Ice Station Tara – Sailing the Snowy Sea

You may recall that New Zealand sailing hero Sir Peter Blake was murdered by pirates in the Amazon River six year ago this month. At the time, he was heading an ecological research project aboard the 119-ft aluminum schooner Seamaster. What happened to that expedition and the Seamaster herself were lost in the swirl of press surrounding Blake’s death.

Sir Peter would be happy to know that the boat resurfaced recently — in both the figurative and literal sense. Last week, the ice began to crack around the renamed Tara, promising an imminent release near Greenland sometime in January or February. This after a 15-month, 3,000-mile west-east ride frozen solid in the Arctic icepack.

It’s all part of an expedition headed by Grant Redvers, an environmental scientist who sailed Tara to the cold latitudes north of Alaska in August of 2006 and let the ice grab her. Fortunately, the rounded shape and steeply flaring sections of the boat were designed specifically to handle this situation — which doomed many ships in the old days. During her ride across the Arctic ‘conveyor belt’, Tara averaged about six miles a day, and she passed closer to the north pole — 88 nautical miles — than any vessel ever. Among the discoveries made by the expedition: The icepack is definitely thinner than it used to be, which means it doesn’t get as cold as it used to. The mean temperature for December, for example, was only 18 below zero — practically Speedo weather. 

The stories, findings and photos of the eight-person French and Russian crew (which includes two women) are fascinating. You can find them at www.taraexpeditions.org. We’ll also have more on the expedition in the January issue.