the North Slope.
Oh, and watch out for the drilling platforms, boys!
From Gary Hladik on July 9, 2012 at 12:38 pm:
What’s the big deal with that? I circle around the Sun once a year!
I wonder if there route will even cross into the definition of the Arctic Ocean?
http://www.iho-ohi.net/iho_pubs/standard/S-23/S23_1953.pdf
Looks like it could just be the Chuckchi and Beaufort Seas.
Only thinking of the plan created more CO2 than necessary, let alone rowing there, or, as mentioned, bringing your stuff there. Just shows how total nonsense non-CO2 events are.
And as noted bij others, ALONG the arctic ocean.
Willis, how in the world can you stay calm when reading and then blogging about this pathetic plan. Did you have some sort of training, like anger management or so? If so, please leave a link. I can use it. The green BS is getting under my skin lately. *squeezes stressball*
Regarding the Top Gear expedition, just to clarify, they went to the (1996 location of the) magnetic north pole, which is on the northern end of the Canadian Archipelago, not the geographic north pole. They were well over 1000 km (600 miles) from the geographic pole. Still an impressive feat, but driving vehicles along the coasts and the fast ice of the archipelago is a far different animal than going across the pack ice to the geographic pole.
Re Top Gear: it was, of course, the Magnetic North Pole that they drove to. On the TG website it gives the coordinates as 78 degrees 35.7 north by 104 degrees 11.9 west. This is the “certified” 1996 magnetic north pole location that the “Row to the Pole” expedition that was previously roundly lambasted on WUWT had as its target destination. This is within the Canadian archipelago, just offshore, or possibly just onshore Ellef Ringnes island.
As Robert Service put it, “There are strange things done ‘neath the midnight sun..”
Could there be a put-to-poetry legend in this story? What rhymes with plankton?
The route map could be found in WUWT Tips & Notes:
Route map: Canada, west along Alaska’s north shoreline, to Russia.
http://www.arcticrow.com/route/
Should be called Alaska Row.
[Moderator’s Note: Yes, you were the first to submit something about this. Didn’t realize Willis had also spotted it. Kudos and a hat-tip. Yer a good guy and a book-worm (some of our more vociferous trolls might not recognize the term “gentleman and scholar”). -REP]
“row across the Arctic ocean”
This use of ‘across’ crosses the bounds of normal usage, doing violence to the English language.