Photo: Maud prepares to leave

The Maud, once sailed by Norway’s polar explorer Roald Amundsen, is ready to get hoisted on a barge in Cambridge Bay. “The last weeks has been a hard working period for our small team as we have had to make re-arrangements for the rigging of the straps and raising ballons attached to the Maud. Now we have reached a point where we again are inflating and putting lifting load on Maud, and we feel good,” says Jan Wanggaard of the “Maud returns home” project. “There are great challenges involved in many ways, naturally, but being a small dedicated group is in my opinion the best way of reaching our goal.” Wanggaard said the “clock is ticking summer wise” in Cambridge Bay where the ice-free season can end quickly in September. Wanggaard said last month they hope to leave the Maud to dry out on the barge in Cambridge Bay over winter and then tow it back to Norway next year, across 7,000 kilometres of ocean. (PHOTO COURTESY OF MAUDRETURNSHOME)