George Buehler, creator of Diesel Ducks and other fantasies,

             P.O. Box 966, Freeland, WA 98249
            Telephone & Fax: (360) 331-5866
  http://georgebuehler.com <http://georgebuehler.com/>  &

Listees George Buehler, creator of Diesel Ducks and other fantasies, forwarded this newspaper article to me and I thought the list would enjoy reading the adventures of this guy. The article was published in the Edmonton Journal and written by Jim Farrell. The article says he will be the first to do this but after receiving it Bill Kimley sent me this: This guy will have a hard time being the first to go around the world via the NW Passage. David Cowper already did that starting in 1986. His trip took four years as he was iced in two years. Wrote a great book about the trip called "Northwest Passage Solo". ***************************** Cowper, David Scott. <http://catalog.evanston.lib.il.us/MARION/ABT-4782> Northwest Passage solo. 1994. 910.916 Cowpe.D First man to sail round the world in both directions, Cowper's 4-year struggle to complete a circumnavigation via the Northwest Passage made his earlier trips seem like mere training excursions. Lavishly illustrated with the author's own photographs. You can find this book at: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/subst/home/home.html/103-6889286-10630 41 <http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/subst/home/home.html/103-6889286-1063 041> Randal Johnson Rancher riding rivers to sea: Ben Gray hopes to be first to use the > Northwest Passage to circle the world Edmonton Journal > Monday, May 30, 2005 > Dateline: THE VERMILION CHUTES, ON THE PEACE RIVER > Source: The Edmonton Journal > > THE VERMILION CHUTES, ON THE PEACE RIVER -- A long, thin, seagoing > craft crested the south bank of the Peace River on Sunday to begin a > 16-kilometre portage around an impassable waterfall, then north to the > Arctic Ocean and the dreaded Northwest Passage. > > If all goes according to plan, in 16 months the 14-tonne Idlewild will > have sailed around the world, and will have been the first to use the > Northwest Passage to do it. > > That's a big "if," but it would make Ben Gray's boat one of fewer than > 100 to have navigated the northern route between the Pacific and > Atlantic oceans. > > "It will be a great adventure," Idlewild's Stetson-topped owner said > Sunday as members of his support crew cleared logs and debris from the > shore, preparing to haul the boat out of the water. > > Hitched to a Caterpillar tractor by a cable attached to the Idlewild's > bow, the aluminum boat set out on its boggy, winding portage route to > a point below the Vermilion chutes. > > The journey began last Tuesday, from a dockside near the Dunvegan > Bridge, 580 kilometres upriver. > > The boat, 17 metres long and only 3.3 metres wide, slipped through the > water like a northern pike for the next five days, powered by its > 55-horsepower diesel engine. A fleet of three escort vessels -- fast, > shallow-draft jet boats -- guided its route downriver, past shallows > and sandbars. > > Without its wheels, which will be removed after Idlewild's second and > last portage on the Slave River, the boat needs little more than a > metre of water under her. With the wheels, it requires almost two > metres. > > But twice this week when the wheels hit bottom, helmsman Brian > Peterson simply gunned the throttle, and Idlewild crawled over the > shallows like a giant metal alligator. > > To comprehend what has gone into this expedition, you must first > understand the 66-year-old Gray, a man whose prudence is illustrated > by his use of a belt as well as a pair of red suspenders to keep up > his pants. > > "This is fun," said Gray. > > After 35 years in the oilpatch, followed by 15 years ranching buffalo > up in Peace Country, Gray is comfortable with the concept of risk and > reward. True, his latest scheme may come to naught and he might lose > his uninsured half-million-dollar boat in rapids or Arctic ice. > > Losing is part of life says Gray. "I'm used to things going wrong. > > "But you do the best you can. If I was to lose it in the ice or going > down the river, it's gone and so much for that idea." > > Gray conceived of a cruise around the world in 1979, when the Alberta > oilpatch was booming and his equipment manufacturing firm was making > big money. But instead of doing it the easy way -- cruising through > the Panama Canal -- Gray was set on going around the north coast of > North America. > > Some might call that cowboy courage or Alberta bravado. > > "He just doesn't understand the term, 'It can't be done,' " says Jodie > Ingraham, Gray's daughter. "My dad's an inventor by trade. He used to > design and manufacture oilfield equipment. He has many, many patents > and if he says it can be done, it probably can." > > Gray considers his current adventure as totally possible, ergo > something that must be tried. > > It's been a quarter-century coming. In the early 1980s he got as far > as contracting a Rhode Island shipyard to build his boat. Then Pierre > Trudeau brought in the National Energy Program. The oil business > sagged and Gray's business went bankrupt. If you ask him about Trudeau > now, Gray points to the Alberta flag on his boat's bow and quips, > "That's why I'm a separatist." > > But after another series of successful business ventures, years of > racing jet boats on Alberta rivers, a couple of boat trips down the > Mackenzie River and a 2004 raft expedition down the Peace and Slave, > Gray decided it was time to do the big trip, to circle the world. And > this time he would add another level of difficulty. Instead of > beginning his trip at an ocean port, he would set out from Dunvegan, a > short drive from his ranch. > > "If it's such a long trip, why not start in Dunvegan, why not start in > your home port?" Gray rationalized. > > For additional bragging rights he will also detour into Lake > Athabasca, just so he can say his boat visited Saskatchewan. > > Gray's 60-year-old rafting buddy John Laninga had heard him muse about > the madcap scheme in the past. Laninga dismissed it as idle dreaming, > even after a 2003 rafting trip down the Peace and Slave rivers to Fort > Resolution on Great Slave Lake. > > "I figured all that rafting and portaging, that would be it for him," > said Laninga. "But that winter he said 'I've ordered my boat.' " > > Laninga, the kind of can-do individual who is good to have along on > such a trip, is a Peace River homesteader and successful bison > rancher. He will stay on the boat until it reaches Hay River on Great > Slave Lake. > > Brian Peterson, another temporary crewman, is a veteran logging > contractor. > > After a lot of homework, Gray contracted George Buehler of Seattle to > work out the Idlewild's design and Reyse Marine in Surrey, B.C., to > build it. The boat had to be big enough to handle the enormous seas > between the southern tip of Africa and the west coast of Australia, > have a shallow enough draft to handle the rivers of northern Alberta, > and be narrow enough to be trucked from the West Coast to Peace > Country. > > Buehler selected a 75-year-old design: a long, narrow West Coast > troller. To handle two long portages, eight wheels were fastened > beneath the boat. After its second portage the wheels and axles will > be removed. > > Another benefit of its design, Buehler and Gray knew, would be > excellent fuel mileage. Its long, narrow hull and shallow draft allow > it to cruise 9,200 kilometres on 4,500 litres of diesel fuel. > Unfortunately, a long, narrow boat rolls like a log in heavy seas. > Gray experienced it off the coast of California during a winter trial > cruise from Vancouver to Mexico and back, but he says it's nothing to > worry about. > > "With a narrow hull and low centre of gravity, you get initial > instability but ultimate stability," he said. "The boat might even > roll over, but the glass in the wheelhouse is strong enough that it > won't break and the boat will right itself very quickly." > > The portage around the Vermilion Chutes will be Idlewild's biggest > challenge until they reach the Northwest Passage. Eighty kilometres > downriver from Fort Vermilion the river drops off a limestone and > shale escarpment five to seven metres high. Spanning the entire > 1.6-kilometre width of the river, the chutes are compared by one > canoeing guidebook to "herds of great sheep jumping over one another." > > Back in the days of the paddlewheelers, cargoes were off-loaded above > the rapids and carried by horse and wagon through the bush and loaded > onto other boats below the falls. > > There hasn't been a commercial boat on the Peace since 1952, but some > of the buildings used on that portage route are still standing. > > This weekend, a total of 25 friends and family slept on the flotilla > of boats or camped in the bush near the portage route. Among Gray's > helpers were his sons Brad, 38, and Kevin, 35, with the latter staying > on for the whole trip. > > Because of job responsibilities, Brad must get off the boat in > Greenland, but he will at least have the opportunity to visit the > reindeer farm of Stefan Magnusson before returning to Canada. > > "We met Magnusson at a livestock auction near Drayton Valley," Ben > Gray explains. > > It's a small world after all, he might add. > > jfarrell@thejournal.canwest.com > %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% Tuesday, May 31, 2005 LITTLE RED RIVER SETTLEMENT Source: The Edmonton Journal LITTLE RED RIVER SETTLEMENT - Notching up another first for his Idlewild Expedition, Ben Gray dropped his world-circling boat back into the Peace River on Monday after portaging it around the notorious Vermilion Chutes. For 16 kilometres, a Caterpillar tractor had pulled the 14-tonne boat Idlewild along a portage trail and a winter road. The eight wheels beneath the boat occasionally dug deep into soft soil, but the Alberta flag on Idlewild's bow never stopped flapping. Earlier in the day, two of Idlewild's three escort jet boats took a short cut, leaping off the last cataract of northwestern Alberta's Vermilion Chutes into calmer waters below. Muskrat did it first with brothers Troy and Jason Fimrite on board. Cimarron held Gray's sons Kevin and Brad and Gray's son-in-law Chip Ingraham, a Grande Prairie dentist. For one of the few times since leaving Dunvegan last Tuesday, the 66-year-old Gray removed his customary white Stetson as son Kevin motored through a kilometre of bucking and pitching white water, then hurtled off the low falls. To date, Gray has exceeded all expectations of this adventure which he expects will take him down the Peace, Slave and Mackenzie Rivers to the Arctic. His goal is for Idlewild to negotiate the treacherous ice of the Northwest Passage before turning south and east, past the mid-Atlantic Azores and on to the southern tip of Africa, then continue around the world. No other boat has used the Northwest Passage in circling the world. Gray originally planned to have a Caterpillar tractor to drag his escort boats along the Idlewild's portage route on cradles of freshly cut logs. At least that was the plan until Kevin, Brad and the Fimrites jetted the rapids above the Chutes on Sunday and looked over the edge. That night, the escort boat crews tied their vessels up to the riverbank, bunked down and thought it over. "The Fimrites said it was doable and they are fairly cautious -- more cautious than me and the boys," Gray said. "It turned out to be very, very straightforward and we didn't hit nothing." In the last two days, the Idlewild Expedition has surprised even the large army of volunteers who came out in jet boats, quads and 4X4s to help. Some of Gray's friends admitted they were amazed when his 14-tonne boat was successfully dragged from the Peace River and up a steep riverbank of mud and rotting logs. When the eight wheels attached to the bottom of the boat began to sink axle-deep into two soft areas of the narrow portage trail, even a pair of tourists pitched in and worked like navies, laying logs across the soft area to form a classic corduroy road. Pulled by a Caterpillar D6, the boat moved on. But Caterpillar operator Daniel Ribbonleg's doubts began when he got his first look at the 17-metre boat. It is the first vessel in history to come down the Peace River sporting radar and charts of the world's oceans. "I was surprised," said Ribbonleg. "I thought it was going to be just a regular-size boat, not 50 to 60 feet." As Ribbonleg watched Gray's army chainsaw brush beside the narrow trail and cut and lay down logs, his doubts vanished. He figures Idlewild has a good chance of making it through the Northwest Passage. "The way they're going right now, I think they will make it," he said. The expedition's website is: http://www.idlewildexpedition.ca/ <http://www.idlewildexpedition.ca/> -- George Buehler Yacht Design P.O. Box 966, Freeland, WA 98249 Telephone & Fax: (360) 331-5866 http://georgebuehler.com <http://georgebuehler.com/> & http://dieselducks.com <http://dieselducks.com/>