Expedition leader Jeff MacInnis.

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For most of the year, the 4,000-mile route is largely solid ice. For cen- turies Arctic explorers, dreaming of a shortcut to Asia, sailed into the Northwest Passage, only to have their expeditions stopped by ice and bad weather.
When he was twenty- three, Jeff MacInnis set out with photographer Mike Beedell in a two-
man specially strengthened
2 A.M., off Victoria Island, Jeff MacInnis scouts the ice-choked route he and Mike Beedell must cross.
Hobie catamaran to accomplish
what had never been done before: sail the Northwest Passage.

 

Traveling without engines, they sailed, paddled and, when forced to, hauled their small boat across the dangerous ice. Jeff says,' "The ice was like a giant jigsaw puzzle whose pieces constantly shifted, fragmenting into an endless labyrinthand then suddenlycoming together within hours to form a solid mass."

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Ice wasn't the only danger they encountered. There were violent seas, biting cold, hurricane-force winds, and prowling polar bears.After three years, sailing only during the brief Arctic summer, they entered Baffin Bay, completing their journey through theNorthwest Passage.

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Like the explorersbefore him, JeffMacInnis wasinspired by a dream.The fact that somany failed only added to the challenge. It's no surprise, really, that the watch MacInnis wore during his hazardousjourney was a Rolex.