A-Town to Beantown

 

Skip, JT (seated), James (back left), and Jan (back right) invite you to follow their momentous journey through the Northwest Passage, skirting the arctic circle along ancient routes that only recently became ice free--at least for a few weeks a year--again.  Only a few dozen personal vessels have attempted the nearly 10,000 mile route since the Passage opened up.  The route of Sailing Vessel Tango starts in Anacortes, follows the coast of Alaska and the Aleutian Island chain before turning due north.  Then the long sail across the entire north coast of Canada before heading down the Newfoundland coast to Boston,  where a Rotary welcoming party is anticipated.

 

While Skip and wife Sondra are Anacortes Rotarians the crew hails from as far as Texas, Idaho, and Germany,  You have to be a special individual to take on this kind of challenge.  In good Rotary fashion the club has equipped the Tango with Anacortes Rotary flags to trade with the handful of Rotary Clubs along the route, including Nome, Utqiagvik/Barrow (the northernmost club in the Americas), and St John's, Newfoundland. 

 

Tango is a 1984 Nauticat 43 fiberglass pilothouse motorsailer staysail-rigged ketch designed by Sparkman and Stephens and built by Siltala Yachts in Finland for high latitude sailing. She is powered by a Ford-Lehman Super 135 diesel engine with 265 gal of diesel and 220 gal of water tankage. She is outfitted with a full complement of new sails, modern electronics including radar, generator, full galley with freezer, two heads, watermaker, washer/dryer, and davits for her aluminum hulled Hypalon RIB with a 15hp Johnson outboard.