Rowing to the North Pole may sound a little odd, but on August 26, 2011, at six thirty in the evening local time (0130 British Standard Time), the members of The Old Pulteney Row to the Pole rowing expedition became the first mariners to row a boat to the north magnetic pole. Although to be fair, several times the six man crew had to haul their 1.3 ton boat across the ice between sections of open water. The boat was equipped with hull-munted runners to make the hauling a bit easier. The group's major sponsor was Old Pulteney a Scotch whiskey distiller. The rowers used a GPS unit from Yellowbrick to keep track of their progress and allow observers around the world to watch their trip the north magentic pole.
The magnetic pole, of course, is not in the same location as the north geographic pole. The two poles are separated by roughly 400 nautical miles, a figure that changes as the magnetic pole drifts a bit every year.
