"Wayne.B" wrote in message
...
On Sat, 12 Dec 2009 06:08:21 -0800 (PST), Roger Long
wrote:

On Dec 10, 2:41 pm, Wayne.B wrote:
Just ran into this interesting account of a fellow who took his
Westsail from NY to San Francisco the hard way last summer:

http://www.yachtfiona.com/northwestpassage2009/newsletter1.html

Did you note that the fellow was born in 1932. He single handed the
last leg from Dutch Harbor and this trip was just last summer.

There's hope for us old folks yet.

Yes, he must be a tough old guy, apparently tough on his crew also.
:-) Dutch Harbor is not a great place to abandon ship unless you want
to be a crab fisherman.

It was a heck of a trip though, one that I have often dreamed of but
will probably never attempt. It's fun to follow his route on Google
earth as you read his description. My desire to sail in the high
latitudes has been severely tempered by 6 years here in the near
tropics of south Florida.

It seems to me that the key to making the trip is to have someone ashore
monitoring where the ice is and advising you where to go, otherwise you
might end up stuck for a very long time.
I was surprised that fuel and stores seem to be available along the way and
also at the number of other yachts encountered.
How did that Swede get the necessary permits to go the other way across the
top of Russia, I wonder? Must have taken longer than the voyage itself.