All hands-- An earlier story in a smaller newspaper got it right: Ildlewild will not be the first power yacht to circumnavigate the world via the Northwest Passage. That honor belongs to David Scott Cowper with Mabel E. Holland, a 42-foot converted lifeboat, who circumnavigated via the Northwest Passage in 1986-1990--singlehanded. Scott Cowper had already become the first singlehanded circumnavigator under power in 1984-85 with the same boat. Regardless, the great adventure that Ben Gray has started with the George Buehler-designed Idlewild will be one we'll want to follow over the next 16 months. If he is successful, Gray will be the first to circumnavigate--under sail or power--starting inland and using portages! See the map here <http://www.idlewildexpedition.ca/index_files/Page312.htm> for where the expedition is beginning. The best place to follow Idlewild will be Ben Gray's own site: http://www.idlewildexpedition.ca/ Below is the earlier article in the Fairview, Alberta, Post. Fans of skinny passagemakers will note the beam on the aluminum 57-footer is 11 feet. The draft is 42 inches which is striking but not as shallow as the flat-bottomed Mabel E. Holland. --Georgs Rancher set for ocean adventure by Olav Rokne Tuesday May 17, 2005 Fairview Post - A pair of northern Albertan cattlemen are setting sail for high seas adventure. Starting from the Dunvegan Bridge, Ben Gray and his son Kevin plan to take the Idlewild -- their specially-built 57-ft. boat -- around the globe. "We expect to put the boat in the water on May 23 and leave a few days after that," says Gray. Ben's other son, Brad will be on the first portion of the journey, but unfortunately has to get off at Greenland. That first leg of their journey takes them up the uncharted waters of the Peace River -- hundreds of kilometres of sand banks and shallows. "The big problems at the start will be finding the deep spots from here to the Great Slave Lake," explains Gray, "We have to do our own charting until then -- it's about 400 miles." There are two spots in that leg of the journey where they will have to portage the boat. "At the Fort Vermilion shutes we're going to have to widen the trail," says Gray. "The natives from the Fox Lake reserve will be helping us with the CAT and any other services we might need." For that leg of the journey Kevin's dog will be along for the ride. "We'll take the dog as far as Tuktoyaktuk," Ben says. "I didn't figure we wanted a seasick dog out for the rest of the trip." The river gets quieter and gentler from the Great Slave Lake to Tuktoyaktuk, so that leg will be a family adventure. "The nice part about that river is that the water is fairly calm so family and grandkids can come along and enjoy the uniqueness of the north." The next leg of the journey takes the sailors through the Northwest Passage and over to Greenland, then down the Atlantic to the Azores. "We want to get to the Azores before the North Atlantic starts its winter storms," Gray says. Although at that point they'll be fairly isolated for long stretches, Ben isn't worried about boredom. "I've been out to sea for long stretches before -- and you're usually too busy to be bored." Between three hour watches at night and six hour watches during the day, cooking, e-mail, cleaning and sleep, there's usually too little time. "I am bringing a good number of books along," says Ben. "Many of which I've been looking forward to reading for 10 or 20 years. From the Azores, they'll be headed to South Africa, where they hope to hit Cape Town by December 10. "From Cape Town to Freemantle, Australia is the longest leg of the journey," says Gray. "It's about 5,000 miles -- and that's about the limit of our range." If they have bad headwinds, or are short on fuel, they may have to stop at some of the smaller islands along the way. When they leave Australia however, they'll avoid going to port until they hit Japan. "There's piracy in a lot of those waters," Ben says. "So we'll probably not stop until we hit the southern islands of Japan." It will likely be upwards of 16 months by the time they make the voyage up from Japan and to Alaska, crossing their path and completing the circumnavigation of the globe. It's a trip that has been a long time in the making for the Gray family -- a lifetime ambition for Ben. "I actually started building a boat in 1981 to go around the world through the Northwest Passage," Gray says. "Had I done it then, I would have been the first person to have done so." Unfortunately a bad turn of luck prevented the expedition from going ahead as planned. "I went bankrupt back then -- that's why I didn't finish the boat Š and I thought I would never get to do this," he said. "Things came together about two years ago, I was thinking about retirement and realized I could put the money together for this." After working on the design with George Buehler, Ben had his 30,000-lb. aluminum boat built by Reyse Marine in Surrey, B.C. Although the boat is 57 ft. in length, it's only 11 ft. wide for maximum efficiency. "A lot of people ask us about how stable the boat is," Ben says, but because it has a really low centre of gravity, it's quite stable." The boat only packs a 55 horsepower diesel engine, and has a top speed of about 7.5 miles an hour. It can sleep four people comfortably, though for most of the trip it will only be Ben and Kevin aboard. There has been quite a lot of interest about the trip from the public and the family has set up a web site -- www.idlewildexpedition.ca -- for people to check out. "People who don't have a good geographic feel don't think too much of the trip," says Ben. "The more experience people have the more excited they are about the trip." The sailors themselves are extremely excited. "The most fun is going to be what we learn and what we see and the people we'll meet. "We're going to learn a lot."