Our hand-held VHF burst into life. Esa’s excited voice came over the radio.‘There’s a polar bear attacking the dinghy!’ Petri and I hurried back to the beach, abandoning the tea and pancakes we were just about to tuck into with some Russian geologists who had a research camp nearby.
The rocky terrain was slippery due to the rain, making it difficult to stay on our feet. On the beach the sad sight of a deflated dinghy lying on the sand greeted us. With relief, we saw the polar bear was gone, but evidence of the predator’s teeth and claws could be seen on the dinghy. Luckily we were able to patch the holes.
We were in Sallyhamna, a reasonably sheltered anchorage on the northwest tip of Spitsbergen, and two months into our voyage around Svalbard.
We had planned our trip to the Norwegian archipelago carefully, waiting for the favourable ice reports: good for us, but not for the polar bears.
The edge of the Arctic ice pack had withdrawn to the north, and even the critical Hinlopen Strait, our gateway to return south from the northern shores of Spitsbergen, seemed to be navigable.
The plan was to sail around Spitsbergen, the main island of the Svalbard archipelago, situated about midway between continental Norway and the North Pole. Depending on the ice situation this passage can be a challenge even for steel boats. We would be attempting it in a small fibreglass boat, my Bavaria 300, Ruffe, and there was certainly some anxiety in the air as we prepared to continue north from Longyearbyen, the capital of Svalbard.
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