Greenland: You boat of choice?

[V1701]

That's the secret! I think just as many trips get done in 'ordinary' yachts than specialist built boats.

The important thing is a combination of good skills amongst the crew and a realistic evaluation of the risks, and then taking practical precautions to counter them, both in the preparation for the trip and in your actions once there.

Experience learnt slowly is worth more than any specific boat. The weather once in the far north is often very settled and no yacht has the heft or strength to deal with ice to any significant amount. So really you need a boat you're happy to do two North Atlantic crossings (there and back), and one that can carry enough stores (including lots of diesel) for you to do whatever you want, in a degree of comfort with which you are happy, once there.

So if you have Bob Shepton's experience and the tolerance of cramped conditions that his 'passengers' seem to have, then a Westerly Discuss is all you need. Judy Lomax was also happy in the Beneteau 345 "Cloud Walker'. In my experience the sailors have more in common with each other than the boats they choose.

Starzinger and Evans have posted the RCC info pack on their site which gives lots of useful information from people who have been there, in their various craft.

http://www.bethandevans.com/pdf/Arctic guide.pdf

And hasn't an Albin Vega 27 done the Northwest Passage?

Yes!

 

[TimBennet]

Hasn't an Albin Vega done the Northwest Passage?

Yes!

That's the one!

 

[Boo2]

When going to Svalbard taking a rifle is not optional, it is compulsory.

If you don't bring your own, they'll rent one to you (see here).

From a previous discussion it'd be illegal to carry it on board though unless you have a UK gun licence ?

Boo2

 

[AntarcticPilot]

From a previous discussion it'd be illegal to carry it on board though unless you have a UK gun licence ?

Boo2

Which is why you rent one at Longyearbyen, the port of entry.

 

[jdc]

From a previous discussion it'd be illegal to carry it on board though unless you have a UK gun licence ?

Boo2

I don't think so, I think that there's no particular requirement for a UK licence to carry the gun in Svalbard, but you do have to have some paperwork to show the company hiring the rifle to you that you're a fit person to have it.

What constitutes this is rather ambiguous, I was told that 'a letter from the police saying that you are of good character' would do. But how one would get such a letter I don't know - may be a CRB check would work? I decided that it would be really disappointing to sail all that way and then not be able to go beyond area 10 for lack of a piece of paper, and just as easy to get a proper firearms licence, as indeed it proved to be.

I was also mindful that we were going to be among the first after both the tragic incidents of the English boy who was killed by the bear and the far-right loony who shot so many kids and thought that rules might be being tightened up. Certainly the hiring company were visibly relieved when I showed them the licence and they photocopied it carefully!

This lets me (not that I did or intend to) buy a rifle in the UK and take it out with me by boat. What it does not let me do is have the soft-nosed ammunition in the UK. I'd have had to get it shipped by the dealer to Svalbard or Greenland, for which there are established logistics companies ("polarsphere" for instance: Clive Johnson is the man for Greenland logistics).

To Ric, while I share your sentiments, you have to have a rifle, it's local law. And they have a point: if you get mauled then the local authorities have huge expense and trouble, and have to hunt down and kill the bear anyway. They also know that those who are prepared and properly trained are less likely to have an incident. Much of the training we got in the UK was how to avoid contact with bears such that we'd never have to use the rifle. In addition we carried flash-bang cartridges and a Verey pistol (which my UK firearms licence also permits me to have).

PS: This gun business is really a tiny part of the preparation, and not fun or exciting or why one goes. I went for the magnificent cruising ground and to see the arctic before it all melts (whatever one's view about the cause(s), which I neither want to debate here nor have the knowledge to do, it's clear that the glaciers and sea ice are both in retreat).

But it's still really beautiful and 200% worth it - so go! Don't wait, and go in whatever craft you have, know and trust! We met French, Belgian, Dutch, German and of course Norwegian boats, but none other from the UK. About 50% were metal and 50% GRP. This included those who went via Hinlopen (we didn't, but we did get to 80N).

 

[Gargleblaster]

Roger Taylor thought a 21' Corribee was a good enough boat for a single handed voyage to Baffin Island. As well as a couple of forays north of the Arctic Circle,
He did break three ribs on the way back from Baffin Island so would probably argue for a good single handed first ad kit needed for Arctic Waters.
http://www.thesimplesailor.com/voyages.html

 

[Boo2]

From a previous discussion it'd be illegal to carry it on board though unless you have a UK gun licence ?

Which is why you rent one at Longyearbyen, the port of entry.

I don't think so, I think that there's no particular requirement for a UK licence to carry the gun in Svalbard, but you do have to have some paperwork to show the company hiring the rifle to you that you're a fit person to have it.

But if you were stopped and searched by an independant agency (or UKBA) you would need a UK FAC to have on on a UK registered boat, right ? (Because you would be acting under UK law).

I suppose that could not actually apply in Greenland waters though so maybe it does not actually matter.

Boo2