Ben Gray writes: > Also a serious question for us is, "if we have a chance to follow an ice breaker > through, should we accept or wait until next year?" Ben makes it sound as though the CG sent him an invitation. There is no Northwest Passage for small vessels. It exists only in the minds of thrill-seekers who want to muddle through in the wake of capable ships which are funded on the backs of the taxpayer. This stunt has even less merit than that of the teenager who sailed solo, a few years back, around Antarctica, calling it a circumnavigation. The real adventurers are seldom heard of. Regards, John "Seahorse"