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Odyssey Among the Inuit
Participants: Jon Waterman
"I was able to improvise and adapt to conditions more demanding than any challenge of my life."
On September 8, 1999, I completed my arctic journey, stopped by seaice and
winter conditions. Since 1997, this equals a 2,000 mile transit-by kayak,
skis, dogsled, and sailboat-of the Northwest Passage. This summer, I wasn't
able to start kayaking until July 16, and even then, my route was still
affected by lingering ice. It was a year, as the Inuit put it, that summer
forgot to come.
I finished 500 miles later in the Gulf of Boothia, after portaging the
25-mile-wide Boothia Peninsula, plagued by snow flurries, sickness, wintry
winds, and general exhaustion from battling bad weather. Beset by such
adversity, I was forced to take calculated risks on a regular basis, and in
the end, by reaching the eleven-foot tidal ranges of the Gulf of Boothia
(the inner Northwest Passage has only three foot tides), I felt tremendous
personal satisfaction and closure. I have bridged the reaches of the
Pacific and Atlantic Oceans.
I was able to improvise and adapt to conditions more demanding than any
challenge of my life. I felt a sense of mastery. I was often scared, but
learned how to banish my fear. Utterly isolated most of the time, I felt
in harmony with the land and sea, acutely aware of wild animals, and
certain of my own fragile yet privileged perspective of the natural world.
I felt as if I truly belonged out there.
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