Man's Desperate Sail - Greenland to Canada

by Sail-World Cruising/CBC News on 23 Sep 2006 Crossing oceans to achieve the destination of your dreams – for all sorts of reasons - is not a new concept. Thor Heyerdahl claimed the Polynesians did it, Vasco da Gama did it, and today thousands of desperate people from the Middle East and Africa are doing it, often losing their lives in the process. However, the Romanian who sailed across waters of the High Arctic to get to Canada in a small boat is something new and extraordinary.

The residents of Grise Fiord, on the southern coast of Ellesmere Island in the High Arctic above Canada, could hardly believe their ears when the man told them that he had sailed 1,000km from Greenland in his small boat. His journey had taken about eight days. The waters are treacherous and full of ice, and apparently his boat was ill-prepared for such a crossing. He attracted attention because he immediately tried to sell his boat to local hunters.

The 32-year-old Romanian was trying to sneak into Canada, from which he had been previously deported. The man, whose name has not been released, was taken into custody after arriving in on Monday.

Cold and hungry after crossing the ice-filled waters of Baffin Bay, the man told police he planned to carry on to Toronto.

'The whole community was amazed how he managed to go from that great distance to Grise Fiord in such a small boat with limited equipment really,' said Grise Fiord resident Marty Kuluguqtuq. Marty Kuluguqtuq said the man must have had a rough crossing because the boat's propellers were bent and the windshield was smashed from the waves.

Immigration officials are travelling to the High Arctic Thursday to pick up the man and take him to Ottawa.