Kirsten Murphy
Northern News Services

Pond Inlet (Aug 06/01) - A historical 10-month voyage around circumpolar waters resumed last week. Mechanical problems grounded the expedition in Pond Inlet last year.

"We have a lot to thank the people in Pond Inlet for. Without their help it would be impossible to continue with the expedition," said Anders Bilgram, spokesperson for Polar Passage 2000.

A four-person crew left Denmark aboard the six-metre powerboat Olga in August 1999.

One man dropped out last year, leaving Bilgram, 38, Frederick Lynge, 44, and Ole-Jorgen Hammeken, 44, of Greenland as crew.

The plan was to circumnavigate the Northern Hemisphere by travelling two months of every ice-free summer for five summers. The remaining months are spent working in their respective homelands.

The trip is a year behind schedule after Olga hit a sandbar off Pond Inlet last August, capsizing and severely damaging the engines. Before the necessary parts could arrive, sea ice started to form and the trip was aborted.

Community members hauled the boat ashore. RCMP Cpl. Grant MacDonald stored the vessel near his home and the boaters returned home.

The trio returned to Pond Inlet July 25. Two new engines arrived a week earlier.

"First we visited the many friends we met last year. We ate raw frozen caribou, seal, muktaaq. It was great," Bilgram said before departing.

Polar Passage members hope to arrive in Resolute this week. The Bering Strait is their final destination this year. They will pick up wherever they leave off next summer.

Inherent weather risks, sandbars and pack ice is always a concern. The team is equipped with a satellite phone, maps and emergency equipment. Most meals consist of country food, bread and cheese.

For luxuries, the crew packed Cuban cigars and cognac, but "only for special occasions. If we were stuck on ice looking at a beautiful view with narwhals around," Bilgram said, with a laugh.

A Danish Web site with journal entries is updated every second or third day.

The closest expedition to Polar Passage was a team of French sailors who circumnavigated a similar route by sail boat.

Bilgram insists their trip is about adventure, not egos.

"The main thing is to meet people in arctic communities. Most people in the Arctic know what it means to sail in a small boat like this.

"It's great to be invited into people's home and to experience arctic hospitality," he said.

A book detailing the expedition will be written once the voyage is complete. Bilgram hopes Olga will motor into Denmark by the summer of 2004.

"As we've seen before, many things can happen," Bilgram said.

The expedition's English Web site can be found at www.altrec.com/features/ polarpassage/home.html