Sailboat grounding in NW Passage brings in Canadian Coast Guard

The crew of the Eagles Quest — seen before the sailboat was grounded on a shoal near Gjoa Haven. (PHOTO/FACEBOOK)

While in Cambridge Bay, the Eagles Quest anchored not far from the Maud, sailed by Norway’s Roald Amundsen — the first to transit the Northwest Passage — and its tug, the Tandberg Polar. (PHOTO/ FACEBOOK)

Coast Guard zodiacs from the Wilfrid Laurier pull up beside the Eagles Quest Sept. 1. (PHOTO/ FACEBOOK)

The CCGS Wilfrid Laurier leads the Eagles Quest into safer waters Sept. 1 near Gjoa Haven. (PHOTO/FACEBOOK)

A Northwest Passage transit came to a halt Aug. 31 when a sailboat became stranded on a shoal, prompting a call-out to the Canadian Coast Guard.

The Eagles Quest II Arctic expedition leader later thanked Canadian taxpayers for picking up what was probably a considerable tab for the Coast Guard icebreaker’s assistance.

“Thanks for the Canadian Coast Guard (CCG) and Canadian Government for the swift and effective help.” said Chu Kee Duen on Facebook about the work CCGS Sir Wilfried Laurier.

The 58-foot Eagles Quest fibreglass sailboat, which had started east in June from Hokkaido, Japan to Iceland, ran aground en route from Cambridge Bay to Gjoa Haven.

Duen blamed the bad charting of the waters for the incident, saying the grounding happened “at improper[ly] surveyed open sea” when the depth changed suddenly from 25 metres to two metres.

“Even [with] the motor slow[ed] down, we could not avoid running aground,” he said on Facebook.

The crew tried to use the 15-horsepower dinghy to pull the mast top with 120-metre ropes “but the heel was not enough to let the boat get away with full engine speed,” Duen said.

Even worse, it was high tide when the boat grounded.

“We had no hope to escape and confirmed to coast guard that we needed their rescue. They came in 12 hours and waited for daybreak.”

But then at 6:30 a.m. Sept. 1, the wind and swell changed direction to push the boat out of the shoal, Duen said.

“We escaped 1 hour before Coast Guard’s rubber boats arrived,” he said.

The two zodiacs sent from the Sir Wilfrid Laurier then directed the Eagles Quest to safe water.

Earlier this year, a poster on cruisersforum.com had questioned whether the Eagles Quest crew members — who hadn’t trained or sailed together — and the boat itself were ready for the trip.

“Is this boat really suitable for such a voyage? Personally I would not contemplate such a trip (NW Passage) in a plastic boat. The passage should go fine, but that’s not the point. What if things turn ugly, as they can do quickly up there? What if you run aground? Are the skipper and any full-time crew experienced with Arctic sailing?

“Sailing has gotten vastly safer, but things can go wrong quickly and you are a long way from help in the Arctic,” the poster said.

Before the shoaling, the Eagles Quest had visited the western Nunavut towns of Kugluktuk and Cambridge Bay.