Log Book

Wed, 29 Dec 2004, Meteo

Amazing weather. December has been unusually warm, and we had a lot of snow. South wind is now bringing a very wet snow (-2). By the way, two days ago, in the package, there were some slippers! Incredible logistics. It will be more comfortable to watch the polar bears and the sun when they will come back next year.

Posted Dec 2004 29 at 19:22 [en - fr]

Mon, 27 Dec 2004, Retardataire

While we were on our way back, after our oceanographic trip in the middle of Inglefield Bay, here was a helicopter who came and flew above us, a strange and unexpected civilised noise. Just about time to reach Vagabond, with the CTD and all the equipment, pulled by the dogs, and we saw a spectacular delivery! The pilot didn't want to land on pack ice, hidden below a thick layer of snow, and brought us quickly the package, crossing the huge cloud of snow created by the rotor still running.

Posted Dec 2004 27 at 19:21 [en - fr]

Fri, 24 Dec 2004, Bon Noel a tous !

Wind has been blowing for the last 3 days, the thermometer was showing about zero yesterday even though it was -26 the day before, what a season! The moon light is going a little through the clouds, we are hoping a nice moon shine for the Christmas Eve...

Posted Dec 2004 24 at 09:32 [en - fr]

Tue, 21 Dec 2004, Sur un air de saison bien connu...

It is winter solstice. To celebrate the middle of the polar night, storm is raging again, Vagabond is enveloped in a huge snow flurry. The calm moment only last one day, this was when the helicopter, the 5 crew members, and the 3 Governor's representatives brought us their good wishes, their arms were loaded with many presents (see the picture!). The moon was shining (exactly behind the helicopter!), we could see again the landscape which has been hidden for a long time.

Here is what was read and written on 20th December in our Guest Book: "The Governor of Svalbard and Airlift wish you a merry Christmas and a happy new year. You are representatives of a new tradition of explorers staying in the polar night in a boat frozen in ice. It is an environmental friendly activity and an important contribution to the tradition of over wintering at Svalbard."

Our best thanks to everyone for all these wonderful attentions.

Advice to children: if the quantity of present is proportional to the size of shoes, you should try the snow shoes!

Posted Dec 2004 21 at 23:54 [en - fr]

Tue, 14 Dec 2004, Banquise inondee

Another storm, pack ice is sinking due to the weight of the snow and is flooded with about 30 cm of sea water. Also, when removing the thick layer of snow, we reached Frost's doghouse, it was filled up with freezing water, rescued just on time. Toilets, which were working yesterday, are frozen again, and with this weather, we cannot find any shelter to expose our bottom to the air. Better to need to go not to wait too long with the trouser down to the knees. But we need to take time and dress up properly (gloves, cap lamp, balaclava, and toilet paper) and then sweep up the snow from the deck! Daily little adventures are keeping us busy... About our last attempt with the pulka, pulled by the dogs, snow became hard after the strong winds, and they were going so fast that it was really hard to slow them down! Happy Birthday to Eric (2 years old !) and to Jean-Claude for who we are happy to study the packice.

Posted Dec 2004 14 at 19:00 [en - fr]

Sun, 12 Dec 2004, 960 mb

The snow has been falling down a lot last few days, and the storm is finishing sculpting our new background. Huge snowdrift took us a doghouse, the safety case, the hand drill, the dinghy, the pulka... a good shovel party is starting! Pressure is coming up (40 mb within 36 hours!), still some wind (50 km/h), -15 degrees, which is about -40 degrees with the chilling factor. Sky is clear now, stars are shining at noon like at midnight, and northern lights are crossing the canopy of heaven. The lost polar bear cub settled in the rear cabin, waiting for the sun to come back, cohabitation is easy, unusual, amazing...

Posted Dec 2004 12 at 18:04 [en - fr]

Sun, 05 Dec 2004, -2 degres

The south-east wind increased the temperature over 20 degrees within 24 hours, it's too hot here! Snow is heavy, clothes are wet, ice around the windows is melting inside the boat... but sea ice is easier to drill with the hand drill. Today, 10 minutes for 54 cm thickness, but 30 minutes (and a good sweat despite the - 25 degrees) for 59 cm 2 days ago! Also, the pack ice is not cracking anymore along the hull, muffled creaking is finished... until usual average temperature will come back. Regarding water draining (toilet, basins, sink, bilge pump...), outlet pipes are still all frozen, and Vagabond keep being about 1 degree tilted on port side, since freezing in, probably till June.

With the clouds, there is no difference between noon and midnight, also we are not going out so long every day, and we enjoy longer the warm inside.

Posted Dec 2004 05 at 17:58 [en - fr]

Thu, 02 Dec 2004, Ours

We hadn't seen any polar bear since 20th November. Yesterday around noon the dogs suddenly barked a lot, a polar bear was already very close to the boat, it was hard to see him in the darkness, although there was a nice moonlight... We scared him away, but he came back few moments later, he was even looking bigger, we moved and shout as much as we could and he finally gave up. Today, during oceanographic observations on pack ice, while snowing heavily, we were probably more careful than usual!

Posted Dec 2004 02 at 18:10 [en - fr]

Sun, 28 Nov 2004, 1 an

Here we are, far from the busy Paris Boat Show, where Vagabond was in the limelight a year ago, after her circumpolar navigation. This year, the moon for projector, and the pack ice around the hull is well real, but no visitor to contemplate the enchanting surroundings with France and me.

We found a good stock of fresh water, a big block of ice coming from the glacier, and trapped in the sea ice close to Vagabond. How old is this ice sputtering while melting, and giving a unique taste to our tea?

Some results of our oceanographic observations are on line here: http://www.lodyc.jussieu.fr/~sandra/VAGABOND/

Posted Nov 2004 28 at 18:05 [en - fr]

Thu, 25 Nov 2004, Photos

Picture session with the moonshine, which is giving us more light now than the very soft midday light still existing when clear sky. All lights on, Vagabond was in a festive mood yesterday night, one month before Christmas! Soon online.

-25 degrees but no wind for the last 2 or 3 days, also we need to break the magic silence and run a bit more the generator to charge the batteries, the wind generator doesn't move.

NB: thanks for all your messages! SMS from 24/11 around 19:30 was deleted by mistake, before reading it...

Posted Nov 2004 25 at 06:52 [en - fr]

Tue, 23 Nov 2004, Ski

Snow is enough now to ski on the ice pack. Today was the first trial behind one dog, very happy with the harness!

Posted Nov 2004 23 at 17:43 [en - fr]

Sun, 21 Nov 2004, Grandeur Nature

Laurent Gauriat vient de nous appeler, vous pourrez ecouter l'interview samedi 27 novembre a 13h15 sur France Bleu.

Posted Nov 2004 21 at 17:44 [en - fr]

Sat, 20 Nov 2004, Empreintes

This morning, polar bear and fox prints next to the hull, though we didn't hear the dogs during the night... and later today, while walking around on pack ice, we saw a polar bear running away. Inglefieldbukta is still busy these days! Tonight the moon is back and soon, she will not disappear for about 10 days. Temperature is -21, or -40 with chilling factor, and 10 inside.

Posted Nov 2004 20 at 18:14 [en - fr]

Fri, 19 Nov 2004, Visiteurs

Around 3:00 pm today, suddenly in the sky, a powerful light coming towards us! Soon we can hear the noise of the helicopter landing on the shore nearby Vagabond. The 2 pilots and the secretary of Airlift are bringing coffee and chocolate, this is only a training flight. Next time, if we need anything, we must not hesitate to ask, now they have our exact position! The nice break doesn't last long, back to our wintering after this totally unexpected visit.

Posted Nov 2004 19 at 18:02 [en - fr]

Wed, 17 Nov 2004, Hallucinations

In the semi-darkness, it is hard to see the difference between a shadow, an ice block, a moraine's relief or a polar bear... But less visitors for the last few days.

The new procedure for sending your SMS is working! Thanks a lot for all your warm thoughts.

Posted Nov 2004 17 at 17:32 [en - fr]

Mon, 15 Nov 2004, Nouvel espace

Here we are, ice pack thickness is more than 30 cm, and is now resisting to strong winds. Dogs have been on ice for 3 days, and we are getting use to our new space, huge, perfectly flat and immaculate, except many polar bear prints and few polar fox prints. Safety and various equipment are gradually placed on ice, and we have more room on Vagabond's deck. With the midday soft light today, we walked with the dogs almost to the glacier front, where we were sailing with the dinghy last month. Amazing!

NB: SMS have not been well received for the last 5 days, end is systematically missing, please start your message with signature.

Posted Nov 2004 15 at 18:21 [en - fr]

Fri, 12 Nov 2004, Solide

Sea ice seems to resist to gale now, but the dog houses didn't stay on ice more than few hours. After enjoying a calm moment running a bit with the dogs, and scaring away a polar bear even before seeing him in the semi-darkness, Jin and Frost went back on board last night, another gale is blowing.

Posted Nov 2004 12 at 17:39 [en - fr]

Wed, 10 Nov 2004, Aurores

Bad radio propagation, daily weather reports to Longyearbyen station are difficult, but wonderful northern lights have been illuminating the clear sky for the last 3 days. Young ice is already 18 cm thick within less than 2 days.

Posted Nov 2004 10 at 18:00 [en - fr]

Mon, 08 Nov 2004, Tempete encore

Strong winds are still blowing, 3 days now, barometer dropped down to 968 mb yesterday. Temperature is about -15 C, but wind over 100km/h are not included in our Wind Chill Factor tables. Equivalent temperature is probably around -50 C. Depending on wind direction, ice is pushed away or forming and getting thicker very quickly. This is not disturbing our dogs, staying out of their dog houses very often, neither the polar bears, as we can see them sometimes in the night passing close to boat. Let's hope for a better weather for the 20 skippers of the Vendee Globe sailing race, we listen to the departure yesterday on RFI radio.

Posted Nov 2004 08 at 17:57 [en - fr]

Sat, 06 Nov 2004, Tempete

Wind was up to 60 knots this morning, whistling in the rigging, a snowstorm also. The young sea ice broke up and is packed in the small bay. There is less than 50 cm of water under the boat, as we are pushed close to the shore. While taking the daily picture, the wind blew France's chapka away. She pulled on her dry suit to go and get it on the pack ice, and didn't see a polar bear about to follow her when she was coming back to the boat without worrying, her hat in her hand. A signal flare was not enough to really scare him away, and he is now sleeping on a nearby ice floe. Hopefully, Jin and Frost are watching over in the semi-darkness!
Thanks a lot for all your SMS messages, we really enjoy reading them.

Posted Nov 2004 06 at 18:34 [en - fr]

Thu, 04 Nov 2004, Combat

New sea ice is back around us, thickness is more than 10cm within less than 2 days. We had to scare away a young polar bear with a banger, then he disturbed another bear sleeping not far from us. Fascinating meeting, not a too violent fight, the 2 animals standing were wonderful. Having lunch at home and watching such a show by the window, it's our American dream!

Posted Nov 2004 04 at 17:52 [en - fr]

Mon, 01 Nov 2004, Libre

A gale is finishing, our sea ice is gone. Our little bay is now all open water. During the night from 30th to 31st October, we brought back on board the 2 dog houses and their owners, just on time. Long cracks were already going across the sea ice we thought strong enough to resist to the winds!

Posted Nov 2004 01 at 17:05 [en - fr]

Sat, 30 Oct 2004, Ours

Sea ice is getting thicker, and visitors are more! Yesterday morning, a female polar bear had much to do to change her cub's mind approaching Vagabond. Finally, the cub got scared enough by Frost barking after him, not by the amazing chattering the female was doing with her jaw (she was ringed and had meet humans before...), while they were both at less than 5 meters from the boat. Yesterday evening, Frost was barking again after a big polar bear coming to us. We had to send a banger to discourage him a little more.

Posted Oct 2004 30 at 16:32 [en - fr]

Thu, 28 Oct 2004, Eclipse

Pleasure to sleep under our starry veranda, and to stare at the moon who is eclipsing, happily for only few hours... The long night who is settling down is marvellous. Next sunrise will be on 14th of February 2005. This 28th of October is also the webmaster birthday (Piem!), and 5 years ago, Eric was buying Vagabond! Jin and Frost seem to enjoy their dog houses put on the sea ice this morning (12 cm thickness), and their role of polar bear barkers: two of them gave us a good show today, and they are now both sleeping at less than 100 meters of Vagabond. France

Posted Oct 2004 28 at 17:01 [en - fr]

Tue, 26 Oct 2004, Banquise

The sea ice thickness (less than 10cm) is now enough to walk on it. It was first a polar bear, yesterday, who has been testing it for us. Very close in front of us, he started walking quite confident, and then he was crawling when the sea ice became more fragile, until the surface broke up. Then he had to swim, and we even saw him going under water to keep going where he wanted. Great show that we followed from the inside of Vagabond. Ourself, we still use survival suits to walk on young sea ice! Eric

Posted Oct 2004 26 at 17:01 [en - fr]

Thu, 21 Oct 2004, Meteo

Weather has been calm for the last 3 days, sea is freezing slowly and fast ice is forming around Vagabond. We hope it will become soon thick enough to resist to the next gales, allowing us to go to shore more easily. Dogs are looking forward to get more space than on the deck! The weather station is set up and will record every 3 hours wind speed and direction, air pressure, humidity and temperature, until ice breaking up (June? July?). A picture of Vagabond's wintering location is online (see photo 64). Eric

Posted Oct 2004 21 at 17:13 [en - fr]

Tue, 19 Oct 2004, Inglefieldbreen

According to the latest charts, the wintering location we chose was still covered by Inglefield glacier few years ago. In order to draw a more accurate chart of the bay, France and I sailed along the 4 km of the glacier front with our dinghy, using a GPS to record our track. Well protected in our survival suits, we were still keeping safely away from the glacier, ice fall happen regularly! Eric

Posted Oct 2004 19 at 17:41 [en - fr]

Fri, 15 Oct 2004, Installation

The 2 dog houses for Jin and Frost are built and set up on the deck of Vagabond for now. Sea ice is not yet thick enough in the little bay we chose for wintering. Depending on wind, the bay is either filling up with small icebergs and brash from the glacier, either turning to free water. It was impossible today to go to shore (ice too thin) but we could watch a polar bear sleeping in a snowdrift, less than 100 metres from the boat. 2 other polar bears came by, without showing any interest to the amazing red boat... Great landscapes with this cold and dry weather. It was a pleasure to share our impressions this morning by phone with the public of the Adventure Film Festival in Dijon, where the film about our North-West Passage expedition was shown. A year ago, we were just finishing our circumpolar navigation! Eric

Posted Oct 2004 15 at 17:23 [en - fr]

Sun, 10 Oct 2004, Inglefieldbukta

Since yesterday noon, Vagabond is at her wintering location. The very good shelter we found in an indentation of the moraine, in front of the glacier, is unexpected (77d53.13N - 18d15.83E). We sailed in between ice floes before anchoring in the middle of the very small bay, and there is already enough ice to walk to shore without getting one's feet wet! While settling down the dogs on the beach, a polar bear came as a welcoming committee. We thought he was a bit too curious, he finally went away for few hours, but came back to the dogs in the middle of the night. Their barking was enough then, we saw the polar bear continuing on his way, in the moonlight. This morning, we had to fire an alarm flare to help the dogs to scare him away (the same one?). Since then, he is on the next beach... South wind is now blowing, it's snowing, the temperature is increasing, and Jin and Frost are back on Vagabond's deck for the night, until better ice around Vagabond. Wintering here should not be boring! Eric

Posted Oct 2004 10 at 17:23 [en - fr]

Fri, 08 Oct 2004, Richardsbreen

It is around midnight on 6th October that we sailed around South Cape, with a magnificent moonshine. The weather was very good and we reached the wide Kvalvagen Bay, surrounded with 2 large glaciers. Not a really good shelter to anchor, but we still spent the night in front of Cape Boltodden, rocked by the waves, warmly inside (-8 degrees outside), watching northern lights. This morning, the wind was too strong to sail the 25 nautical miles left to Inglefield Bay, so we dropped anchor half way, in front of the big glacier Richard. We had first to remove the 2 or 3 centimetres of ice recovering all front of Vagabond, from the freezing spray. We should arrive tomorrow at the chosen Bay for wintering... Eric

Posted Oct 2004 08 at 18:06 [en - fr]

Tue, 05 Oct 2004, Hornsund

Vagabond dropped anchor at the entrance of Hornsund fjord (same photo 49) and is waiting for better weather to sail around the South Cape of Spitsbergen before reaching Storfjord. Without being able to walk on land since our departure around Noon last Sunday, Jin and Frost need to support now and then some flushing of the rear platform where they are staying! Eric

Posted Oct 2004 05 at 09:58 [en - fr]

Sat, 02 Oct 2004, Jin et Frost

Our 2 Greenlandic dogs, 2 males of 5 years old, are waiting in front of Vagabond and seem to be looking very much forward to sail! But could they only know what is going to happen to us?

Eric

Posted Oct 2004 02 at 23:02 [en - fr]

Thu, 30 Sep 2004, Longyearbyen

Getting ready for departure!

Checking the weather station, the CTD, welcoming our 2 new dogs, looking for wood to build 2 dog houses, checking up of our survival equipment, last diesel supply, buying some fresh food, meetings with the governor, with the radio centre, with the Norwegian Polar Institute...

Departure is planned this coming week-end!

Eric

Posted Sep 2004 30 at 15:29 [en - fr]