Going to Antarctica
- Thread starter SidewaysTA
- Start date
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Ole Cowboy
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I have always wonder what the Azores was like. I have flown a lot in that direction and the Azores is when you get past the point of no return heading E and you have an emergency you land in the Azores; I was always hoping we would land there...thanks for he pics!
We finished up operations at our previous site and we moved north to the next one. Things were going smoothly until ice started moving in. We had to trip out and vacate the site until the ice clears. So we went about 40 miles east to an alternate site. We will monitor the ice situation and once clear we will head back the to previous site to drill deeper.
We also reached a milestone in every expedition, HUMP DAY. The expedition is half over. We always have a party to celebrate.
We usually have "BBQ" on Sunday's but this trip has been lacking due to the weather. I guess someone decided to have one this week, weather be damned. (I prefer not to call it BBQ, it's really just grilled meat but everyone else THINKS it is BBQ.)
Seal wants some non-BBQ.
Evil ice approaching.
We also reached a milestone in every expedition, HUMP DAY. The expedition is half over. We always have a party to celebrate.
We usually have "BBQ" on Sunday's but this trip has been lacking due to the weather. I guess someone decided to have one this week, weather be damned. (I prefer not to call it BBQ, it's really just grilled meat but everyone else THINKS it is BBQ.)
Seal wants some non-BBQ.
Evil ice approaching.
Well we are back at the other site, the one the ice field chased us away from. I just found out that when we left that site we were not able to retrieve our beacon.
A little background on that. The JR, like many drillships, is equipped with an Automatic Station Keeping system (a.k.a. Dynamic Positioning). This ASK system keeps us in position over a drill site by controlling 12 individual thrusters and the two main shafts. The main method of station keeping is by way of GPS but for redundancy we always drop a radio beacon to the ocean floor. Before GPS, this was the main method to keep the ship on station. They are not cheap, about 10 grand per.
So the beacon is about 4 foot long. It is attached to steel weights and is then dropped overboard. It sits on the ocean floor until we are finished and then we send a signal to it that trips a release mechanism and the beacon releases from the weights and floats to the surface where we retrieve it. At least that is how it is supposed to work.
For some reason, this beacon didn't release and we were forced to leave it. Once we got back on site, we went on a fishing trip. Check it out.
A little background on that. The JR, like many drillships, is equipped with an Automatic Station Keeping system (a.k.a. Dynamic Positioning). This ASK system keeps us in position over a drill site by controlling 12 individual thrusters and the two main shafts. The main method of station keeping is by way of GPS but for redundancy we always drop a radio beacon to the ocean floor. Before GPS, this was the main method to keep the ship on station. They are not cheap, about 10 grand per.
So the beacon is about 4 foot long. It is attached to steel weights and is then dropped overboard. It sits on the ocean floor until we are finished and then we send a signal to it that trips a release mechanism and the beacon releases from the weights and floats to the surface where we retrieve it. At least that is how it is supposed to work.
For some reason, this beacon didn't release and we were forced to leave it. Once we got back on site, we went on a fishing trip. Check it out.
It can get boring out here sometimes and we are missing the winter Olympics. We have a lot of Curling fans out here now so we decided if we can't watch curling we will just have a curling tournament out here, JR style.
We made some "stones" out of scrap plastic, put them on the lathe and turned them. Put some fuzzy stuff on the bottom.
We drew out some lines on one of the benches and presto. JR Curling. The roll of the ship adds a nice challenge.
It's actually more like shuffleboard than curling. Since the bench top has a lip and is sealed with bar top, I suggested we fill it with water and freeze it with liquid nitrogen for some real curling action. Apparently our nitrogen generator is on the fritz.
We made some "stones" out of scrap plastic, put them on the lathe and turned them. Put some fuzzy stuff on the bottom.
We drew out some lines on one of the benches and presto. JR Curling. The roll of the ship adds a nice challenge.
It's actually more like shuffleboard than curling. Since the bench top has a lip and is sealed with bar top, I suggested we fill it with water and freeze it with liquid nitrogen for some real curling action. Apparently our nitrogen generator is on the fritz.
One of the electronics technicians on board is a good friend of mine. His name is Etienne from South Africa. He just finished making a ukulele just a while ago and I got his permission to post a picture of it. He is a very talented wood worker. He finished making a banjo a couple trips ago. If he has pictures of it I'll post them too.
Some in progress pictures.
I think his next project will be a fiddle.
Some in progress pictures.
I think his next project will be a fiddle.
Impressive!
Cut and shaped from stock. The only things store bought on this were the strings and machines.
I'm uploading some shots of the banjo. I got to help him build this one. It is something to see. Very beautiful and also all hand made (well some lathe work but it is a manual lathe
) except for the strings, machines, bridge and head. It's going to take a while to get all the pics uploaded.
I'm uploading some shots of the banjo. I got to help him build this one. It is something to see. Very beautiful and also all hand made (well some lathe work but it is a manual lathe
) except for the strings, machines, bridge and head. It's going to take a while to get all the pics uploaded.
.. and the fret wire, I'd assume?Cut and shaped from stock. The only things store bought on this were the strings and machines.
I'm uploading some shots of the banjo. I got to help him build this one. It is something to see. Very beautiful and also all hand made (well some lathe work but it is a manual lathe
I believe he made those.
Here's the Banjo
Before Final Assembly. He made all the brackets, trim rings, all the brass pieces, the plexi pieces and of course all the wooden pieces. The only things store bought, the screws, the head, the strings and the stuff the strings attach to.
Final piece.
Before Final Assembly. He made all the brackets, trim rings, all the brass pieces, the plexi pieces and of course all the wooden pieces. The only things store bought, the screws, the head, the strings and the stuff the strings attach to.
Final piece.
