NEWS AND NOTES
Blue Water Sailing
December 17, 2009
More Extreme Cruising with Eric Forsyth
Eric Forsyth received the prized
Seven Seas Award at the
2007 SSCA Convention in
Melbourne, FL' / N.Birnbaum
Eric Forsyth, recipient of the 2000 Blue Water Medal and the 2007 Seven Seas Award given by the Seven Seas Cruising Association, has just returned from his second cruise through the Northwest Passage.
Truly a remarkable feat which makes Fiona one of the first cruising yachts to have completed this difficult and dangerous 7,000 mile journey.
"We pushed on for nearly twelve hours before we had to admit we were stuck and we tied ourselves to an iceberg just before midnight, although the light from a watery sun illuminated the fog and the gloomy scene around us. I was awakened by a crash and the sudden tilting of my bunk. We all rushed on deck; a berg had collided with our own icy haven, it had rotated and the underwater mass had lifted Fiona's bow clear of the surface. With the stern still in deep water I started the engine, put the transmission in reverse and we slid back into the sea as though we were on ways. We found another floe to attach ourselves to on the lee side using the dinghy anchor; one piece of equipment I had omitted to bring was a four-pronged grapnel. The fog started to lift and soon the shore of the Boothia Peninsula was visible just less than half a mile to the east. It looked rocky and very bleak. A check of our position on the GPS showed that we were moving north with ice-field. We were still in a clear pool of water but it was shrinking, by lunchtime clear water had virtually disappeared and we were surrounded by ice, some of which was obviously 'old' ice with thick pieces tilted up on edge."
'Fiona aground at low tide, pushed onshore by ice at
Resolute Bay.' / R. Roberts
Eric logged 8,873 nautical miles in 124 days since departing Long Island on June 15. Eric and his crew averaged 112 miles per sailing day, including those in which they were trapped in ice. Eric, at 77, is now on his way back and plans on completing his circumnavigation of North America in May of 2010. You can check out Eric's site: www.yachtfiona.com/.
Polar Bear floats alongside, Resolute Bay. / R. Roberts
