The Royal Huisman-built Arcadia has become the latest megayacht to transit the Northwest Passage, long one of the most inhospitable places on the planet.
The Northwest Passage is located 500 miles north of the Arctic Circle and approximately 12,000 miles from the North Pole. It connects the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, via the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. Because of its location, the Northwest Passage is often frozen solid, save for a short window in summertime. Even with the more open waters during that season, though, there are still tricky channels and shoals.
Conquering those challenges were high on the list of Arcadia’s owner. In fact, the 117-foot (35.8-meter), aluminum-hulled megayacht was commissioned to explore polar regions, as well as other far-flung shores worldwide. Her range is reportedly 5,000 nautical miles at 10 knots.
Arcadia prepared for the Northwest Passage trip this summer at Royal Huisman, specifically tapping the expertise of its Huisfit service program. She then headed across the Atlantic Ocean to Greenland. Arcadia embarked on an east-west route through the Northwest Passage beginning on September 5. The owner and guests were onboard for the entire trip, encompassing 3,278 nautical miles and taking 21 days. When weather cooperated, they ventured on land to enjoy some hiking. Whether ashore or aboard Arcadia, they enjoyed stunning scenery of everything from icebergs to polar bears.
While nearly 160 vessels of all kinds have transited the Northwest Passage since records were first kept in 1903, Arcadia is one of few private yachts to do so. Last September, Octopus grabbed headlines for her trip. She followed the east-west route, similar to that of Arcadia. Prior to Octopus, Itasca was the most famous yacht—and among the most famous vessels of any kind—to make the transit. She did it in the summer of 1994, though she followed the more difficult west-to-east route, starting in Alaska and ending in Greenland.
On a related note, while some countries are encouraged by the increasing accessibility of the Northwest Passage for shipping to occur, scientists and climatologists are not. Satellite images show the arctic ice is increasingly retreating each year. Researchers believe that man-induced global warming may be to blame.
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