Polar passage

"This is the astounding personal account of history's first sail-powered transit through Canada's treacherous 4,000 km.-long Northwest Passage. Starting in July 1986 at Inuvik at the mouth of the Mackenzie River, and ending in August 1988 at Pond-Inlet on Baffin Bay, Jeff MacInnis, the 26-year-old son of a deep-sea diver and explorer Dr. Joe MacInnis, and photographer Mike Beedell journeyed on a course that succeeded where so many had failed. In fact, no one has made such an attempt since Sir John franklin's 129-man expedition vanished without a trace in 1845. MacInnis and Beedell staked their survival in the brutal environment of the high Arctic on hi-tech diving suits and mountaineering gear. Their vessel, Perception, was as improbable as their accomplishment--a specially-strengthened 18-foot, 450-pound Hobie catamaran. They pushed, hauled, and sailed their tiny boat through extremes of emotion, fatigue, and weather, battling sea conditions that would have threatened a fully-found yacht three times the size of Perception. Danger was always imminent: a prowling grizzly, blizzards, impenetrable fogs, a sudden squall, and the inherent risk of sailing through 15-foot seas in sub-zero temperatures. And the beauty of the untouched Arctic was in part their payoff: drifting through towering glaciers, and reaching stunning waters that hold the world's largest populations of whales, walrus and seals. Polar Passage is the unforgettable story of how two men triumphed against incredible odds and the most severe tests of physical and mental endurance to fulfill one of history's long-standing dreams."--Dust jacket flaps.