Two years later, Captain Tommy began his journey across the North West Passage. He left his home in Port Angeles, Washington-just below Victoria, B.C last March. He carried on across the Great Lakes and up the St Lawrence River out to the ocean and eventually to Labrador. He said he had originally planned on continuing to Resolute, a town of 229 and one of the communities furthest North in the country, but by the time he arrived in Happy Valley-Goose Bay, he knew he wouldn't make it.
He ended up wintering his boat and this summer he did some repairs on his hull that had cracked when he removed the boat from the water last year.
"You most likely saw me going up and down the roads a while back in my dusty old motor home from Washington State while I worked on the boat," he said.
He finished his repairs and left Happy Valley Goose Bay with a friend to continue his journey on July 1. From there he travelled up the Coast, stopping in coastal communities along the way.
He and his sailing partner parted ways in Nain and he continued the journey alone.
By this time, he had already completed nearly 6500 kilometres.
He left Nain, Labrador on his way further North on July 21. As of last Wednesday he was passing by Bears Gut Fjord just below Blow Me Down Mountain in the Torngat Mountains.
His next destination is Resolute, Nunavut, nearly 3000 kilometres from Nain, but he said he might have to make a stop at Baffin Island along the way.
From there he said, if nature allowed it, he would continue to Nome, Alaska to complete the Northwest Passage.
The solo sail is not Captain Tommy's first journey on the ocean. Captain Lemuel R Brigman III first took him to sea when he was only 18. That was 46 years ago and Captain Tommy is still sailing.
"I'll die on or near the water, just like Captain Lem. He sailed his schooner TONI &DONNA until he wore out and died at 86," he said.
His current boat, a Corsair F-31 UC, called the THE CAPTAIN LEMUEL R BRIGMAN III, or CAP'N'LEM for short, is named after the man who introduced him to sailing the ocean. They friendship spanned 42 years on and off the water until Captain Lem passed away in 2006.
Captain Tommy retired from the U.S. Coast Guard in 1990 and worked for the Merchant Marine after that. He spent 14 years as captain of the Oil Spill Recovery Vessel SHEARWATER in Port Angeles Washington.
Now, he said, he sails for pleasure and adventure.
"I'm making stories for the grandkids for when they get older and I can no longer sail, like when I'm 100," he said.
He said he made plenty of friends along the way and calls Labrador his east coast home.
He said the most positive experiences in doing a trip like this are the people.
"Oh the wonderful people I have met," he said. "Let me top it off by just saying I spent time with "Uncle Jim" James Andersen, 91 years young, from Makkovik. Read my blog about him. That alone would have made the trip worth it."
Captain Tommy said he doesn't know how long it will take to navigate across the Northwest Passage.
"Who knows?" he said. "I thought I could do it in one season and now it's been two."
If he gets to Nome, he said he will winter the boat and come back to sail the coast of Alaska and B.C. to Port Angeles.
The Northwest Passage has been navigated by water only since the early twentieth century. A handful of famous explorers attempted unsuccessfully to find or cross the passage- John Cabot in 1497, Martin Frobisher in 1576, Jacques Cartier and Henry Hudson in 1609, and Captain James Cook in 1777.
The first time the passage was completed entirely by sea was in 1906 and on an expedition led by Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen.
In 1984, the MS Explorer was the first cruise ship to navigate the Northwest Passage. The first vessel to circumnavigate the world via the Northwest Passage did so in 1986. The first commercial ship sailed across the Northwest Passage in 2008.
Captain Tommy said it isn't his intention to set any records.
"Records are for stunt men. Sailing is for adventurers. My whole life has been an adventure. Some great, most small. This is just one more, big as though it is," he said.
"At age 64, (there are) not many people left I need or want to impress. That frees me up to just meet people and accept them for who and what they are, and lets them accept me."
Captain Tommy said his loved ones know he just has to go to sea every so often and he quotes a famous line from Moby Dick'...When it is a damp drizzly November in my soul...'
Anyone interested in tracking Captain Tommy's progress can follow his blog and track him by map at www.arcticsolosail.com
When he is finished this trip, Captain Tommy said he will sail his other boat AVANTI up to Alaska, do some trips on THE BRIG LADY WASHINGTON, and perhaps a summer on THE BRIG NIAGARA.
"I'll die on or near the water, just like Captain Lem."
editor@thelabradorian.ca
.jpg)
.jpg)
