Designed and launched at our small Plymouth shipyard in 2012, Integrity is a 23-ton gaff cutter. Seasoned English oak, copper and bronze with a heavy dose of lead underneath. Five years of use in all seasons within hailing distance of the shipyard had allowed us to test and improve the boat, but also to teach ourselves how to sail her.
In recent years she has sailed in the European Arctic, exploring East Greenland, Iceland and Jan Mayen. These relatively short expeditions were a means of gaining experience before an attempt to transit the Northwest Passage in the summer of 2023. The voyage was expected to take around four months to cover approximately 6,000 miles from Nova Scotia to Alaska via Greenland and the Canadian Arctic.
Our long term plan with Integrity is to slowly move her around the world, using the boat as a reason to visit different places. Onward plans are to explore Alaska and the Aleutian Islands before arriving in Japan at which point we may decide which route to take into the Pacific.
With this in mind, attempting to transit the Northwest Passage was a natural progression, in terms of geography and capability
