"With only four months left until we go onshore Bouvet, we approach September that will come with two major milestones for us", the team posted on 30 August in their Press Release #11.
One major milestone is the shipping of the container from Norway that is scheduled on 18 September. From Oslo the container will be shipped to the Falkland Islands, where a team of local hams lead by Don, VP8ON will make an effort to inspect the content before our arrival.
The 3Y0J team is currently busy packing all our equipment at our staging site at Oslo airport, where we for the next few weeks will finalize the packing of the equipment. This will end an extremely busy period for us.
We have been through 12 months of purchasing, assembling, testing, and packing the equipment. The team has worked hard, and ultimately shipping the container will complete this intensive period of work that will enable us to achieve our goal to activate the rare #2 DXCC Bouvetoya. Rest assured this is a well-planned DXpedition!
We have detailed out the logistic plan and have made a few changes. Among the improvements are:
- We have bought yet another outboard engine enabling us to use two zodiac boats simultaneously during beach landing to speed up the unloading of gear. In addition, we have a 3rd spare zodiac and engine. Having a pair of zodiacs is a great advantage to us, as we have developed a plan for going onshore Bouvet even for a short weather window down to 2 hours.
- We have swapped the Yanmar generators with 5 kW Hyundai generators that will enable us to run full station setup with only two out of 4 diesel gens. It means that we are less dependent on a long duration of good weather to achieve a good setup.
- We have carried out a risk analysis and identified 37 hazards and assessed the risk for each hazard. Ten hazards are identified as 'high' risk and 17 'medium', all which have been mitigated to an acceptable residual risk level. We have prepared a plan for rationing of food and water in case resupplies are difficult, and when we unload operators and equipment onshore Bouvet, they will be self-sufficient for 28 days without needing resupplies.
The second milestone for September is the payment of the third deposit for the 'Marama' contract. This payment is a major commitment from the team and our sponsors, individual and clubs, that we together will make this happen. We thank each and every one of you who have contributed to pay a share of the vessel cost to have the opportunity to work Bouvet. We still need $70,000 to be able to go to Bouvet. If you want to see Bouvet activated, please consider to donate.
You can follow the 3Y0J plans on the DXpedition's website and Facebook pages
http://www.3y0j.no
https://www.facebook.com/groups/3093983840726129