RIDING THE WHITE HORSES
I dug my paddle into the water to act as an extra rudder . Eileen deftly steered with the pedals . We flew down the wave . It broke , and we rode the white horses past Cape Bathurst and into the calm of the Beaufort Sea and safety .
I tried to shout , “ We ’ ve done it !” but was overcome with emotion . I cried , and I cried , and I cried . My shoulders shook with sobs .
Almost four years earlier , I received a FaceBook friend request from a stranger . West Hansen and I had no mutual friends . He was in his late 50s , and I was in my late 20s . He was from Texas . I was from the UK , and I lived in Hong Kong . I was sure we ’ d never met .
West had noticed I was part of a rowing team and wanted to connect . The team in question was planning to be the first people to row the Northwest Passage in a single season .
THE ARCTIC COWBOYS
West was the leader of another team called The Arctic Cowboys . They planned to be the first people to kayak the Northwest Passage . Although we were rowers and they were kayakers , only one of us would be the first to complete the route using human power , with no sails or motors , in a single season .
We were rivals .
The Northwest Passage is the Arctic route that links the Atlantic to the Pacific . Explorers searched for the route for centuries . The most famous expedition is that of Sir John Franklin . His two ships ( The Terror and Erebus ) became stuck in ice ; the crew resorted to cannibalism to survive . They all perished .
The ice that proved so fatal for Franklin is disappearing . It is retreating for longer each year , and the adventure community began to dream that the Northwest Passage is possible by human power , as it