Bering Sea Rainbow | Issuma

Issuma under sail with a rainbow to guide them on the Bering Sea from St. Paul toward Dutch Harbor (southwest of anchorage), September 21, 2011

Bering Sea Rainbow | Issuma:

Latitude: 55 36.9'N Longitude: 168 43.2'W

Bering Sea Rainbow We had great winds when sailing south from St Paul towards Dutch Harbor, as we left anchor just as the gale started to ease. We didn't need many sails, and made good speed. The rainbow ahead was kind enough to show us the way.

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IMVUBU completes NW Passage - reaches Kodiak, Alaska

Kodiak Harbor, Alaska

False Pass Harbor, Alaska

Imvubu - Capetown launch - 2009

Northwest Passage 2012 dot com: IMVUBU completes NW Passage - heads south to Kodiak Alaska: "Imvubu is a 53-foot Barens Seatrader sailing yacht. She is built for adventure and going to out-of-the-way places with a steel hull and two masts (called Ketch rigged for those more technically minded). In car terms she is a comfortable, heavy 4x4 rather than a dainty saloon or a sports car. Imvubu is Zulu for hippopotamus and like her namesake she is at home in the water, fairly broad in the beam yet can be ferocious when provoked. She weighs 35 tons un-provisioned and about 40 tons with water, fuel and provisions.
She was launched in June 2009 in Durban where she was built"

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Red Sox nation flies south, brings angst - The Boston Globe

The coup de grace

Jon Papelbon gave up two runs after striking out the first two batters in the ninth. I watched the last place Baltimore Orioles celebrating like they had won the World Series, the Red Sox dugout slowly exit, and then Tampa Bay - which can't even fill a stadium when they win the pennant - celebrate when Longoria's 13 inning home run over the Yankees gave then the flag. It's enough to make you go back to being a Mets fan. - GWC

Red Sox nation flies south, brings angst - The Boston Globe: "BALTIMORE—Like drivers who slow down to look at traffic crashes, some Red Sox fan had to be here. They had to watch with their own eyes in Camden Yards as their team faced epic collapse on the last day of the season."

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Issuma: Cape Prince of Wales

Cape Prince of Wales - Bering Strait

Issuma passed through the Bering Strait on September 8.  Problems with the battery for the sat phone have made posting and email difficult.  But Richard is catching up so check out the Issuma site for his reports, scrolling down to get the chronology.  He comments on passing through the Bering Strait that summer is over and cold weather lies ahead:

Sailing past Cape Prince of Wales with a delightfully favorable wind. Cape Prince of Wales is at the end of the Bering Strait. The Northwest Passage runs from Davis Strait in the east to Bering Strait in the west. While we have now completed the Northwest Passage, the difficult part is mostly still ahead--the trip south, late in the year.

NOAA: Estuaries

September 24 was National Estuaries Day. New York Harbor - from Sandy Hook to Pelham Bay is an estuary. So is the Back River and the Medomak and St. George River watersheds up in Maine. And the Chesapeake Bay.

NOAA's National Ocean Service Education: Estuaries: "An estuary is a partially enclosed body of water, and its surrounding coastal habitats, where saltwater from the ocean mixes with fresh water from rivers or streams."

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Surf City Surf Dog competition - in pictures | Life and style | guardian.co.uk

You will note that there are no Labrador Retrievers in this competition? Too smart.

Surf City Surf Dog competition - in pictures | Life and style | guardian.co.uk:

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No Traffic, No Noise, on Rat Island- the Bronx - NYTimes.com

Rat Island is near Barron's boatyard, City Island

Rat Island - a hazard between City Island and Hart Island - the site of New York City's Potter's Field -  is for sale.

No Traffic, No Noise, on an Island Off the Bronx - NYTimes.com: "It has no electricity or sewer lines. Much of it is under water at high tide. It has no shelter, nor a ready spot to build one. It does not even come with a dock."

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Heritage Cup 2011

Heritage Cup 2011

The 6th Annual Heritage Cup Race - part of the Wooden Boat Regatta Series - is October 1 at Hempstead Harbor Club, Sea Cliff, New York.

Star Class Centennial Regatta - Larchmont

click images to enlarge

Larchmont Yacht Club hosted the Centennial Regatta of the International Star Class Yacht Racing Association.  Over 100 boats competed - 98 moderns, 9 wood, and 13 classics in four days of racing.  The legendary keel boat - recently bounced from the Olympics in favor of X-games type hot racers - is the favorite of world champion sailors like Torben Grael and Paul Cayard.

I got lucky today on my way back from the Indian Harbor Classics race in Greenwich.  I found myself motoring west on North River as the Star fleet beat to windward on the Long Island Sound.  Here is the link to the shots I took.  And HERE is the link to shots by a pro. Video below.

Issuma: through the northwest passage!

Issuma has passed through the Arctic Sea, into the Chukchi Sea, and the Bering Strait.  They are now anchored on the Bay of Port Clarence (65° 15′ 58″ N, 166° 51′ 10″ W) an area on the Seward Peninsula, in the Nome Region.  They saw little ice.  No surprise since sea ice in the arctic has hit an historic low.  Dramatically different from circa 1845 - the time of the doomed Franklin expedition of the Royal Navy.
Richard reports today (9/11) that they were out of touch for a while - sat phone charging problems.  When time and conditions permit he'll put up the posts he could not transmit. Blogger showed me no new posts, but closer followers were getting position reports, so scroll down on Issuma's blog for more on the arctic passages.
Next stop may be Brevig Mission (pop. 276), then on down the Bering Sea to the Aleutian Islands, and...

Northwest Passage 2012 dot com: Arctic ice cover hits historic low - The Last Icy Arctic Northwest Passage in 2012 on M/V GREY GOOSE

Take that, Rick Perry!. - GWC
Northwest Passage 2012 dot com: Arctic ice cover hits historic low - The Last Icy Arctic Northwest Passage in 2012 on M/V GREY GOOSE: "The area covered by Arctic sea ice reached its lowest point this week since the start of satellite observations in 1972, German researchers announced on Saturday.
"On September 8, the extent of the Arctic sea ice was 4.240 million square kilometres (1.637 million square miles). This is a new historic minimum," said Georg Heygster, head of the Physical Analysis of Remote Sensing Images unit at the University of Bremen's Institute of Environmental Physics."

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Northwest Indians - return to canoes

The Times has a great slide show HERE about Swinomish Indian families returning to their traditional canoes for weeks of summer travel.

Mast Mate

Dave Seroy replaced the headsail sheave on the masthead of his Bayfield 24 named Leandra.  It's a long way up and down.  He climbed the rig using Mast Mate.  The shots overlook City island YC's mooring field on Eastchester Bay. See the video below.

I bought it - 22' Eastern

I have given up on the Lyman.  Just can't get that engine running right - not trustworthy enough for transporting grandkids - or myself.  So I bought a boat.  Not another mass of mahogany, no ooh and aah at the dock.  Just a solid, older fiberglass hull by Eastern - the New Hampshire skiff builder. Homeport: Hatchet Cove, Friendship, Maine.
21' 10", 2,200 lbs, 90 hp 2 stroke Merc, 1983 hull, center console

22'  Eastern at Jeff's Marine, Thomaston, ME

Cruise to Sing Sing

Northwest Passage 2012 dot com: Icebreakers: Proof the US lacks big thinkers and Arctic vision

Polar Star - UUSCG icebreaker drydocked since 2006 due to budget cuts.
It was the first ship to cross the Arctic Sea over the North Pole.

Northwest Passage 2012 dot com: Icebreakers: Proof the US lacks big thinkers and Arctic vision: "Our country lacks big thinkers championing our interests in polar regions. Big thinkers like President Thomas Jefferson who defied critics by dispatching Lewis and Clark into the “wastelands,” big thinkers like President John F. Kennedy who met emerging Soviet threats by leading this nation into space exploration."

But we do have Jim DeMint and Michelle Bachmann. - GWC

Skywalkers - Ironworkers at the WTC - NY Times

Credit: Damon Winter/NY Times

The Times Magazine today has a great photoessay about the ironworkers who are erecting the new tower at the World Trade Center site.  The photos are reminiscent of the famous Lewis Hine shots of the Empire State Building.  Slideshow HERE.  Text HERE.  Video HERE.

A ‘Canoe Family,’ if Only for a Few Weeks - Slide Show - NYTimes.com

A ‘Canoe Family,’ if Only for a Few Weeks - Slide Show - NYTimes.com: "Canoes from tribes throughout the coastal Northwest converged on the Swinomish reservation, the host for an annual week of traditional dancing, singing and celebration. For some, the journey involved weeks of paddling."

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