| 3Y0Z – Bouvet 2018 |
| Post taken from K0IR's personal site: After nearly 10 years of dreaming and over 2 years of serious planning, my team and I are ready to begin our expedition to Bouvet Island, the most remote island on earth. On January 13th our team of 20 men from 6 different nations will depart from King George Island off the Antarctic peninsula aboard the M/V Betanzos, a 236 ft., 1,438 ton ship. We’ll burn 6000 liters of fuel per day and carry 580 cubic meters of fuel for our 12 to 13 day voyage each way plus up to 21 days at anchor at Bouvet. The ship passed our 120 item “Fit For Service” check list and is fully SOLAS (Safety of Life at Sea) compliant. We’ll get ashore using two MBB BO-105 twin turbine helicopters. Our 20,000 pounds of equipment will come ashore in sling loads beneath the helicopters. We will be camping on a glacier and must be prepared for three different conditions for anchoring our shelters and equipment: compacted snow with a few inches of loose snow on top, a slushy mix extending down a foot or two, and solid ice. On average we can expect two storms per week with winds of 70+ MPH. The 19 square-mile island is surrounded by ocean waters which hold the temperature near the freezing point at this time of year. It’s summer down there. The photo of Bouvet was taken on a rare “nice day.” The total round trip will be something over 20,000 miles for me and will take 7 weeks to complete. The only more remote place where man has set foot is the moon. This will be my 7th Antarctic/Subantarctic expedition and 12th equatorial crossing (24th counting both ways). This will likely be my last post here for a couple of months. Wish me luck. Ralph - K0IR |