Emmy award-winning filmmaker Sprague Theobald talked about his five-month, 2009 journey from Rhode Island through the legendary Northwest Passage to Seattle at the Jan. 14, 2012 Explorers Club Washington Group dinner at the Cosmos Club in Washington.

Theobald  left Rhode Island on a 57-foot Nordhavn powerboat with a crew of four to document a maritime expedition through the Arctic’s storied Northwest Passage.

Once impenetrable, the ice-covered seafaring route became fully navigable for the first time in 2007 when the sea ice dramatically retreated, and , in 2009, Theobald and crew embarked to make a film showcasing the stark wilderness. They encountered significantly more ice than expected, but five months, many polar bears and one perilous ice trap later, they emerged safely in Seattle.

In his ECWG dinner talk Theobald shared his highlights of his trip along the Passage and an account of the evidence encountered from the lost Franklin Expedition of 1845. He will present some of the 1800 still pictures taken during his journey.

Theobald has always had an affinity for the sea. From his three year stint on the America’s Cup yacht Intrepid to his private voyages from Alaska through the Panama Canal and into the Caribbean, he has over 45,000 deep water miles under his belt.

His look at The America’s Cup in “The 25th Defense” won him an Emmy Award. Theobald is the owner and founder of Hole In The Wall Film and Video Productions.  His company became the first in history to utilize a production motorboat to complete the 8500 mile Northwest Passage.

Theobald’s book about his Northwest Passage trip, The Other Side Of The Ice, will be published in April 2012 by Sky Horse Publishing.  He has a larger boat on order.