French sailor stops in after Arctic adventure

Being "The Last Frontier," Alaska has long been a crossroad for adventure. From the likes of John Muir, Susan Butcher and Jack London, that tradition continues with the arrival of modern-day travelers.

Circling the globe in his sailboat, Guirec Soudée found a friendly harbor in Wrangell last week during a run of rough weather. Hailing from Brittany, a peninsular region in northwestern France, the 24-year-old sailor recently navigated the Arctic's Northwest Passage, accompanied only by his hen, Monique.

For Soudée the journey began when he turned 18, leaving home for Australia with only €200 in his pocket (about $260 at the time). Spending his first night there on a Sydney street, Soudée acquired a bike and worked his way across the continent's southwest. Pulling seasons as a shrimper, he earned enough money to return to France and buy a boat to travel the world in at age 20.

"When I bought my boat I learned how to sail," he said. "I learned on the way."

Then 21, Soudée took Monique and his boat, Yvinec, southwest to Spain, Portugal, then to the Canary Islands off the coast of Morocco. From there he crossed the Atlantic in 28 days, making his way to the islands of the Caribbean Sea. While spending a year there he developed a plan to travel the Arctic, which would include having Yvinec trapped in ice during the winter.

Setting out from the island of Bermuda, he sailed north to Nova Scotia, then from there to the west coast of Greenland, arriving on August 22, 2015. He made friends along the way, and bided his time before the freezing weather set in. He found a suitable bay a short trip from the village of Saqqaq, on Greenland's west-central coast.

Getting the boat to stay put during the freeze was more difficult than expected, and twice during the process Soudée recounted the wind and weight of the ice threatened to push his boat ashore, anchor and all.

"It was very interesting, very hard," he said.

Once the ice did form and the boat settled in for the winter, the weather turned foul. Temperatures dropped down to 50 or 60 degrees below zero and the wind approached 60 knots. With the high winds and snow, visibility was sometimes reduced to a whiteout which could make venturing out on the ice a dangerous endeavor.

"Two times I was lost right across from my boat," said Soudée.

In all, he spent 130 days iced in off the Greenland coast, and of those, he reckoned the weather was only clear for 10. Soudée was unsure how long he would be there, but had intended to augment his rations with fish caught from the ice.

As things turned out, he caught only one fish during the duration of the stay. His hen Monique laid 106 eggs however, which he ate along with carefully measured allotments of rice. More plentiful was water, for which he collected and melted blocks of ice with his stove. In all, Soudée estimated he lost about 26 pounds during the extended winter.

He was beyond radio contact as well, and was for all practicalities on his own. Soudée was rarely short of ways to spend the time, maintaining the boat and breaking ice from its hull. The pressure from the ice was such that a few times Soudée was in fear for his boat.

"I was thinking this is the end of my trip, no?" said Soudée.

Other times were less stressful: "You read, you write, you speak with the chicken," he recounted. When the weather was cooperative and he had the opportunity, Soudée would hike, ski and ice surf.

For power, the boat is decked out with solar panels and a wind turbine. With low light conditions for much of the winter, the latter proved the more useful, and Soudée has been able to record parts of his trip using a drone and post entries online with his computer. He has been maintaining a Facebook page and YouTube channel as he goes, Guirec Soudée Adventure, which has accumulated over 100,000

likes.

After the ice finally broke and Yvinec was free to sail again, Soudée crossed Baffin Bay and headed to the Arctic Ocean.

"It was hard because there was so much fog," said Soudée.

The trip was also made hazardous due to icebergs and floes, which he had to carefully avoid. He found navigation was also hindered, with the magnetic pole rendering his compass useless. On little sleep he made the Northwest Passage trip in 32 days, arriving in Nome on September 2. In clearer waters, from there he traversed the Bering Strait, passing through the Aleutian Islands before making his way across the Gulf of Alaska over to Southeast.

Soudée picked up another crew member in Kodiak, a puppy name Bosco. With Monique, the three of them landed in Hoonah, where Soudée said he was warmly received. He had the chance to fish for halibut and see a number of bears, and also learn about the local history and culture. Before departing, his host on the island presented him with a canoe paddle he'd made, decorated in a formline design.

"I enjoy to be here," Soudée said of Alaska. "It was very interesting."

Making his way southward, an extended period of rough weather brought Yvinec to Wrangell, where it remained moored over the weekend. So far he figured he has traveled about 17,000 miles, but there are many more ahead before the journey concludes. From here Soudée will head to Ketchikan, then to Vancouver and eventually San Francisco. Next year he plans to continue southward to South America and from there cross the Pacific Ocean by way of French Polynesia.

Soudée figured this was the perfect time to make such a trip, before having to focus on the responsibilities of career and family life. If there is a lesson to be had from it, he explained there was an ingenuity to be found from necessity, and that the experience has helped teach him to be self-sufficient. His travels have also taken him to far-off places and introduced him to new communities, making him new friends. These are things which will be carried throughout his life.

"You have so many memories, and your story," he commented. "It is important to realize your project, your dream."