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October 2007 |
23rd - 31st October
The base is crawling with new people and keeps getting larger. The planes have had some good weather which is frustrating because it also means the ice is firmly sat in Ryder Bay. Enjoyed the rigours of 'Gash', which is quite demanding at the moment as the Domestics from St.Helena (now renamed Station Support Personnel). New folk don't know about sorting the correct bins for items of disposal ie plastics, paper etc so you end up sorting a lot. made it harder for myself by falling badly the night before while snowboarding and bruising a couple of ribs ouch! Carried on working on the wing tip off one of the Twin Otters. This had suffered some damage on the way down and the air mechs asked if I could do some fibreglass repair on it, which I have duly attended to. Also finished up lots of other little jobs like painting wharf shackles and doing paperwork. I had my first co-pilot flight of the season with one of the new pilots. Doug C comes from a background of Tornadoes and seems to settling into his new environment very well. I was lucky enough to go with him on his first solo (so to speak) down south. We made a short run to Fossil Bluff to drop off fuel. The ice eventually stopped being rammed up against the point and has given us water to use so first off was some training and Ali's CTD work. On the Saturday night we had a concert to welcome folk onto base and stretch our singing legs see if we were imagining how good we were. 'Ass of BAS' is as bad as it didn't realise but lots of folk came and we had a good night. I was also inducted into the Bonner lab as Ali the marine assistant is soon to head off on co-pilot and should the opportunity arise for a CTD then I have been asked to do the necessary boatwork with 'Aurora' and process the samples. My brain still hurts from that day, but it involves small quantities of acidic and who-knows-how-dangerous-to-humanity liquids being added to equally small samples. It is good to be back in the lab after my days at SEPA but I don't miss it.
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16th - 22nd October
The arrival of summer personnel back to base signals the start of the summer, and as much as we might prepare for it I think all of us feel slightly unsure about it. Many of the winterers said hello then disappeared off to read letters that had been brought in and limit the exposure to people. I was self-conscious of how you greet people. A couple of shaken hands were missed or half-offered and much hilarity at how odd it felt. For the girls, big hugs seem to be a good ice-breaker. There are regular personnel from Cambridge, the Air Unit (which includes Pilots and Mechanics) and a couple of winterers who I shall be sharing next winter with. Yes, to some of my friends who read this, I have volunteered for a second winter as Boating Officer. This decision was made with family discussion and much thought to how much we would like to see each other, but I have a good thing going on here with new boats coming in over the summer, a stock that needs to be fully accounted and labeled, and a whole winter to enjoy snowboarding, ice-climbing, mountaineering and the sea ice. With the present regular Ops personnel and Air Unit, a well-rehearsed routine saw local flights occurring within a day. The planes spend the Antarctic winter in Calgary where they are fully stripped and serviced, and then pilots and planes make the 65 hour flight south in convoy. Undoubtedly, this can be demanding and testing so when a Twin Otter on a local flight reported hydraulics failure, emergency procedures were deployed rapidly. FGA's were called out as Sea Ice team, a fire crew prepped at the hangar and SAR Boat called. In the midst of preparation for a dive, I was zipped into my half-clad drysuit and the rest of the marine team helped bring together the tractor, SAR boat and Nodwell crane, with emergency kits. All the emergency teams were in place within 10 minutes, and the landing was safe and with no injury or damage, which is a massive credit to those involved, and I'm sure pleasing for the Air Unit to see.
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8th - 15th October
With the last weekend enjoyed, the whole base ganged together and we cleaned every nook and cranny and cup and saucer in preparation for the return of the Base Commander (Steve Hinde) and the summer staff. Mirrors were polished, walls wiped down, carpets vacuumed, everything was given a thorough scrubbing, hence the process being called 'Scrubout'. On Friday, having enjoyed a month of free water in Ryder Bay, we woke to find the area crammed with Pack ice which slightly stunted the SAR boat required for the arrival of two planes from the US Antarctic Program. The Canadian planes chartered for the USAP left in the afternoon and we were able to enjoy a last supper together. Cyril prepared his favourite dishes, Beef Wellington and Baked Alaska. The man is a genius! And so it was on Monday that the Dash 7 and two Twin Otters arrived at Rothera. The weather was fine and clear, the runway given a polish by Andy and Matt the Mechs. Both SAR Boat and Sea Ice teams were put out due to the numbers of passengers and loads of the aircraft. Though the boat cannot be put in the water, having the tractor and trailer with the crane allow us to deployment wherever possible.
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1st - 7th October
The week flew by this week as I completed the work on Stella the diveboat. This has been a major project for me and a test of my patience and aptitude for creating more jobs for myself. I have successfully completed switching engines and servicing, fitting and inspecting the steering cable and controls, inspected and serviced the fuse box and wiring (with much help from Matt the Electronics Engineer) which included a new VHF radio. The deck cover for cabling has been re-routed an allows better space, the anchor has been changed and longer chain added while the fuel filters and spare fuel tanks have been improved. All in all a nice re-fit. There have been some teething problems have these are being ironed out. The next final step in the depth sounder transducer. This is a difficult fitting that is continuously ripped off by ice as it has to be externally mounted. I have formed a GRP (fibreglass) mount and will be creating a firm position that will hopefully ensure good depth readings, especially important in the summer when waters become murky due to plankton blooms. On Saturday, Base celebrated its last weekend together as the motley 22. So with Birgit's birthday next week, Oktoberfest in Germany, a Film Festival and a thriving band, we had ROCKTOBERFEST. This kicked off on Sat night with a gig from 'Ass of Bas'. I have been fortunately drawn into this band as a singer for a couple of tracks (Mustang Sally and Short Skirt, Long Jacket) and sound technician to the rest. We've been practicing hard for the last month and finally we played to the rest of base which was very entertaining as the band comprised of 8 folk already. We had a line-up of 20 songs and had a really good time. (YouTube links to follow soon.) Sunday saw Cyril preparing a wonderful dinner with Birgit and in the evening we sat down for a lenghty evening of films that various base folk had put together. It was amazing to see photos and video of each other, and the quality was very high with the Bonner beakers producing an amazing homage to 'The Thing' involving a number of people from base.
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