The young sailor Tamara Klink has carried the name of Brazil and Latin America to one of the most inhospitable corners of the planet. Aboard a small sailboat, in September 2025 he completed a crossing of 6,500 kilometers through the Arctic Northwest Passagea route that connects Greenland with Alaska and that for centuries was synonymous with impossibility.
His achievement not only breaks barriers in nautical exploration, but also establishes it as the first Latin American woman and the youngest in history to travel the pass alone.
A journey through ice, storms and learning
At just 28 years old, he transformed a cold expedition into a journey of physical resistance, self-knowledge y scientific observation. They are sailboatof just ten meterswas his home, his laboratory and his refuge for more than a month of extreme navigation.
According to the story he shared with National Geographic, left at the end of July from Asia, not Greenland. For more than a month, he sailed among icebergs and unstable seas, resting at intervals of just 20 minutes and without access to running water or heat.
In the same interview he related that surviving in those conditions was an act of constant resistance: “Staying alive was harder than dying… if I fell into the water, I would freeze, but I still felt happy and grateful to be there.”.
Along the way, Klink faced unexpected storms, strong currents and the threat of polar bears who were loitering near their boat. With experience accumulated in previous voyages, the navigator highlighted that even with planning, the Arctic “it never allows you to trust yourself”, since the weather forecasts change a few hours in advance. To mitigate risks, he maintained communication with other explorers who shared information about shelters and ice conditions.
During the trip, he compared his experience to that of the legendary Roald Amundsenthe first navigator to complete the Northwest Passage in 1905.”I passed the same point as him exactly 120 years later, on August 5, and where he saw only ice, I found open sea“Klink said. His testimony clearly exposes the effects of global warming in the Arctic.
The Northwest Passage: a legendary route transformed by the climate
Historically impassable for centuries, the Northwest Passage connects the Atlantic and Pacific oceans through northern Canada, Greenland and Alaska. Since the 16th century, European explorers tried unsuccessfully to navigate it, and its history was marked by tragedies such as the demise of Sir John Franklin’s expedition in 1847.
Today, the progressive melting of ice has made it navigable for a few weeks a year, but it has also turned the region into a living laboratory of climate impact. Klink observed that only 9% of its route had sea icea figure drastically lower than that recorded three decades ago, when only the icebreaker They could go through it. “Every satellite photo from just two or three years ago shows a different Arctic. The change is too fast”he explained.
A tireless explorer: from the Atlantic to the polar winter
Before this achievement, Tamara Klink had already carried out other solitary feats. In 2020crossed the Atlantic from Norway to Brazil on his sailboat Sardineand in 2023arrived at Arctic Circle from France. Between 2023 and 2024, he lived trapped in the Greenland ice for eight monthsbecoming the first woman to spend a winter alone at the poles.
His motivation goes beyond the physical challenge. On each expedition, he reflects on solitude, time and the connection with nature. “Regaining control of time is one of the greatest human challenges“, he stated to National Geographic. These experiences, he says, taught him to distinguish between real and imaginary fears, and to value the essential over the ephemeral.
After his journey through the ArcticTamara plans to attend the COP30which will be held in Belém (Brazil) in November 2025, where it will seek to promote global actions against climate change. He also works in two booksone about its Arctic winter and another about the Northwest Passage, which will be published in 2026.
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