A retired MD out of Texas (Robert Youens), now turned adventurer, just took off today out of Tuktoyaktuk,NT and is going to navigate the NW passage in his jon boat. I think it's nuts, but people do crazy schit all the time and it works out. If you're on FB you can see his planning stages and boat mods. He also has a garmin tracker that you can follow him on.
I took off for Isle Royale from Grand Portage one time in the dark with my 12 foot Montgomery Wards boat and 6 HP Johnson. When I started loosing the lights of Grand Portage between the swells I sobered up pretty fast and turned around.
I took off for Isle Royale from Grand Portage one time in the dark with my 12 foot Montgomery Wards boat and 6 HP Johnson. When I started loosing the lights of Grand Portage between the swells I sobered up pretty fast and turned around.
I'll have to follow along. I highly recommend the book " Canoeing with the Cree " written by Eric Sevareid about canoeing from his home in Minnesota to Hudson Bay . A classmate went along with him, they left for their journey a few days after High School graduation and were trying to make it before ice set in. Quite a trip
I saw this posted in the Canada forum and I'll be following it for sure. I would expect there will be times he'll have to pull in and wait out weather. Given the safety net afforded by technology (as long as it works), he's a lot better off than someone would have been fifty years ago but it's still an undertaking. GD
He doesn’t have enough gas. I bet he gets rescued by the Coast Guard at our tax payer expense.
He has his trip planned out to stop in villages so he can refuel. He's been in touch with people in every place along the way. Apparently fuel is subsidized in those remote places so he will be paying like $3.20 a gallon or so. Also, the Canadian Coast Guard required him to have the tracker as they would the ones to rescue him.
I bet he gets rescued by the Coast Guard at our tax payer expense.
We waste trillions of dollars keeping about 100 million welfare freeloaders alive in the U.S. I'd much rather my tax dollars go to rescue someone like this guy who pushes the limits than to be spent on people that contribute nothing to the world.
I bet he gets rescued by the Coast Guard at our tax payer expense.
We waste trillions of dollars keeping about 100 million welfare freeloaders alive in the U.S. I'd much rather my tax dollars go to rescue someone like this guy who pushes the limits than to be spent on people that contribute nothing to the world.
I agree, even if it's a little on the crazy side. It also would be a training mission for the Canadian coast guard if they are needed.
When I was in college, one of my classmates and an old guy in his 70's went from Yellowknife to Churchill by canoe. They had to get special permission to venture across the Canadian Barrens.
Doug said in class one day " "There is no place on earth anymore that you can get away from people. Even out there on the Barrens, we would see a contrail every 3 or 4 days...."
Isn't it a little late in the year to attempt the NW passage?
Sir John Franklin had a rough go of it.
I dont know the distance of the trip, but a couple hundred miles a day is very doable. I've done over a 100 a day lots of times, on a river not the ocean/sea, in a day with just a 20hp motor. And, I was stopping to run trot lines and raising traps and nets. Spend more time stopped than I did motoring.
Gonna be rough on his back. Wonder if he's running a tiller handle.
I initially thought it was kind of a late start (by about a month) but it could be that ice would be blocking some passages at an earlier date. He appears to be averaging a bit under 20mph so should be able to do 200 per day. A month, all told, with stops along the way. GD
Owner of the ranch I worked on after college planned an adventure about every summer. The spring I worked for him he was planning a canoe trip into the arctic ocean. He and his partners traveled to Slave Lake and then paddled north to the arctic. I remember him telling me they really didn't have good maps because how rivers change from year to year. No one had really been on that river to record changes that may have happened.
I caught up with him later that fall and he shared some pics. Was quite the journey. Incredible amount of prep goes went into his trips. Money always helps with that.
He doesn’t have enough gas. I bet he gets rescued by the Coast Guard at our tax payer expense.
I don’t believe that rescues are for free to the rescued.
Fact^ I know rescue helicopters in NW Colo are likely to do the first hour or so free to the rescuee due to contractual arrangements with County and Fire, but to continue, the family is made to agree to something like $10,000 bucks per hour. Lot of 'em don't.
He is not a MD, his older brother is a retired MD.
He sold lawnmowers for a living then did drone photography.
He is like many here, just enjoys being outdoors and doing things.
He was an avid canoer and canoed the Mississippi River from the headwaters to the Gulf of Mexico.
That left him with a shoulder problem.
He ran a Jon boat from the northern tip of Maine to the southern tip of Texas.
So, he has some experience running that boat on longer distance trips, but this one obviously is a whole different level with other challenges.
While this journey seems like it has lots of potential to go wrong, seems better to die living life than rotting away at home in front of a TV.
Thanks for the clarification! Not sure where I saw the MD, must have got it mixed up somehow. I've been following his planning on a FB page called Jon Yachts. He's no dummy and seems as prepared as you can be.
The least ice encountered in the Beaufort Sea/Arctic Ocean is historically in August. I worked the Sealift on the North Slope for 8 seasons. If you care there is a pretty good old Youtube video "Crowley 1975 Sea-Lift", pictures being worth a thousand words.
