A serious concern of Edvin and mine is the amount of room on board to store equipment and the amount of weight we must carry on the boat. We need to keep the boat as light as possible for buoyancy and stability reasons but it has become a real challenge to achieve this on a 31ft boat with all the equipment we require for the 6 month voyage.
Land:While this is a sailing voyage we will be stopping at the Arctic’s most remote islands along the way and we will be making ventures onto land, glaciers and mountains to explore the most remote areas we come across on our trip. We will also frequent shores to set up lines while anchoring in deep fjords, tying up to trees, rocks or even setting ice screws. These ventures require us to have high quality hiking gear, camping gear, snow/ice and climbing gear.
Ice: Sailing in ice or becoming trapped in ice requires its own unique equipment. We need custom made ice poles, grapple hooks and ice climbing screws and rope for springs to drift with the pack ice, spotlights, headlamps for ice watches at night, ski goggles to protect from freezing ocean spray in cold and bad weather, light waterproof climbing gear and the best binoculars possible. If trapped in ice we need equipment to negotiate our environment, crampons, ice axes, snowshoes, ropes, dry suits for crossing leads etc.
Sea:The boat will be filled with months and months worth of food, water, fuel and sailing equipment as there will be very few places for us to re-provision. Sustainability in paramount on a trip where we will be isolated from society for long periods. We will require plenty of spare parts for the engine, rig and tools to repair or jury rig whatever is needed. Maps, sailing directions, almanac books, navigation, safety and emergency equipment, communication and weather equipment all demand a space. Not to mention the 3-4 grown men that will live in this 31ft boat.
