[Paddlewise] Book Review: Rowing to Latitude

Have not seen any reviews of books on PW in a while.  Here is one about rowing
(not paddling) that I enjoyed:

Rowing to Latitude, by Jill Fredston, is an incredible narrative of successive
explorations by her and her husband Doug Fessler, both Alaska residents.  In
winter, they run avalanche training and rescue operations.  Summers, they ROW
(not paddle) the waters of the Arctic.

Over time, they have completed a good bit of the Arctic Ocean coastline
abutting Alaska, some of the coast along the Bering Sea, the Yukon and the
McKenzie Rivers, pieces of the Labrador coast and Western coast of Greenland,
and, finally, all of the Norwegian coastline (including a way north island at
about 80 degrees N).

Amazing adventures ... with spirited encounters with brown bears, polar bears
(yeah, they get stalked a couple times), and the carcass of a whale suspended a
hundred feet above sea level in a glacier!  Good writing, with leavening from
Jill's story of her personal growth -- pretty interesting, actually.  Oh, yeah,
a dozen good photos, too, including the whale-in-a-glacier.

Their equipment employs a sliding seat arrangement common to competitive rowing
(shells and sculls), so that they make use of leg and back muscles to an extent
not possible via paddling.  Even so, the first couple of seasons, Doug paddles
in a sea kayak next to Jill in her scull, hustling to keep up.

A great read.

--
Dave Kruger
Astoria, OR
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