The Allures 44 Opale has crossed the North-West Passage : 3/5 - Conditions for success

‍Whichsailboat to choose?

‍

‍MarcPédeau and Bénédicte Michel's motivations for attempting the Northwest Passage were, as we've seen, firmly in place several years before they set out on the adventure. And for them, the time had come - in 2014 - to choose a boat. Two key elements were included in the specifications for the purchase of this sailboat, carefully selected from opportunities offered by various specialists: "The construction material had to be aluminum; this was a completely spontaneous choice, for elementary questions of safety and mechanical resistance in the face of the eventuality, always to be taken into account, of significant friction or even violent impact with the ice. Similarly, we were looking for a centerboarder, so that we could shelter at the bottom of the anchorages and be as well protected as possible in the event of bad weather, or even a katabatic gale." As a result of this process, Marc and Bénédicte acquired Opale, a second-hand Allures 44, built in 2011 and bearing hull number 43 of this series born in 2003 with the beginnings of the Allures Yachting shipyard: "The last of the Allures 44s", Marc points out, and it's true that this model was replaced after 2011 by the Allures 45.

‍

Once this crucial question of the choice of yacht has been resolved, and without wishing to dwell on the steps involved in technically preparing an Allures for extreme-cold conditions, it remains to decide on the overall timetable for the project and therefore on a departure date, a key factor in the success of the operation.‍

‍

When to go?

‍

‍"A decisive point for the success of the undertaking is to plan a significant overall duration, with at least two and a half to three months of availability, timed to the end of summer in the northern hemisphere. We set sail from Nuuk on July 1, arriving at Sand Point on September 22.

‍

Above all, you have to consider that going to Greenland is a navigation in itself, which can take several weeks of a demanding crossing for the crew of a boat setting out from France, and that, at the other end of the scale, leaving the boat in Alaska, as we did at Sand Point, can't be improvised, far from it.

‍

‍Ourluck is that, being retired, we have time; so, in June 2018, we were in Cape Verde, at Christmas 2018 in Martinique, we spent 3 months in the Caribbean and Cuba, then reached the east coast of the USA at the end of March 2019 and, from there, undertook the Northwest Passage."

‍

‍"As far as this attempt is concerned, the previous year the passage remained closed, a sailboat even sank at the entrance to Bellot Strait, caught in ice and drifting very quickly due to the very strong current in the strait; the two sailors had to be rescued by helicopter. In 2019, we passed through Peel Sound, south of Resolute Bay, rather than Bellot Strait, which this year did not open before Peel Sound, as is usually the case. At the beginning of June, we left St Pierre-et-Miquelon; on July 1, we were in Nuuk, the capital of Greenland. The important thing is to be clear about the idea of leaving, while remaining aware that nothing is guaranteed. We had given ourselves a deadline to see if it would open up in the hard zone: we set this cut-off date at August 18, 2019, much as Jimmy Cornell did in 2015 aboard his Garcia, after a first unsuccessful attempt. And we passed!"

‍

‍"In Lancaster Sound, the ice opens gradually from the east towards Resolute Bay to the west from early August until mid-August, and then it opens either towards Regent Inlet as far as Bellot Strait, or through Peel Sound. The real heart of the passage, between Bellot Strait and as far as Cambridge Bay, usually opens around mid-August - it could be the 8th, the 12th, the 20th or even later. We left Burnett Inlett, in Lancaster Sound, on August 12, made our way without stopping so as not to get stuck in the ice, passed through Peel Sound, and arrived in Cambridge Bay on August 18, 6 days of intensive navigation and watchfulness to get through the key zone."

‍

This "typical" expedition schedule seems to represent a valid basis for all the successful Northwest Passage attempts of recent years. It was also the one chosen by crews who had to give up, such as those who scheduled their attempt for the summer of 2018, a year when the ice didn't open up.

‍

It remains to be seen whether these theoretical dates will be affected by global warming. Marc Pédeau: "Global warming certainly plays a role on a global scale: it has been established that the global volume of pack ice is falling steadily over the medium term (2020 is the second year with the least pack ice around the pole since these data have been studied), and this tends to increase the chances of passage, but local weather phenomena, such as lows which break up the ice and therefore encourage melting, or on the contrary displace the pack and can locally block any exit to the west. Nature's in charge, and it's vital not to forget that."

‍

"And so you have to set out with the idea that nothing guarantees success, and then consider fallback scenarios if the hard zone doesn't open up. For example, in 2019, in these alternative hypotheses, one of the options was to aim for Hudson Bay, accessible via a very narrow passage, the Fury and Hecla Strait, which in the end we didn't need to search for (the same passage that, in his day, William Baffin failed to find)!

‍

That's why you have to give it a go, hope that it opens up, and not ask yourself any questions, telling yourself that these fallback routes are also out-of-the-ordinary navigations, even if you can't in this case claim to have crossed the Northwest Passage proper. It's also very important to set yourself a deadline that's not too late, because if you arrive too late in the season in the Bering Sea, it can be dangerous".

‍

‍Which crew?

‍

‍"We wanted to do the passage as a crew so that we could have the possibility of taking turns, which otherwise would have been very trying in such a zone sailing with two people. I alternated leading the 4-hour watches with a very experienced friend who had already sailed in the ice. The rest of the crew alternated fixed watches between Saint-Pierre et Miquelon and Pont Inlet (six of us) and rotating watches between Pont Inlet and Nome (5 people on board).

‍

‍

‍

"Note:the various geographical features mentioned in this text are shown on the map reproduced above, a large-format version of which can be viewed here.

‍

‍Continuedto follow :The Allures 44 Opale has crossed the North-West Passage : 4/5 - On the notion of risk in navigation