Artic Circle Living and Cold Water Boating?

[SG]

There was threads regarding Hudson & James Bay, an one regarding a tragic accident in Superior. I was going to post this as part of the thread below on kayaking; but, thought it might be better to post it separately.

Attached is link to a silent film -- it was from hand cranked camera(s) and done long time ago. I saw it a young man when taking a photo class in college.

https://archive.org/details/NanookOfTheNorth-HD​

The film is over an hour and a quarter long.

Anyway, it's not everyone's cup-of-tea, but its about a different time and ability of humans to live in hostile environments.

The water temp is something a hair over 33 degrees Fahrenheit. The air temp could be well below the other side of zero.

 

[MitchM]

check out the book 'north to the night' by alvah simon , about his decision to live in the arctic for a winter on his boat. it certainly cured me of any wish to ever duplicate that adventure...

 

[Brian D]

I'm sure you meant Arctic. Regardless, ain't gonna catch me in that water in a kayak. No way, Jose.

 

[Don S/V ILLusion]

check out the book 'north to the night' by alvah simon , about his decision to live in the arctic for a winter on his boat. it certainly cured me of any wish to ever duplicate that adventure...

Read it some years ago. Wasn't he the guy who claimed to have faced off with a polar bear?

After reading that part, I assumed the book was, to be polite, fiction.

 

[Gunni]

Buddy of mine loves to fish the Bering for King Salmon, they take an extra guide with them armed with a 30-06. His job is stand watch and keep the polar bears away while they fish. Apparently polar bears see anything that moves as a snack, and fishermen are both a warm snack and the delivery guy for some big salmon!

 

[shemandr]

I read a book about Admiral Perry and his Antarctic excursion in the early 1900's - or maybe a bit later. He very nearly froze to death and had to be rescued by the Antarctic crew which was hunkered down about 30 miles away. The book is titled Alone. There was a rescue mission to retrieve him which was a risk to the rescuers. He survived as a result and went on to become famous. In my opinion it was a bad idea from the get go and he was lucky to survive. The biggest problem described was the buildup of frost/condensation on the chimney for the heater/stove, CO fumes would back up into the abode. Due to extreme weather he couldn't go out to clear the chimney often enough. He spent the winter oxygen deprived and may have perished if it had not been that the radio operators at the ice station decided he was in trouble. Quite a story.