Through the Great Lakes!

It's almost two months ago now. On the 29th of March, we christened Nord Hus with a bottle of kombucha and lowered our 11-ton exploration vessel into the waters of Lake Superior. This was a monumental moment, ending three years of modifications and sea trials. 

Brian Robitaille at the helm with Lonnie on the charts (Photo Pascale Marceau)

With skim ice in the marina and ice on the deck, we move 90 miles up the shore on March 31st to our tiny hometown harbour of Grand Marais, where we finalize preparations and upgrade all our electronics. A heartfelt thanks goes to Matt Morris for his overall mechanical and craft skills. To Mark and Katya Gordon, Ashe Burton for help with provisions and rigging. And to Jonathan and Sam Hedstrom for dialing in our electronics for navigation and communications.  

On April 10th, we pushed off from the dock, waving goodbye to all the folks that made our start possible and to our friends we will miss greatly.

Since then, it’s been very cold on the water.  We are often layered up with PrimaLoft clothing from head to toe.  When docked, we fire up our tiny wood stove with scraps of driftwood taking the dampness out of boat and clothes leaving us toasty.  If the weather is nasty, as it often was in the beginning, 2-day gales followed by 2 days of flat, repeat, we would do modifications on the boat, play catch-up with communications and bake bread.  May has also been cold.  Seems like the climate is shifting months with seasons starting later. 

It’s May 26th, and Nord Hus is now east of Montreal, Quebec.  We are starting to experience strong currents created by tides, making the boat tricky to steer.  Docking always has an element of stress; the tide current adds to it.  Tomorrow, we will be on our way to Quebec City, where the tides are 19 feet. In the St. Lawrence River, we can expect to see whales, namely Belugas. 

The crew Brian, Lonnie, Pat and Pascale enjoying a warm meal after a cold and wet day on the St Lawrence River (Photo Pascale Marceau)

Our itinerary in the coming weeks will be to reach eastern Quebec, then dock in St Anthony, Newfoundland the end of June to explore and wait for a weather window for our 900-mile crossing to Greenland.

Special thanks to PrimaLoft - High Performance Sustainable Insulation