North House Folk School

Wooden Boat Show Featured Presentation

With his many extreme adventures and Midwestern roots, photographer and sailor David Thoreson has a very unique and entertaining story to share. David grew up in a small town in Iowa, learned to sail on a glacial lake surrounded by corn fields and shaped these experiences to lead a life of exploration and discovery at the far reaches of the globe. Surprisingly, Thoreson got his opportunity to sail the world’s oceans with a southern Minnesota farmer. David’s presentation combines stunning visuals and storytelling about sailing into the ice, lives of indigenous hunters, scientists in the Arctic and ultimately meeting the issue of climate change face-to-face. Thoreson presents a great glimpse of modern-day adventuring at sea, adventures with a purpose.

The presentation includes stories of Thoreson’s sailing expeditions and the quest for the infamous Northwest Passage beginning with the 1994 passage attempt aboard the 57’ fiberglass sailboat Cloud Nine, owned by Minnesotan, Roger Swanson. David also completed a 28,000-mile circumnavigation of the North and South American continents on the research sailboat Ocean Watch, working with NASA, NOAA and universities in two hemispheres.

Learn more about David on his website.