The Free Press, Mankato, MN

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If You Go


What
Presentation by sailing legend Roger Swanson on his trip through the Northwest Passage.
When
7 p.m., Tuesday
Where
Belgrade United Methodist Church, Sherman and Belgrade in North Mankato.
Cost
Free

Related Photos

  • Roger Swanson and his wife Gaynelle Templin successfully sailed the difficult Northwest Passage in 2007. Submitted photo

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  • Roger Swanson has owned the Cloud Nine since 1981. Submitted photo

    sub-Swanson, roger-1.JPG

February 14, 2010

Martin County hog farmer also a sailing legend

Will talk about trip through Northwest Passage

By Tim Krohn Free Press Staff Writer

MANKATO — Roger Swanson put the tiny Martin County town of Dunnell on the map in a big and unlikely way.

In 2007 he landed on the front page of The Wall Street Journal for skippering the first American flag sailboat through the Northwest Passage — from Greenland to the Bering Sea.

“They referred to me as ‘the pig farmer from southern Minnesota,’ ” Swanson said. “So our little town got some recognition.”

Swanson will give a presentation on his history-making journey Tuesday night in North Mankato.

Swanson’s rise as a renowned ocean sailor — he’s circled the world three times — seems odd to many, considering his life-long roots in rural Minnesota. The 78-year-old got his first taste for sailing in the 1950s. “I was in Uncle Sam’s Yacht Club for a few years,” he said. “I really enjoyed the Navy and the ocean.”

When he returned home from the service he bought a small sailboat he used on Hall Lake in Fairmont. “From there, the ponds just kept getting bigger.”

His journeys in recent years have been done with his wife, Gaynelle Templin.

Swanson’s first wife, June, died in 1976. “It took me a few years to find someone interested in my lifestyle. Gaynelle had her own boat on Lake Superior.” The two married 14 years ago.

“Part of the deal when we got married was that I had to take her on a trip around the world. I figured I did it twice so I could do it again.”

But it was the trip to the Northwest Passage that brought the couple and their crew a place in history. The 6,600-mile journey was done in 73 days.

The passage, which links the Atlantic to the Pacific through Canada, is rarely made successfully. Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen did it in the early 1900s, but it took him three years.

Swanson had tried the trip twice before — in 1994 and 2005 — but was blocked by ice. A Coast Guard cutter had to rescue the frozen-in boat in 2005. “I said I’d never try again. But you should never say never.”

In 2007 the crew, sailing Cloud Nine, managed to get through because of less ice in the Passage — a condition climatologists attribute to changed global weather conditions.

The toughest part of the trip was the Bering Sea. “That’s where they film that show ‘The Deadliest Catch’ on Discovery Channel. They’re not kidding, it was some terribly rough seas.”

Still, Swanson said it wasn’t his most difficult trip. That would be a 1992 trip to Antarctica. “The weather was really hard there.”

Swanson still does a little sailing, but his boat is for sale. “I’m going to be 79. I think it’s time to retire from sailing. I’d like to do some traveling — places that don’t border salt water.”

Asked if he ever considered moving closer to the ocean after retiring from farming, Swanson answers quickly.

“No, this is home. My farm. Southern Minnesota.”

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