Getting closer and planning is continuing as is procurement of gear. This past week I bought a new sonar/fishfinder unit. The one on the Voyager had seen better days long ago. I also found a purchased two new 1200 GPH bilge pumps. This takes my bilge capacity to almost 3000 GPH which I hope to never need but if I do this will add to my safety immeasurably. Next week I get to install all this new hardware.

I also have all my food bought and just about packaged for the expedition. Let me tell you there is ‘ a lot’ of food. Over three months packaged and sorted in waterproof dry bags of stuff sacks. The logistics on this expedition are complex and have to be done correctly.

I conditions are continuing to change on a daily basis. Much of the Bering Sea is passable as are chunks of the Chukchi. A few small open patches are present on the Beaufort Sea but nothing that would allow for a safe passage. The projections for landfast ice breakup at Barrow is late June to mid July, still a bit early to tell exact dates.

Otherwise, things are going well in this logistics phase. Still lots to do before we do the actual boat testing in Lake Pleasant near Phoenix. That will happen probably late next week. All should go well as we are not see any problems.

As for me I am not getting excited yet, just working hard to get this right. If I do not get things right, things can get bad in a hurry.