| | |  Travel & Outdoors | October 2008 
First: Circumnavigating the Western Hemisphere
 Seattle PI
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| | David Rockefeller Jr., Fernanda Kellogg of sponsor Tiffany & Co. Foundation, Mark Schrader | 
| | Northwest Passage | | |
In the early 21st Century, there aren't too many feats of derring-do that can be considered a first. But it sounds like the sea voyage announced this morning in Seattle will qualilfy: Sailing around the entire Western Hemisphere. They're calling it "Around the Americas." It's a longer trip than circling the globe at the equator.
It all started over a bottle of wine on a vessel in port at Naples, Italy, explained David Rockefeller, Jr., who has many claims to fame but is most noted here as founder of Sailors for the Sea. A team of four sailors plans to leave Seattle June 1, heading north through the Northwest Passage, then down the East coast to Cape Horn, thence north to Seattle again. Why? Said Rockefeller:
The public imagination is fueled by adventure. It's interesting when other people are taking chances, and you can sleep in your bed at night. You enjoy it vicariously.
They're trying to raise awareness of the troubling state of ocean health, but also to tell people what steps they can take in their lives to help the oceans, Rockefeller told supporters at the Pacific Science Center today. The science center and the University of Washington's Applied Physics Laboratory are collaborating, with some actual science to be performed in addition to the public-outreach aspects of the trip.
This is not a trip one sets out on lightly. Only about 100 vessels have ever traversed the Northwest Passage, although that trip is growing increasingly do-able as climate change melts the polar ice quicker. But think about it: 24,000 nautical miles. Thirteen months. About 200 days at sea. Roughly 3,600 meals taken on board the boat. Just hearing about it made me tired. As the captain, Mark Schrader, put it:
Lotsa nights, lotsa miles, lotsa places to go.
He and crew members David Lee Logan, Herb McCormick and David Thorsen will be on a 64-foot-long, single-masted vessel that's currently undergonig renovations. It's just 10 feet wide and sports a mere 8 1/2-foot draft, the better to navigate the Northwest Passage. Visitors will join the crew for some legs of the voyage. They hope to put together a documentary on the voyage.
Schrader, btw, has twice sailed around the world alone. And he's done plenty of sailing with crews. I asked if the crew was scared. His reply:
There's going to be some drama from time to time. (But) we've sailed together before in some stressful conditions, and I can tell you this is the calmest crew you could find.
The sponsors are particularly interested in reaching classroom teachers. They will be posting frequently to the internet and will be issuing curriculum material to help schoolteachers.
The trip is sponsored in part by Tiffany & Co. Foundation.
The ports of call will be: Seattle; Victoria, B.C.; Juneau; Dutch Harbor; Nome; Barrow; Cambridge Bay, Nunavat; Resolute, Nunavat; St. John's, Newfoundland; Halifax, Nova Scotia; Boston; New York; Charleston; Miami; San Juan; Rio de Janeiro; Punta del Este, Uruguay; Buenos Aires; Port Stanley, Falkland Islands; Puerto Williams, Chile; Puerto Montt, Chile; Valparaiso, Chile; Lima/Callao, Peru; Galapagos Islands; Puntarenas, Costa Rica; Puerto Vallarta, Mexico; San Diego; Los Angeles; Monterey Bay; San Francisco; Portland; and finally back to Rain City. |
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