Australian explorers attempting to sail the Northwest Passage

Australian couple Chris Bray and Jess Taunton sailed, with their 29-foot yacht Teleport, from Halifax to Cambridge Bay, through the Northwest Passage. (HANDOUT PHOTO BY CHRIS BRAY)

On Aug. 31 Australians Chris Bray, 27, and girlfriend Jess Taunton, 23, became the first sailors to begin navigating a junk rig yacht through the ice-laden seaway. (PHOTO BY CHRIS BRAY/ YACHTTELEPORT.COM)

THANDI FLETCHER
Postmedia News

A young Australian couple has embarked upon a journey to do what some of the greatest explorers of all time and 160 years of navy expeditions could not — sail through the Northwest Passage.

Once known for its treacherous pack ice which made it difficult, if not impossible, to navigate, the legendary route to the Far East has been largely open since ice levels reached a record low in 2007.

Throughout the 18th century, the frozen passage lured European explorers who tried, and repeatedly failed, to find a shorter northern trade route to Asia.

But on Aug. 31, Australians Chris Bray, 27, and girlfriend Jess Taunton, 23, became the first sailors to begin navigating a junk rig yacht through the ice-laden seaway.

A junk rig, also known as a Chinese lugsail, is an easy-to-handle boat with low-tech rigging.

“We never actually had the intention of buying a boat or doing anything with sailing,” said Bray.

The idea came about three years ago when the pair, well-known adventure photographers in their native country, were cycling through Tasmania.

On the trip, they visited an old friend who had recently bought a junk rig yacht, moored in Halifax, and planned to sail it across the Atlantic. When his plans unexpectedly changed, the boat, named Teleport, went up for sale at a price Bray and Taunton couldn’t refuse.

Their idea of sailing the boat back to Australia was only mildly complicated by its inconvenient geographical location on the “wrong” side of Canada.

While most anyone else would sail the boat through the easy-to-navigate Panama Canal, they knew they couldn’t take the “easy route.”

Sailing through the Panama Canal “wasn’t even an option really,” said Taunton.

“We wanted an adventure,” agreed Bray. “We wanted a challenge going up to a part of the world that not many people go.”

Although the couple’s family and close friends were not surprised by the plan, reactions from others were less positive.

“We got a lot of, ‘You’re an idiot, that’s a tiny yacht to try and do the Northwest Passage, blah, blah, blah,’ ” said Bray. “But with it being an incredibly low ice year, if you just plan it properly and don’t take any chances, it’s not as dangerous as people would think.”

With their course decided, there were only a few other minor obstacles to overcome. Taunton, who is susceptible to seasickness, had never set foot on a sailboat before, and their vessel was in need of serious repairs before it could be considered seaworthy.

In the two years since they bought the boat, spent saving up for their plane tickets to Halifax, the junk rig saw little in the way of maintenance.

“It was just gradually deteriorating and rotting while it was sitting there,” said Bray, who ended up devoting several months to fixing it up.

With five years of sailing experience as a child living on a yacht, however, Bray’s familiarity with sailboats more than made up for Taunton’s relative inexperience when they eventually set sail earlier this year.

The trip also wasn’t Bray’s first Arctic adventure. In 2005, along with a friend, Bray set out to become the first person to walk across Victoria Island. Although extreme sub-zero temperatures and difficult terrain cut off their hike that summer, the two were successful when they resumed in 2008, completing the hike in 128 days and writing a book on the experience.

At the end of June this year, Teleport began its journey up the coast of Nova Scotia, past Newfoundland and across the open sea passage to Greenland, the latter portion of which ended up taking about 12 days, five days longer than anticipated.

“We got smashed by some pretty horrendous weather on the way,” said Bray.

Sleep deprivation was a constant struggle as the two rotated through three-hour shifts manning the boat and watching for icebergs day and night.

For Taunton, the lack of sleep combined with seasickness resulted in an anxiety-laden trip.

“It was a huge challenge for me, trying to do my watches but throwing up over the edge every five seconds,” said Taunton.

Although she eventually discovered better medication to combat the nausea, her nerves seemed to constantly grow more frayed along with the size of the waves and the icebergs, she said.

Although this year has seen near record-setting low levels of ice formation in the Northwest Passage, Teleport encountered many icebergs along the way, especially along the coast of Greenland.

As the icebergs melt, Bray said they break apart into seemingly harmless but sharp pieces that are difficult to spot.

“Jess would stand on the bow with an ice pole and fend them away so we didn’t ding into them too hard,” he said. “If you run into one of these bits of ice . . . you’d sink pretty well right away.”

Sharp rocks jutting out of the ocean posed another serious danger.

“Up here, the ocean is not very well charted,” explained Bray. “Every now and then you see a big rock in the middle of absolutely nowhere with some unfortunate ship’s name on it.”

For Cameron Dueck, captain of Silent Sound, a yacht that successfully sailed west to east through the passage in 2009 with a crew of three other sailors, those fears are all too familiar.

While making the trip, Dueck said he was surprised by how little ice they encountered, adding he expects sea traffic through the passage to rise if ice levels remain low.

But for those thinking of attempting the voyage, Dueck had a warning.

“I think a lot of sailors think if the ice is gone, the danger is gone and that is not true,” said Dueck. “You are in an extremely isolated part of the world, an area where you cannot rely on rescue and repair services.”

After more than two months at sea, Bray and Taunton arrived in Cambridge Bay on Aug. 31, the midway point of the passage.

Surprisingly, the stretch through the first half of the Northwest Passage proved to be “amazingly ice-free,” said Bray.

“Good ol’ global warming,” he said with a chuckle.

Having spent the past two weeks building a cradle to lift the yacht out of the sea, the two are now en route via plane to spend the winter in sunny Australia.

Although the journey was risky, as professional photographers, the wilderness scenes made every frightening moment worth it.

“We saw plenty of polar bears and seals,” Bray described. “We even had a pod of killer whales come right up to the boat and dive all around it.”

In May, they will return to continue through the rest of the Northwest Passage and gradually make their way Down Under.

“We’re just making it up as we go along,” said Bray, adding that they hope to make it at least to Alaska by the end of next summer. Along the way, they may stop in Russia or Vancouver.

“It depends on many things, but some unknown keeps it an adventure, hey!”

To follow Teleport’s progress, visit www.yachtteleport.com