3Y0J DXpedition to Bouvet Island, November 2022
We have reached our first payment milestone for the Marama vessel contract. Today we have paid the first deposit, and with this payment we confirm our plans of activating the #2 most wanted entity Bouvet. We would like to thank each individual and club who has contributed to this payment with their upfront support, especially thanks to our Lead sponsor NCDXF. It is a huge task and undertaking to go to Bouvet and we still critically need additional upfront support to close the budget.
We are happy to announce two additional operators to the team to make it complete with 13 operators. Dave WD5COV will rejoin us on this adventure to Bouvet. Dave is a well-known and recognized DXer and DXpeditioner who has embarked on over ten major DXpeditions including three in the top ten most wanted category.
In addition, we have included Peter in the team as a combined crew and dedicated FTx operator. Peter is an experienced captain and expedition leader with huge experience from offshore sailing, sailing in remote polar uncharted areas and specializes in supporting some of the most complex expeditions in the Arctic and Antarctica. He is experienced in safety evacuation procedures, MOB maneuver in cold water, beach landings in difficult locations and he is an experienced zodiac operator that will be based in Norway. He will be heading up the zodiac landing at Bouvet.
Our preparation for Bouvet includes planning, constructing, and testing a system for landing zodiacs safely, this will be tested in rough sea in Norway before and after Christmas. We plan for several systems and techniques to adapt to the onsite conditions. We plan for safely landing the zodiacs in different manners also with some swell, unmanned and with less risk for operators. And we prepare for the event that zodiacs are capsizing and we still can retrieve the equipment. We have done the first prelim sea trials of the zodiac equipment in Norway and will continue sea trials to further mature the concept. We plan for a gasoline powered winch system to lift equipment up the cliff, and this will be tested in Norway after Christmas. We plan to access the 25 ft cliff with professionals means, and if needed prepare for climbing and bolting a short route to gain access. We refresh our climbing experience, and some team members will be certified climbers. In 2022 we will practice safe rope access training and evacuation down the cliff with instructor also including emergency evacuation with injured operator. We will have IRATA educated instructors training with us.
We also have an extended off-island team of 5 Norwegian professionals and experts from the maritime industry assisting us. These are former captains and chief engineers with huge experience within RIB SAR vessels, maritime risk assessment and safety training. Some of them have stayed several seasons at Bouvet, stayed anchored at Cape Fie, have passed Bouvet more than 60 times and have done zodiac landing at the same spot. With all these upcoming events and the knowledge in the extended team – be rest assured this will be a well planned and executed project.
You can follow our plans from our website and the 3Y0J Facebook pages:
https://www.facebook.com/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?
Thank you,
Ken Opskar LA7GIA, Co-Leader
Rune Oye LA7THA, Co-Leader
Erwann Merrien LB1QI, Co-Leader
