Wednesday, June 19, 2013

Tackling the Northwest Passage in a rowboat? HEAVEN HELP THEM GET IT RIGHT

Expedition to the Northwest Passage



AFTER WATCHING THIS VIDEO - COMMENTS: 

1) NO CABIN LIVING SPACE INSULATION - EXPECT THE INSIDE TO "SWEAT" GALLONS OF CONDENSATE WATER AND KEEP THE LIVING SPACE "WET" AND UNCOMFORTABLE. JUST WAIT UNTIL YOU SLIP INTO A WET SLEEP BAG... YOU WILL REMEMBER THIS COMMENT.  I MIGHT ALSO SUGGEST YOU REPORT TO THE CLOSEST MEDICAL FACILITIES WHEN YOU SEE THE MOLD STARTING TO GROW INSIDE THE CABINS - YOU WOULD OF BEEN BREATHING THE MOLD SPORES FOR SEVERAL WEEKS AT THAT POINT AND LIKELY HAVE RESPIRATORY PROBLEMS AND COUGHS WITH INFLAMED AIRWAYS AND OTHER SYMPTOMS - SEEK IMMEDIATE MEDICAL ADVISE AND TREATMENT.

2) NEVER! - BE UNDERWAY WITH THE LARGE ENTRY/EXIT HATCHES OPEN - THIS IS EXTREMELY UNSAFE - A SNEAKER WAVE WILL KNOCK YOUR VESSEL DOWN/OVER AND THE OPEN HATCH WILL ENSURE YOUR CRAFT FLOODS AND SINKS.

7 Days left to Set Record / Olympian Adam Kreek's Boat Capsizes


3) WHY ARE YOU NOT WEARING A PFD? (PERSONAL FLOTATION DEVICE). THIS CREW HAS POOR BOAT TRAINING AND UNDOUBTEDLY NO ONE HAS A CERTIFICATE OF BOATING COMPETENCY. GUESS THEY THINK IT IS NOT A GOOD IDEA TO FOLLOW BEST SAFETY PRACTICES OR THEY ARE EXEMPT BECAUSE THERE IS NO MOTOR... JUST GOES TO SHOW YOU THE ATTITUDE AND LACK OF TRAINING OF THE EXPEDITION LEADER - KEVIN VALLELY? 

THE ARCTIC DOES NOT GIVE SECOND CHANCES...


The rest of the story not told by TheLastFirst.com, the crew and reporters trying to earn a living by publishing sensational press releases without checking details.

“It has always seemed to me that so long as you produce your dramatic effect, accuracy of detail matters little. I have never striven for it and I have made some bad mistakes in consequence. What matter if I hold my readers?” 
― Arthur Conan Doyle

Agreed? Does the end results justify the means to get there? Is it ok to lie because no one will be there to see you cross the finish line? I disagree with Kevin Vallely because of multiple points he has twisted and lied about.

“The Devil is in the details, but so is salvation.” 
― Hyman G. Rickover

“Tiny details imperceptible to us decide everything!” 
― W.G. SebaldVertigo

The news media today reports what they are spoon fed from press releases... no checking of facts or figures etc... and here is a good example of their rhetoric... are four men in a rowboat really tackling the Northwest Passage?

No they are not - matter of fact they are not even touching the Pacific Ocean let alone they are not even traveling half of the required route distance. 

The Northwest Passage is a sea route of some 3,500 miles (~5,600 kms) depending on the seven well documented routes between Davis Strait's Arctic Circle in the Atlantic Ocean to the Bering Strait's Arctic Circle in the Pacific Ocean. How important is this point? 1,500 people have climbed Mount Everest. Less than 200 boats have completed a Northwest Passage. You do not say you have climbed Mount Everest by hiking to base camp, nor by climbing to high camp... only upon reaching the top of Mount Everest are you entitled to say you have climbed Mount Everest. Kevin Vallely says its different for the Northwest Passage. Kevin, you are wrong. Your blatant disregard for the hundreds of men who gave their life to search for and document the Northwest Passage say YOU ARE DISRESPECTFULLY WRONG. You do not get to say you have done a Northwest Passage by rowing 1,500 miles between the hamlets of Inuvik and Pond Inlet.

Next, you repeatedly continue to show your true nature by not acknowledging that you have already been beaten by a single man rowing the Arctic about three times further than your intended trip distance. Mathieu Bonnier completed a 6,500 km SOLO row from Greenland to Nome Alaska in 2010-2011. It's all documented on website: http://www.expeditiontico.com



If TheLastFirst.com rowing is a world record I challenge you to have GUINNESS WORLD RECORDS certify your record attempt. I'm sure you can find something noteworthy - maybe the 'First Man to Row in Arctic Global Warming waters'? 

Above all - Be safe - your experimental rowboat failed to autoright when rolled over in the video you posted - you must be worried about putting your life and your crew's lives on the line with a boat designer and builder who does kayaks for a living. The Arctic doesn't give second chances so don't ask for it - remember Roald Amundsen says 'Adventure is just bad planning.'



- - - snip - - -

4 Vancouver men aim to row the Northwest Passage

The crew begins the journey on July 1 from Inuvik


http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/story/2013/06/18/bc-rowers-vancouver-northwest-passage.html

Paul Gleeson, left, Denis Barnett, Kevin Vallely and Frank Wolf train in English Bay.

Photograph by: Ward Perrin, PNG , Vancouver Sun


Tackling the Northwest Passage - in a rowboat

Trip by four-man team highlights changes in the Arctic caused by global warming


Centuries ago, explorers searched for a trade route from Europe to Asia, navigating a treacherous maze across the Arctic to find an elusive Northwest Passage.
Few adventurous souls have braved the passage under their own power, and none has been able to do it in a single season.

But that could change as four men are set to embark Canada Day on an 80-day rowboat journey through the most cantankerous climate zone on the planet in the spirit of adventure and in an effort to reveal the shocking effects of climate change on the Arctic.

Meet the crew: There's Kevin Vallely, an architect whose adventure resume includes some of Canada's most harrowing expeditions; Paul Gleeson, an Irish cyclist and rower; and award-winning Canadian environmental filmmaker Frank Wolf. The fourth is Denis Barnett, also Irish and a team rookie who Vallely says brings "the wide-eyed enthusiasm of a neophyte" to the expedition

The 3,000-kilometre (MAYBE 2500-kms tops) journey in an eight-metre rowboat will begin in Inuvik and wind through Tuktoyaktuk in the Northwest Territories to Pond Inlet, Nunavut. Along the way, they'll contend with deadly threats such as unexpected storms, wild animals and bitter cold.

While expeditions to highlight global warming are not new for B.C. explorers - Gulf Islands resident Tim Harvey spent two years travelling around the world under his own power to raise awareness - this will be the first time anyone has been able to undertake an expedition because of global warming.

"This has never been done before because it never could be done before," he said. "The reality is there is less and less ice."

AN 'IMPOSSIBLE' DREAM

Fifteen years ago, Vallely was mulling over what he called the "last great firsts" left to conquer as an adventurer, and he came up with the idea of traversing the Northwest Passage by human power in a single season. But he didn't believe it could be done: there was too much ice, until now.

Last year, he and adventuring cohort Gleeson assembled the four-man team with the idea of making the trip in a rowboat - while filming a documentary to show the world what has happened in the region.

"We are hoping when and if we pop out the other end that people will say 'Wow 20 years ago you needed an icebreaker, now these guys rowed it in a thin-hulled rowboat? What the hell is happening up there?' That is what I am hoping we can show, then in a way we are taking our gesture of an adventure and connecting with people in a unique way."

Since no one has ever done the route quite like this before, Vallely couldn't train with the masters, but he's certainly not heading out unprepared. He has trekked through Alaska, Yukon, several jungles and holds the record for the fastest unsupported trek to the South Pole.

Their trip is sponsored by clean energy firm Mainstream Renewable Power and the team had a special rowboat designed and built for the harsh conditions by Vancouver Island kayak designer Robin Thacker. The hull is flatter and rounder than a traditional rowboat, explained Vallely. "If we are ever in 'a bit of bother,' as Paul would say, we could haul it up on the ice."


If all goes to plan, they'll row straight through, with two men taking four-hour shifts at the oars, while the two others rest. The boat, which has already been tested for capsize safety, is loaded with survival gear: an inflatable raft, drysuits, flares, guns and dried food, including more than 700 power bars.

A HISTORIC JOURNEY

Roald Amundsen made the first successful crossing of the Northwest Passage from east to west between 1903 and 1906. He finished by anchoring near Herschel Island at the mouth of the Mackenzie River and skied 800 kilometres to the city of Eagle, Alaska to send a telegram announcing his success.

(AMUNDSEN'S TELEGRAM SAID HE WAS GOING TO BE COMPLETING HIS NORTHWEST PASSAGE WHEN HE ARRIVED AT NOME IN 1906. "... arrived at Nome on 31 August 1906: the celebration there marked the official end of the first successful Northwest Passage voyage." see: http://libweb5.princeton.edu/visual_materials/maps/websites/northwest-passage/amundsen.htm)

(THIS IS 2013 AND THE ACCEPTED NORTHWEST PASSAGE ROUTES ARE DEFINED BY THE RECORD KEEPER R.K. HEADLAND - SEE: http://northwestpassage2013.blogspot.com/2013/05/transits-of-northwest-passage-to-end-of.html)

Several explorers have done the trip under human power, but not in a single season.

(NEITHER WILL KEVIN VALLELY ET AL SINCE THEY ARE FAILING TO START AND FINISH AT THE ARCTIC CIRCLES OF THE ATLANTIC AND PACIFIC OCEAN.)



In 1990, Canadian adventurer Don Starkell journeyed north by kayak from Churchill, Man. and then west to Tuktoyaktuk. The trip lasted three seasons and had to be terminated 50 kilometres short of its planned completion point at Tuktoyaktuk because he got frostbite.

Starkell lost the tops of his fingers and some of his toes.

Victoria Jason, the first woman to paddle the passage solo, did it in four years, while another paddler, Jonathan Waterman, did it in three.

Canadians Jeff MacInnis and Mike Beedell accomplished the first wind-powered crossing of the Northwest Passage over three summers in the late '80s.

"People have sailed it, but most people who sail do it under motor (power) and it's very different," said Vallely. "If you get into a dicey situation with ice and you're not sure it's really nice to have a motor because you can turn around and get out. When you are rowing you can't go faster than the ice. So we are exposed and vulnerable and that ramps up the difficulty and the commitment."

Vallely said the team hopes to add one more voice to the call for global action on climate change; maybe if enough people keep hammering the message, people will take notice.

"We have the capacity to think ahead for generations and, darn it, you know we have that responsibility to do something. I have kids. What do I say to them in 20 years, 'Sorry I just didn't care?'"

(WHAT DID YOU REALLY DO DAD? "I ROWED A BOAT BETWEEN INUVIK AND POND INLET AND HOPED THE WORLD WOULD NOTICE THE MELTING ICE".)

The expedition website is: http: //mainstreamlastfirst. com/. Vallely will blog for The Sun throughout the trek at van-versun.com/lastfirst.

ticrawford@vancouversun.com
© Copyright (c) The Vancouver Sun
Read more: http://www.vancouversun.com/technology/Tackling+Northwest+Passage+rowboat/8546145/story.html


Is this a rowboat for the Arctic?

or more like something you would see on a road trip?

You decide... do you see the same designer features?

Follow up from MainstreamLastFirst.com posting



After reading the most recent Globe and Mail article about our expedition we noticed a comment from an individual claiming that what we’re doing is in some way untrue. In a nutshell the comment stated that

our expedition is a row between two arbitrary villages rather than an actual transit of the Northwest Passage.

Typically, we don’t respond to such comments but believe that this posting deserves to be answered in a more detailed manner in our blog (even though we’ve already provided clarification throughout our website.)

What we’re trying to do this summer has never been done before.

We are hoping to row, without sail or motor in approximately 75 days, through the maze of islands and ice sheets of the Canadian archipelago that once represented a closed door for mariners attempting to navigate a sea route over the Americas in a single season. The Northwest Passage was anything but a passage in those days and presented a seemingly impassable route across the top of the world.

For explorers of yore attempting this transit there was never a question of getting to the Canadian archipelago from either the Greenland side or from the Alaskan side. It would be a challenging voyage of course but getting to either side was always possible. The big question for these explorers was whether there was a northwest passage

between these two sides? (Atlantic and Pacific Oceans)

As countless ship logs revealed sailors coming from Europe would round the southern tip of Greenland and head north looking for an entry west to the passage. Henry Hudson thought it was at the southern end of Baffin Island. He was wrong and stumbled upon the enormous inland sea that would later bear his name. Jacques Cartier would be stopped at a set of rapids in modern-day Montreal and call them the La Chine because, to his mind, China lay on the other side. He was wrong too. Others would find countless dead-ends until finally the mouth of Lancaster Sound was revealed as the entry west.

The gateway to the Northwest Passage was found and is the location of Pond Inlet, Nunavut today – our finish.

WRONG LADS - YOU HAVE FAILED TO DO YOUR 2013 HOMEWORK... THE NORTHWEST PASSAGE IN THE ATLANTIC STARTS AT THE ARCTIC CIRCLE IN  DAVIS STRAIT.  ON THE OTHER SIDE - THE PACIFIC OCEAN IT IS THE ARCTIC CIRCLE IN THE BERING STRAIT.

When Roald Amundsen made the first successful crossing of the Northwest Passage from East to West in 1903-06 he finished by anchoring near Herschel Island at the mouth of the Mackenzie River (a short distance from our start point in Inuvik, NWT today) and skied 800 kilometres to the city of Eagle, Alaska to send a telegram announcing to the world that he had successfully made it through the Northwest Passage.

LADS I BELIEVE PRINCETON UNIVERSITY A PROPER SOURCE TO QUOTE: "[Amundsen]... arrived at Nome on 31 August 1906: the celebration there marked the official end of the first successful Northwest Passage voyage." see: http://libweb5.princeton.edu/visual_materials/maps/websites/northwest-passage/amundsen.htm)

As the very word passage defines – “The act or process of moving through, under, over, or past something on the way from one place to another” we’re hoping to traverse one of the several Northwest passages that weave a line through the Canadian archipelago from one side to the other.
We’re not unique in this interpretation. Not by a long shot. Canadian adventure paddler Don Starkell journeyed across the passage in a kayak over several seasons finishing in Tuktoyaktuk, NWT. Victoria Jason finished in Tuk as well. Canadians Jeff MacInnis (son of legendary explorer Joe MacInnis who helped find the Titanic) and Mike Beedell accomplished the first wind-powered crossing of the Northwest Passage travelling from Inuvik to Pond Inlet over three seasons. The much publicized inflatable motorized traverse of the passage by Bear Grylls in 2010 went from Pond Inlet to Inuvik as well. There are many others.

LADS YOU NEED TO DO YOUR HOMEWORK - I DO NOT SEE ALL THE NAMES MENTIONED IN THE OFFICIAL NORTHWEST PASSAGE RECORDS - LOOK FOR YOURSELF AT:

(THIS IS 2013 AND THE ACCEPTED NORTHWEST PASSAGE ROUTES ARE DEFINED BY THE RECORD KEEPER R.K. HEADLAND - SEE: http://northwestpassage2013.blogspot.com/2013/05/transits-of-northwest-passage-to-end-of.html)

MATTER OF FACT TAKE NOTE THAT UNLESS THE VESSEL CROSSES BOTH ARCTIC CIRCLES IT IS NOT CONSIDERED A NORTHWEST PASSAGE JUST LIKE CLIMBING TO THE BASE CAMP ON MOUNT EVEREST IS NOT CONSIDERED CLIMBING MOUNT EVEREST - START AND FINISH POINTS.

"Notes: in 2008 Polarstern, an icebreaker, from Germany, westbound, traversed the Canadian Arctic archipelago, Beaufort Sea and Chukchi sea while circumnavigating the Arctic Ocean; the vessel did not transit Bering Strait nor enter the Pacific Ocean thus is not included in this list.  Similarly in 2010 Northern Passage (9·6 m trimaran from Norway, Capt. Thorleif Thorleifssen) and Piotr I (18 m yacht, from Russia, Capt. Daniel Gavrilov), and in 2012 Scorpius (29·5 m yacht from Russia, Capt. Sergei Nizovtsov) traversed the Chukchi Sea, Beaufort Sea, and Canadian Arctic archipelago eastbound but did not arrived from the Pacific Ocean, through the Bering Strait, thus they are also not included in this list.  Many other voyages have been made through the archipelago of the Canadian Arctic, such as that of Manhattan which reached the Arctic coast of Alaska but did not continue to the Pacific Ocean; these, and one carried partly as deck cargo aboard a Canadian icebreaker, are not regarded as complete transits of the Northwest Passage."

We will travel between Inuvik and Pond Inlet on our journey through the Northwest Passage. Our journey is not about breaking world records or about beating chests but rather is about raising awareness for a more poignant issue that is affecting the world today – climate change. We hope that by making our traverse across the once ice-choked Northwest Passage in a thin-skinned row boat we’ll be able to present in no uncertain terms that things are changing in the arctic and they’re changing fast. We’ve deliberately chosen a route between Inuvik, NWT and Pond Inlet, Nunavut because travelling between these two communities defines a traverse of the Northwest Passage in a most compelling way. 

WRONG - YOU DO NOT GET TO MAKE THE RULES - CLIMB ONLY TO BASE CAMP AND SAY YOU CLIMBED MOUNT EVEREST. SORRY, IT'S A BOLD FACED LIE AND YOU KNOW IT.

Thirty years ago the passage was an ice-choked, impassable waterway through the Canadian arctic. Today the passage lies open in summer, open enough that it may even allow a small fiberglass row boat, solely under human power, to traverse it in a season.

MATHIEU BONNIER ALREADY ROWED SOLO 6,500 KMS BETWEEN GREENLAND AND NOME ALASKA IN 2010-2011. 

No one has ever done this before because no one could have done this before. Climate change is breaking records. We hope through our actions we can share those records with the world.

LOOK HERE: http://www.expeditiontico.com/

REMEMBER TO ASK GUINNESS WORLD RECORDS TO CERTIFY YOUR RECORD.

GOOD LUCK  AND BE SAFE! YOU CAN TELL YOUR STORY AND WE WILL SEE HOW CLOSE TO THE TRUTH YOU CAN KEEP IT.

http://mainstreamlastfirst.com/our-choice-of-route/


OH, ONE MORE THING THAT YOU REPEATEDLY LOOK THE OTHER WAY ON - VESSEL STABILITY AND SAFETY.

The Capsize Test as presented by you on Vimeo video:

Video link: http://vimeo.com/65757435


Capsize Test from Mainstream Last First on Vimeo.

You do NOT pull the boat back upright once inverted - the straps should be loose and slack - no tension - the boat should automatically without help from the crane winch turn-over back right-side up - looks like you have a problem boat which you are betting your life on to recover from a knockdown. OUCH!


Who designed this rowboat anyway?  A kayak builder? Now go figure your likelyhood of success in the Arctic.




7 comments:

Anonymous said...

We just found your blog while looking for information on the Northwest Passage. What a wealth of information, the piloting guide, weather and informative informations about so many other NWP boaters. Sound like this Kevin guy is a real hard head - don't worry about him, his shipmates will ultimately give me what he deserves - an attitude adjustment or send him packing for home. Thanks again for all of the references and infomations on your many NWP blogs.

Douglas Pohl said...

Thanks for your concern and suggestion. I think it only a matter of a few months that we will see TheLastFirst expedition end their row between Inuvik and Pond Inlet short of goal. Time tells all...

Anonymous said...

Such a sad case of dare devils. I hope they have insurance for rescue because they are idiots and the public should not be paying for their rescue - bumbling thrill seekers!

Anonymous said...

Everyone has a right to passion and yes perhaps idiocy or recklessness. In my mind this voyage is telling the story of melting ice. Get hung up on the details of distance etc if you must; but while you sit in your armchair criticizing the world - why not take 5 minutes and figure out how you can make a positive statement with your life? Two most important days in our lives are: the day we are born and the day we figure out why.

Douglas Pohl said...

A RIGHT TO IDIOCY OR RECKLESSNESS? About melting ice... lol How many beers have you been enjoying - goes good with pizza!

I hate habitual liars - people who know after being advised of the truth that what they keep saying is a lie... i.e. first to row the Northwest Passage because of melting ice... undoubtedly you believe their Media press release too.(period)

When you know otherwise you want to make sure anyone doing their due diligence homework learns the rest of the story... not what some press release says from the same liars.

135 vessels have completed an Atlantic arctic circle to Pacific arctic circle Northwest Passage 185 times. If it was because of melting ice then you fail to understand history.

If Kevin Vallely thinks his expedition is going to stop ice from melting then so be it... if he didn't have sponsorship by Mainstream Renewable Power (MRV), using someone else money, (how much of his money is in the pot?) he would still be sitting on the beach wishing and hoping... and if you think rowing in the Arctic is going to make a $250,000 difference then you are in the same boat of fools showing a lack of experience and knowledge by rowing in the Arctic... they are a bunch of dare devils without good preparations - as Amundsen says "Adventure is poor preparations."
Wait until we read the headlines "Melting Arctic Ice Capsize Rowboat"... lol
If Mainstream RP really wanted to further its business and benefit the environment they would of used their $250,000 sponsorship to offer solar cell system rebates etc... tens of years of 'green' benefits rather than 90 days of four men rowing in the Arctic - how lame... no one except the same dunces are going to be influenced... and as fas as claiming a world record event - GUINNESS WORLD RECORDS will not touch it. No Cigar! Enjoy another cold beverage... as people say, 'Before the ice melts' lol

Anonymous said...

Great web site you've got here.. It's difficult to find good quality writing like yours nowadays.
I truly appreciate people like you! Take care!!

my blog: How does a catholic get to heaven

Anonymous said...

Wow, marveloսs blog ѕtructure! How lengthy have you
ever been running a blog for? you make running a blog look easy.
The entire look of your site is wonderful, as smartlу аs the content material!


my webpagе; car bike racks

Post a Comment

Enter your comment(s) here...