Route Map   Weather Map   Daily Journal         Q & A   Special Reports   Education Section           The Game Click here to send the Viking adventurers your questions		The Old Man and the Spoon Date: August 2, 1998 Author: Rob Stevens Lat/Lon: 66 deg 50.4 min N, 53 deg 27.5 min W Location: Same as yesterday Click on the pictures below to view enlargements. Well, it's been ten days since I got my hands on the computer. I think I've given you readers enough of a reprieve. Getting ready to go - which turned out to be wishful thinking. I was going to make the crossing naked, just to "one-up" Hodding in his Viking clothes.   First off, I need to straighten out a few misconceptions. John Abbott has misled you wildly about my motivations in the mattress-puncturing episode. Now, if you were to count my fingers, you would see that, beginning when I was three and held onto a moving bicycle chain to see what would happen, I've had my share of experiential education. (I still want to stick my finger in the wind generator to see what will happen.) So, I was simply conducting a "hands-on" experiment in mattress puncture-resistance. And, as my own choice in mattresses runs somewhere on the hard side of granite, perhaps I've acquired somewhat unreasonable expectations of mattress toughness. I just had more faith in John's mattress than I should have had. As for diving after the spoon, Hodding thinks I had to prove something to the crew. The truth is, I'm afraid of the water. I just figure, if Tristan Jones can ice himself in for two years, I can retrieve a spoon I lost. (Editor's note: You can read about Tristan's adventure in his 1995 book Ice! ) I don't know what Hodding has been telling you about my swimming every night, but it has nothing to do with being macho. Again, I'm working on my fear of the water. I jump in feetfirst right by the rail of the boat, shoot back up and desperately try to get back on board before I feel the chill of the water. The three feet of freeboard is my only concern. I think I average about two seconds in the water each night, the sum total of which will amount to less time swimming than anyone else on the crew - even if I manage to do this every night of the trip. Plus, being sponsored by an apparel company - and with all these buff young studmuffins on board - you can understand why I confine my naked cannonballing to the hours when everyone is asleep. From the Snorri Haberdashery - it started as a canvas ditty bag, but may end up as a chef's hat On to another subject. This is a beautiful island. On the ocean side, there are beaches of cobblestone and crushed shell. There are also small pools of fresh water trapped behind the "dunes" of seashells. I think it would be a nice place to set up a small cabin and stay for a year to experience the different seasons. And ice cream is only ten miles to the north! In some ways, it's like you take the best of coastal New England and give it this strange twist of no trees, but plenty of driftwood. Add to that two-hour sunsets followed immediately by two-hour sunrises. We spent the night at the home of Elias (one of last year's crew members, who lives in from Sisimuit). I always like to see a person's workshop to see what tools they need to get their projects done. One thing Elias showed me was his father's woodworking tools from when he became a carpenter/boatbuilder at thirty. He had been a kayak hunter, but his wife made him give it up when her own father was pulled under hunting walrus from a kayak. Elias had some small-scale versions of a kayak hunter's tools. It was interesting to see all that had gone into developing the equipment. And a shame to think of this knowledge being forgotten. A familiar face: Elias Larsen, back on board for a visit Elias brought us these caribou antlers - just in time for a new round of projects For those of you who like crooked knives, draw knives, spoke shaves and the like, I will try to describe a Greenlandic carving knife that belonged to Elias' father. It was as long as from my elbow to the tip of my middle finger. It was about one inch wide, mostly a wooden shaft, with a two-and-one-half inch blade coming to a point. If you hold the knife with the blade on your left, the cutting edge is closest to you with all the bevel on the face you are looking at. The other end comes to a rounded point. You use it sitting down. With the rounded end placed between your right leg and your stomach. You hold your work in your left hand and pull the blade towards you. I'll give it a try and write about it. One last subject. In such close quarters, you get to know and observe your crewmates. Sometimes, you begin to wonder about them. Last year, we thought Dean was in the Witness Protection Program. You would call his name and he wouldn't respond. We took to standing behind him and calling out other names to see if he would respond to any of those. No luck, but the verdict is still out. This year, I am wondering if Erik is really a Dane or if he just thinks a Danish accent is sexy and will help him meet women. My suspicions were aroused when I discovered that he doesn't like cold cuts for breakfast. Very un-Danish. I'll report back on what I find out. Kapaka - what else?   Top of page