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Northern Exposure

Author: Thomas Miklautsch
Austrian windsurfers Thomas Miklautsch and Christoph Pressler set out during the summer of 1996 to explore the planet's last real wilderness via a mode of travel not generally considered conducive to frigid water and icebergs. For two months the two men windsurfed the Alaskan frontier, interacting with the region's frigid glacial phenomena and making contact with its aquatic residents. For a finale, Miklautsch and Pressler had planned a 96-kilometer crossing of the Bering Strait, retracing the path of Arnoud de Rosnay, who completed the journey in 1979. Though unsuccessful in their crossing, the overall Alaskan experience proved to be an adventure of a lifetime for these two extreme windsurfers. Here's a glimpse of life on the water lifted from their glacial diary. ...

Travel Trailers We are heading to Seward. Our aim: to find whales and sail beside them. We need footage of us sailing next to the magnificent creatures to help us with our Save the Whales project and to protest the whaling that still is practiced by the Japanese and Norwegians.

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Travel Agency We had heard that two big humpbacks were cruising the Aialik Bay, so after we waited some days, on one glorious afternoon they showed themselves. We followed them on our boards for about an hour until they finally became interested in us. Only 20 meters away they emerged and curiously peered at us through soulful eyes. What a tremendous feeling it was. That is, until a Kenai Fjords Charters whale-watch boat arrived, making lots of noise with its twin outboard motors and frightening away our newfound friends. Years ago people hunted the whale for profit. Nowadays, money is made watching him. How ironic - even while protected, our friend stays a commercial product.

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Last Minute Travel We continued our journey north to meet Jim, an experienced seaplane pilot. We had a theory and Jim was going to take us to Knik Glacier to test it. There are thousands of glaciers in Alaska surrounded by cold air. But during the short Alaskan summer, the sun can get pretty intense and heat the air above the glaciers significantly, creating a severe temperature differential. If what we suspected was true, there should be thermal winds to sail during the heat of the day

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Aloha Airlines At our first glacier sailing session it became readily apparent: Our theory was correct. We had great sailing on a beautiful day. Armed with F2 Sputnik 290s and 8.0s, we planed beneath the gaze of the most unbelievably big, blue, long and lonesome glacier wall imaginable. Almost certainly, we were the first. Little did we know, however, the danger of sailing near a glacier during summer. In the afternoons, when the

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Travel Agent sun reaches full power, you can hear the almost constant cracking noises of the ice as the glaciers heat and expand. Gigantic icebergs break off, crash to the ocean below and create huge waves.

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Travel Agents One day we were at Holgate Glacier - a tremendous wall of ice some 80 meters high. Sailing in gusty winds, I was quite overpowered at times on my 8.0, but I managed. I was getting toward the end of the glacier where several large pieces of ice were already floating, when the unimaginable happened! Only 50 or so meters ahead of me, literally tons of ice careened down the glacier and hit the water like a bomb. Shards of ice the size of my sail exploded into the air 20 meters high or more. Instantly, a 2-meter-high wave of ice and water was stampeding toward me. I had to flee, and fast! I pumped and pumped, finally popping up onto a plane, and narrowly escaped being trampled by the fast-moving flow. It was amazing how something so dormant for who knows how many years could so suddenly and catastrophically come to life.

Discount Airfares Our grand finale - crossing the Bering Strait - was plagued by setbacks from the outset. Although we met Hank, a boat captain willing to accompany us, his 24-foot, 176-horsepower support vessel ran aground during our departure from Grantley Basin. In addition, we lost valuable time waiting for weather to pass at various key points along the journey, and we never did receive full permission from the Russian consulate to cross from the Diomede Islands into Siberia, the safest and shortest route to complete the crossing. Finally - amid threats by the Russians to arrest us and confiscate our equipment, a second support boat breakdown and an incredibly long lull in the wind that set us adrift on a course for the North Pole - we threw in the towel and opted to try again in 1997.

Travel Deals We were disappointed at having failed the crossing, but it represented only a part of the overall trip - a journey we shall never forget. As lifetimes go, our Alaskan adventure was short in duration; as the average man's life goes, however, it was incredibly vast in experience. We'll be back again soon, this time crossing the Bering Strait from Siberia to Alaska. And when we return, we will fulfill our intent.

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