Meet the man circumnavigating the Arctic Ocean, alone

Sailor Matt Rutherford at the helm of a sailboat. He hopes to be the first to circumnavigate the Arctic Circle alone. Matt Rutherford/Ocean Research Project hide caption

Matt Rutherford knows this all too well. As he travels the Arctic, far from his home port of Annapolis, Maryland, the moments Rutherford does get to rest are precious.

"It just becomes extremely difficult to get any sleep because if you hit the ice, you essentially die," he said.

Rutherford is attempting a maritime first: to circumnavigate the Arctic Ocean completely alone, some 10,000 nautical miles in total. The 45-year-old veteran sailor's journey takes him across the North Atlantic, along the Russian Arctic coast and eventually through the Northwest Passage in Canada.

In an interview with NPR's Rob Schmitz, he said the level of risk will rise as he travels into seas with denser patches of ice, and with worsening conditions.

"It's also going to get dark soon," he said, speaking via Starlink connection from his 42-foot sailboat in the Barents Sea. "I got 24-hour daylight now. How do you see the ice in the dark?"

Rutherford's boat is armed with some helpful tools: radar can spot the bigger chunks of ice, thermal binoculars help him avoid smaller ones – and he has a life raft if things take a turn for the worst.

But the clock is ticking. If he takes too long on his odyssey, and summer turns to fall, the pack ice will freeze his boat in – dooming the expedition.