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This morning the decks were covered with a fine dusting of snow. A small team of workers headed out and assisted the helicopter engineers with snow removal. Upstairs the voyage management team, helicopter pilots and our on board forecaster met on the bridge to receive the weather forecast from the team in Hobart. This morning the snow showers between the ship and Mawson were not ideal conditions for flying. It was therefore time to 'hurry up and wait' for the weather conditions to improve.
While we waited the Voyage Management Team continued to work through Essential, Priority, Super Critical and Critical cargo items checking through manifests and determining which containers needed to be looked at. Teams of expeditioners were then called upon to assist with the search. The deck crew would place a container onto the deck and then the team would carefully scour the container looking for items. By the end of the day the majority of Super Critical and Critical items had been located. These were moved to the load packing team at the back of the deck where they continued to prepare loads for the helicopters.
At 14:00 the weather had cleared, and by 14:30 both helicopters were in the air on their way to Mawson. It turned out to be quite the afternoon for flying with the percentage of blue sky increasing as the afternoon progressed. After a slow start to the day we had completed 2 sorties and had moved many Critical and Super Critical items to Mawson. We have just six Super Critical items to send ashore before only the Critical items remain. We have our fingers crossed for the continuation of good weather over the coming days, which will allow us to keep flying important cargo items to the station.
REGARDS: Andy, Jenn and Lauren
Map
A map showing Australia and Antarctica. The map shows the journey of one voyage that has occured in the season, with each route highlighted in a distinct colour.