‘Less and Less Sea Ice’: Brazilian Woman Completes Solo Arctic Passage

At just 28 years old, Brazilian sailor Tamara Klink has joined a small, elite group of adventurers…..and made history in the process. In September 2025, she became the first Latin American and only the second woman to sail solo through the Northwest Passage, a notoriously perilous route between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans.

Her two-month, 6,500-kilometer voyage began in Greenland and ended in Alaska, threading through the Arctic’s remote and icy waters aboard her sailboat Sardinha 2. The passage, which cuts through Canada’s far north, was once considered impassable without an icebreaker. But that’s no longer the case.

Melting Ice Opened the Path for Historic Journey

“I only found ice on nine percent of the way, which is very little,” Klink told AFP after her return. By speaking with scientists and local Inuit hunters and fishermen, she said she learned that this isn’t a fluke. “There’s less and less sea ice every year.”

That thinning ice reflects a much broader environmental shift. According to the United Nations, 2024 was the hottest year on record, with global temperatures surpassing 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels for the first time.

“This is part of a trend that will be very difficult to reverse,” said Klink. “If we don’t act with bold decisions, if we don’t make courageous choices in this decade.”

A Solo Passage, Made Possible by Climate Change

For most of maritime history, crossing the Northwest Passage required ice-hardened vessels or government icebreakers. That’s no longer the case in summer.

“With global warming, now the sea ice is melting during summertime,” Klink said. “So smaller boats are able to pass, and smaller crews are able to do this long trip.”

Her journey makes her only the 14th person known to have completed the Northwest Passage solo. It also comes just ahead of Brazil hosting the 30th UN global climate summit, a fitting backdrop for the message her voyage sends.

Her Sailing Roots Run Deep

Tamara Klink is no stranger to the ocean. Her father, Amyr Klink, is one of Brazil’s most celebrated explorers and the only person to row solo across the South Atlantic Ocean. But she carved her own path.

“I was 12 years old when I asked my father to help me to start sailing alone,” she said. “And my father said that if I wanted to do that, he would help me with zero boats, with zero advice.”

She explained that although her father had the tools and knowledge, withholding direct help allowed her to make mistakes and to grow into her own identity as a sailor.

In 2021, Klink completed her first solo ocean voyage from Norway to Brazil in a tiny boat she bought “for the price of a bicycle.” Between 2023 and 2024, she overwintered alone in a remote fjord in Disko Bay, Greenland, where Sardinha 2 was trapped in sea ice for eight months.

“The Sea Doesn’t Care If I’m Female”

Though she’s only the second woman to achieve this solo passage, Klink doesn’t frame her journey in terms of gender.

“When I’m at sea, in my boat, I know that my gender does not matter,” she said. “The sea doesn’t care if I’m female or male, if I’m old or young, if I’m strong or weak, if I’m there or if I’m not there anymore.”

Her words, like her voyage, reflect a quiet resilience—and a clear call to pay attention to what’s changing in the world’s most remote places.

Article credits:

• https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/world/576257/brazilian-navigator-tamara-klink-sails-solo-through-northwest-passage
• https://cebudailynews.inquirer.net/663859/brazil-woman-sails-solo-through-arctic-less-and-less-sea-ice