Paddle to the Arctic : the incredible story of a kayak quest across the roof of the world by Starkell Don 1932-

Author:Starkell, Don, 1932-
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Starkell, Don, 1932- -- Travel -- Northwest Passage, Starkell, Don, 1932- -- Voyages -- Nord-Ouest, Passage du, Starkell, Don, 1932-, Sea kayaking -- Northwest Passage, Canotage en mer -- Nord-Ouest, Passage du, Sea kayaking, Travel, Northwest Passage -- Description and travel, Nord-Ouest, Passage du -- Descriptions et voyages, Arctic Ocean -- Northwest Passage
ISBN: 9780771082481
Publisher: Toronto : McClelland & Stewart
Published: 1995-02-19T16:00:00+00:00

By Kayak from Cambridge Bay

FRIDAY, JULY 17, 1992 (day i) Long Point on Victoria Island to the MacAlpine Islands off Trap Point of the Kent Peninsula - 9:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. (12 tough hours) 18 miles? (12 miles in ice lead and 6 miles on ice) - latitude 68° 53.62' north, longitude 105° 46.4' west. (1.5 mph) Land camp #1.

11:00 p.m. Fantastic night in Arctic frame tent of canvas. Woke at 6:00 a.m., 7:00 a.m., and 8:00 a.m., but did not want to move too worried about the many unknowns, and too comfortable and safe. Got away after writing thank-you note to my unknown benefactor doctor. Sure it was same doctor who treated my ankle and suggested lots of rest.

After leaving campsite and rounding Long Point spent nearly two uncertain hours paddling back and forth looking for the lead through the ice. Finally found it and, still feeling unsure, cautiously

followed it southwest through the still solid winter ice of Queen Maud Gulf for the Kent Peninsula, some 16 to 20 miles away.

The lead was fantastic (20 to 60 feet wide), running quite straight with only a few zigzags, and containing many Arctic birds, and seals that dove as I approached. I was kayaking again, free of my sled, and flying - I didn’t want the lead to end. With a favouring tailwind I paced myself well on my first paddle in more than two months.

About 12 miles out, after passing southeast of the Finlayson Islands and Qikirtaaijuk Islands, far to my right and west, the lead began to shrink. In places it was totally blocked with broken ice. Three times I pulled my Polar Wind out of the lead and began dragging the heavy-laden kayak towards what appeared to be an island very close to the mainland. About six to seven miles away from the Kent Peninsula, my dreams sank as it became clear I could no longer make any progress in the lead. I had to take to the ice and start hauling, but this time without the benefit of a sled.

The first three miles I made quite good progress hauling my kayak over a hummocky, snow-free ice surface with foot-deep pools of icy, turquoise water. But as I neared shore the conditions became critical. Dark brownish areas indicated rotten and unsafe ice ahead. Ice-water of great depths lay below, sometimes under only inches of a fast deteriorating ice surface.

I was all over everywhere, going this way and that, trying to navigate through knee-deep surface water pools which were icy cold. Wearing only slippery neoprene kayak booties, I was cold, wet, and miserable. I fell, often. Five times I fell through brown, honeycombed ice right up to my armpits, each time having to work hard to save myself from dropping through to the depths below. The last mile to shore was especially hard. Trying to keep safe white and blue ice below me, and to avoid the rotten areas of brown, pitted ice, I walked in circles. There seemed no safe way to walk in to land, and yet there was not enough open water to paddle in.

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