Richard Gleeson
Northern News Services

Yellowknife (May 13/02) - A Yellowknife crew is about to embark on a voyage many people dream of but few people take.

If all goes according to plan, on June 1 at 10 a.m. Todd Burlingame, Tim Coleman and Cal Brackman will untie the dock lines tethering Burlingame's 29-foot cutter on a Halifax wharf and begin a 2,600-nautical-mile sail to Portugal.

Burlingame, a petroleum geologist and chair of the Mackenzie Valley Environmental Impact Review Board, began planning this voyage three years ago, at the end of another expedition.

"I was mouthing off in a bar about going down the Mackenzie River," he recalled. "I mouthed off enough that I had to do it. When I finished that, I figured this was the obvious thing to do next."

Coleman said none who hear of the trip are ambivalent about it.

"The only two responses you get when people find out you're doing this is 'You're crazy,' or 'Geez, I wish I was going,' " said the Environment Canada manager.

Challenge

The toughest part of the voyage will be the first 500 nautical miles of the 1,500-mile leg from Halifax and the Azores.

The chances of falling seasick will be highest during the first two or three days.

"The biggest risks associated with this trip are the ice and fog and traffic," said Burlingame.

The waters off the East Coast of Canada are notorious for all three and rough weather to boot.

Alongside the physical challenges of open ocean sailing will be the psychological grind of spending 20 days in a 29-foot boat surrounded by nothing but water and sky.

Burlingame recalled a story he was told about a race to Bermuda extended by headwinds most of the way. With less than 100 miles to go in the voyage, one member of the exhausted crew snapped. He demanded that a May Day alert be called in. Eventually the rest of the crew had to tie him down.

"That's why I'm bringing a roll of duct tape," Burlingame said. "I'm serious."

Doing the homework

The team has done all they can to minimize the risks associated with a long open voyage in a small boat.

"Preparation is the key," Brackman, a territorial government worker, said. "We're very well prepared in terms of what to expect."

Three years ago, Brackman and Burlingame got a taste of some of the rough weather they may meet on the crossing. Aboard Sunblood for the annual Commissioner's Cup race they encountered 45-knot winds and three-metre waves.

Named after a range in the Mackenzie Mountains where Burlingame worked to earn money to help fund the crossing, Sunblood begins her Atlantic crossing at a time of year when the weather is typically benign.

The yacht has been outfitted with radar, a weatherfax, e-mail capability and the latest high-tech navigational equipment. But it will also include a sextant for celestial navigation should the electronics fail.

Each crew member knows how to use the sextant, has taken First Aid training and has had a full medical examination.

Last summer the three sailed without stopping to the end of the East Arm to test their four- hours-on, four-hours-off watch system and some of the new equipment on the boat.

Burlingame flew to Portugal last year to check out the marina he has identified to store the boat for the winter after the voyage.

Customs officials there are looking forward to his return and the bottles of Canadian whisky he favoured them with the last time he was there. He will be bringing char for the marina workers who will be caring for his boat while it is on the hard over the winter.

Burlingame has also been to Halifax several times to ensure all will be as it should for the departure.

Overland

After last summer's East Arm passage, Burlingame suffered a cross-Canada trip at 60 kilometres per hour, towing Sunblood from her home port to Halifax.

"It was horrible," he said. "I lost a wheel off the trailer near Vegreville. I almost careened off the road and ended it all by crashing into the giant Easter egg there."

It took eight days to drive the 6,274 kilometres.

That the boat is from Yellowknife is a source of no small amount of pride among its crew.

Burlingame is careful to point out that Yellowknife is registered as the boat's home port and, as a result, wears the city's name on its stern.

It will be a strange name to the Portuguese who see it, a place almost 1,000 kilometres from the nearest salt water.

"I can't imagine any other boats that have been registered here making a transatlantic crossing," Coleman said.

Between their onboard duties, the crew will have no shortage of entertainment. Burlingame has brought a wide selection of music and movies, including The Perfect Storm and Castaway.